“The phenomenon of music is given to us with the sole purpose of establishing an order in things, including, and particularly, the co-ordination between man and time.”
Music is not here to make us forget about life. It’s also here to teach us about life: the fact that everything starts and ends, the fact that every sound is in danger of disappearing, the fact that everything is connected – the fact that we live and we die (…) Once you start playing a piece, there is a connection between every note. You cannot say, ‘I will not concentrate on this note.’ You cannot ignore things the way you do in the rest of your life. And being in an orchestra teaches you that you cannot be in the centre all the time, that sometimes you are not the soloist but have to become part of a bigger collective spirit.”
“I will be dying and so will you, and so will everyone here. That’s what I want to explore. We’re all hurtling towards death, yet here we are for the moment, alive. Each of us knowing we’re going to die, each of us secretly believing we won’t.”
“It is dreadful when something weighs on your mind, not to have a soul to unburden yourself to. You know what I mean. I tell my piano the things I used to tell you.”
“Laughter is the shortest distance between two people” - Victor Borge
This rare documentary reveals the unknown side of one of the most innovative and influential concert artists of the 20th century. One of Victor Borge’s achievements was the difficult, almost impossible, task of combining classical music with a different discipline. Mr. Borge introduced an element of surprise and comedy to a serious concert: the sense of unexpected, of wonder, the feeling that anything, at any given moment in time, could happen and he would make sure it would be the most wonderful, joyful moment of your life. Perfectionist in his craft, Mr. Borge was an old-fashioned gentleman that lived life, on and off stage, to its fullest. He’s irreplaceable, he’s my personal inspiration and he will be greatly missed for a long time.
The task of art is to transform what is continuously happening to us, to transform all these things into symbols, into music, into something which can last in man’s memory. That is our duty. If we don’t fulfill it, we feel unhappy.
