...duty to welcome you here on the behalf of...
...all the other artists, and musicians with combined talents...
...went in to the creation of this new form of entertainment: Fantasia.
What you'll see on the screen...
...is a picture of various abstract images...
...that might pass to your mind...
...if you seat in a concert hall, listening to this music.
Now, there are three kinds of music on this fantasia program.
First is the kind that tells a definite story.
Then there's the kind that, while has no specific plot...
...does paint a series of more or less definite pictures.
And there's the third kind; music that exist simply for tones sake.
And the number that opens out Fantasia program...
...is music of this third kind.
You know, what's amazing is that many of these musicians are playing for the very first time.
Thanks to Steve Martin's two week Master Musician Home Study Course.
More about that later.
Hello and welcome to Fantasia 2000.
It's been more that 60 years since Walt Disney and his artists teamed up...
...with Maestro Leopold Stokowski to create a film they titled: The Concert Feature.
I think, we're all glad that they changed the name to Fantasia.
You know, Fantasia was meant to be a perpetual work in progress.
Every time you went to see it, you'd experience some new pieces along of some old familiar favorites
But that idea felt by the way side until now.
So, let me turn things over to the great Itzhak Perlman...
...who, I've just been informed, plays the violin.
Well, so do I. Can I have my violin, please?
Ah, thank you.
All right, boys. Hoo. Oh, sorry.
Could I have another string thingy please? Oh, and camera back on me?
Camera back on me!
When you hear a title like Pines of Rome, you might think of tree line streets and romantic ruins.
But when the Disney animators heard this music...
...they thought of something completely different.
Here is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra conducted by Maestro James Levin...
...performing Ottorino Respigi's Pines of Rome.
Hi. Next, we're gonna take you to the streets of New York City...
...for piece that's been inspired by couple of my favorite artists.
First, there's the illustrator Al Hirschfeld,
who's been drawing celebrities and Broadway stars for most of the 20th century.
And then, there's the composer and song writer George Gerschwin,
who took Jazz off the streets, dressed her up and took it to the concert hall.
My friend Ralph Grierson plays piano on this next number.
And it all starts with the single slinky note on the clarinet and a simple line on a piece of paper.
Ladies and gentlemen, Rhapsody in Blue.
Hi. You may not know this, but over the years...
...the Disney artists have cooked up dozens of ideas for new Fantasia segments.
Some of them made it to the big screen this time...
but others, lots of others - how can I put this politely - didn't.
For example: The Danish illustrator Kay Nielsen...
...drew these sketches for a segment inspired by Wagner's Ride of the Valkyries.
Here they are. And there they go.
Now, Salvador Dali, you know, the limp watches guy...
he got in to the act with an idea that featured baseball as a metaphor for life.
How come that didn't work? Makes perfect sense to me!
Let's see. Then, we had a bug ballet, and a baby ballet, and for a time,
they even considered the sequence inspired by the polka and the fuge.
From Weinberger's Schwanda, the bagpiper.
But finally - a success.
The Disney artists wanted to create a short film based on Hans Christian Anderson's wonderful fairytale -
The Steadfast Tin Soldier. But they could never find the perfect musical match.
Until now.
Here is Yefim Bronfman playing Schostakovich Piano Concerto No. 2...
...and the Steadfast Tin Soldier.
These drawing boards are then the birthplace of some of the most beloved animal characters of all time.
So, as no surprise, that the artists chose for our next segment...
...the Carnival of the Animals by Camille Saint-Saans.
Here, the sensitive strains of impressionistic music combined with the artistry of the animator...
that finally answer the age-all question: What is man's relationship to nature?
Oh, sorry. That age-all question:
What would happen, if you gave a yo-yo to a flock of flamingos?
Who wrote this?
Ladies and gentlemen, we'd like to take a moment if we may...
...to talk about little something we like to refer to as - magic.
Picture this. You're at home, hosting a birthday party for your daughter...
...and you've just shoveled out 50 bucks, saw some...
...pathetic looser who can pull a mangy rabbit out of a flea-market hat.
At first, you might wonder to yourself - how did he do that?
But then you'd probably just dismiss that it is some sort of a trick.
And you know something? You'd be right!
It's just a trick!
It's an example what we're laughing when we refer to as stage magic.
We're here to tell you that all stage magic is a fraud, a hoax, a shabb -
- it's all based on deception and - Yep - laying. All of it.
Slider hand - lies!
Transformations - fraud!
Dismemberment - rip off!
Fake. All are illusions.
What we're here to talk about is real magic.
We're gonna bring out a guy, now who is the real deal, the genuine article - in fact...
...he taught us everything we know.
And he's featured prominently in the next sequence from the original Fantasia.
The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
You know, come to think of it, the Sorcerer's Apprentice is a little guy who...
...who never speaks and just kinda messes everything up.
And now...
And now: The Sorcerer's Apprentice.
Mr. Stokowski? Mr. Stokowski!
Just wanted to offer my congratulations, sir.
Congratulations to you, Mickey.
Haha, gee, thanks. Well, gotta run, now. Soloing!
Mr. Levine! Ok, Mr. Levine. Everybody is in place for the next number.
Thanks, Mickey.
Psst! When...
But we can't find Donald. So you stay here and stall for time, I'll be right back.
Donald! Oh, Donald!
When we hear Sir Edward Elgar's Pomp and Circumstance, we think of a graduation ceremony.
Donald, where are you? Actually, Elgar composed it for many kinds of solemn events.
This march inspired the Disney artists to recreate the age-all story...
Aaaa! Oh, sorry, Daisy.
...of Noah's arch, with one slight twist...
Oh, Donald Duck!
Who is it? Donald, it's me, Mickey. You're on in 30 second. Hurry!
What? You're gotta be kidding on me...
Ok, Jim, he's on his way. Go to the intro.
Ladies and gentlemen, Pomp and Circumstance. Starring: Donald Duck.
Walt Disney described the art of animation as a voyage of discovery...
...into the realms of color, sound, and motion.
The music form Igor Straviski's ballet The Firebird inspires such a voyage.
And so, we conclude this version of Fantasia with a mythical story of life, death, and renewal.
Camera back on me! Oh, camera back on me, please!
Anyone, hello! Hello? Could someone give me a ride home?