Speaking in Strings

From AwardAnnals

Reviews

Amazon.com

Emotional, raw, and revealing—those adjectives apply to the documentary Speaking in Strings and the person profiled, Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg, one of the world’s most acclaimed violinists. The intense musician’s professional journey, which began at Carnegie Hall when she was a teenager, was sidetracked when she accidentally cut off the tip of a finger and almost ended when she tried to commit suicide. Filmmaker Paola di Florio was a childhood friend, and this intimacy is reflected in frank oncamera interviews. (“Feeling more than anyone I know” can be phenomenal and “a damn curse,” she says.) The concert footage is electrifying: Two weeks after the suicide attempt, a possessed Salerno-Sonnenberg once again plays Carnegie Hall. Her mother, friends, fellow musicians, and critics—who say she lets her emotions overpower the music—are heard from. The loudest voice, though, is the honest one of Salerno-Sonnenberg, consumed yet empowered by her talent. “It’s amazing what you endure,” she says, “when you must.” —Valerie Nelson