AllMovie

The life of celebrated classical violinist Itzhak Perlman marks one of the most inspirational accounts in the history of western music. Though Perlman demonstrated prodigious instrumental leanings from the age of 3 1/2 , a contraction of polio merely a few months after led doctors to write off his musical career as impossible thanks to extreme physical handicaps. Not only did Perlman disprove the medics' predictions, he of course quickly established himself as one of the most formidable violinists in the western world. Christopher Nupen's documentary Itzhak Perlman: Virtuoso Violinist tells this remarkable story. The Allegro release is supplemented by extras including the documentary portraits Jacqueline du Pré Remembered and The Trout Remembered, and performances by Perlman of two Bach Partitas (one D Minor and one E Major), shot at St. John's in London's Smith Square.