Hermann Prey - Stille meine Liebe auf DVD

Hermann Prey was Germany’s all-time best-selling classical musician. The documentary "When love falls silent"/dt. "Stille meine Liebe" is anything but a clichéd “best of " collection of career highlights. It is based on previously unreleased Super 8 home movies and live concert footage to tell the story of Hermann Prey - as an international star and as a human being. It shows Prey through the eyes of the people, who were close to him: His family and world-famous colleagues including Jonas Kaufmann and Thomas Hampson. With unusual openness, they appear on camera and talk about what it takes to be an international star on the scale of Hermann Prey – The enormous energy, commitment and willingness. His childrens hope was to have more time with their father at the end of his career, but he didn’t want his career to end. Their hopes were crushed by his sudden death in 1998.Ten years after his death the family speaks for the very first time about the fact that Hermann Prey was compelled to follow his musical calling with such an utterly single-minded focus. The film includes footage of a last photo shoot with Prey in the USA, a worldwide exclusive debut of his last TV concert performance in Japan in 1997, additional worldwide exclusives from private Prey film and photo archives as well as excerpts from private journals and diaries. The DVD is available in German with English subtitles. In addition to the main film, the DVD features over 60 minutes of bonus material including further interviews and complete music performances, available here exclusively. The package also comes with an 80-page booklet documenting the almost three-year-long “making of - story of the film in words and pictures.

Rezensionen

FonoForum 12/09: »Die Autoren verzichten darauf, die sattsam bekannten Stationen von Preys großer Karriere nachzuzeichnen, zeigen uns weder den noch im Alter strahlenden Sonnyboy, als der er sich im Fernsehen vermarkten ließ, noch den ›Sänger im Verkaufsgespräch‹, als den ihn Jürgen Kesting diskreditiert hat.​ Der andere, der wahre Prey war offenbar ein von seiner Kunst Besessener, ein Workaholic, der zum Gejagten wurde, unter Depressionen litt und – wohl wissend um seinen Gesundheitszustand – sich buchstäblich in den Tod sang.​ Ein Leben, ohne zu singen, ein Leben als Rentner hätte er sich nicht vorstellen können.​ Und so erhalten die eingeblendeten Aufnahmen seines Liederabends in der Suntory Hall etwas geradezu Gespenstisches.​ Wenige Monate vor seinem Tod gab der 68-jährige Bariton noch einmal sein Letztes, die Stimme hatte Fülle, Wärme und Glanz wie in seinen besten Tagen, und der künstlerische Ernst seines Vortrags einiger Schubert-Lieder muss selbst Skeptiker in Bann schlagen.​«