A co-worker lent me a wonderful documentary yesterday, titled "We Want the Light." Here's a link (I hope it comes out, since I'm still learning my way around the forum interface):
Link to Amazon.com page for this product.
That page doesn't give much of a description, so here's the back of the box:
"This is a DVD about many things. It is about freedom and captivity, about emancipation, acculturation and assimilation; it is about the roles played by Moses and Felix Mendelssohn in the dream of fruitful, unproblematic integration of the Jews into German society after their liberation from the ghettos; it is about Richard Wagner, his essay 'Das Judentum in der Musik' (The Jews in Music) and his influence on the thinking of the Third Reich but, most of all, it is a DVD about how much music can mean to people, even in the direst of circumstances, or particularly in the direst circumstances.
The title, 'We Want the Light,' is taken from a poem by a 12-year-old girl, Eva Pickova, written in the Theresienstadt concentration camp. Her words provide both the title and the climax - in a setting for two choruses and orchestra by the American composer Franz Waxman, in his work 'The Song of Terezin.' The DVD also contains music by Mahler, Bach, Schoenberg, Bruch, Schumann, Mendelssohn, Wagner, Schubert, Bloch and Brahms."
This is s 2-disc set, with hours of interviews featuring musicians like Ashkenazy, Barenboim, Kissin, Mehta, Perlman, and Zukerman.
The Mahler parts include a brief discussion at the beginning of the documentary, explaining how Mahler changed the direction of German/Austrian music and seemed to predict the difficult times ahead. The first movement of the M9 is featured here. Later on, there's also an interview with a woman who had played in one of the concentration camp orchestras; this particular orchestra was conducted by Mahler's niece (I believe this was in Auschwitz).
Most of the composer-related discussion centers on Mendelssohn (whose parents had converted to Christianity) and Wagner (with an analysis of his political writings, and footage of the first Wagner concert in Israel).
The musical selections are conducted by Ashkenazy.
I'm going through it slowly, because there's just so much material in there, but so far I really recommend it.