Music from the Inside Out.(Video recording review)

Music from the Inside Out. DVD. Directed and produced by Daniel Anker. New York: Emerging Pictures, 2004. $24.95.

"What is music?" The answers to this question are as varied as the people who are asked. Paul Anker's documentary Music from the Inside Out begins by asking this complex question of members of the Philadelphia Orchestra (the subjects of the film), and most were initially stumped. Anker goes on to interview and film the musicians individually and in groups where they share thoughts about music and philosophies about performing that even their fellow orchestra members may not have known.

Concertgoers generally think of orchestral musicians as anonymous parts of a musical whole. Anker's work allows us to glimpse the musicians' individualities. As Israeli-born principal trombonist, Nitzan Haroz says, "There's a fine line between being a part of this group and being the individual that you are." After developing an interest in salsa dance and music, Haroz decided to take part in making this music and began sitting in with a band at a local club after changing out of his formal attire on Thursday nights post-concert.

Throughout the video, we hear and see the musicians performing in the orchestra, in chamber ensembles, and as soloists. Filming took place over a five-year period during which Anker talked to the musicians in Philadelphia, followed them on a European concert tour, and accompanied individual members to other places that were important in their lives.

The video is divided into three parts: "Finding a Voice," "Between the Notes," and "Sum of the Parts." In the first section, we are ...