It's so extraordinary, this music. Timeless as truth, immediate as revelation; of breadth and scope that defies all boundaries, transcends one's grasp, yet as intimate as an unvoiced prayer. From its innermost depths it unfolds before you in layer upon layer of uncompromised clarity, like a treasure unearthed, like a mystery revealed. And something inside of you responds, from that overlooked realm that dwells beneath thought, where hopes go to die until stirred to life by music. You're moved, you're stunned, you're awed, you're exultant.

Perhaps you're also determined to discover more about this great Otto whose music can affect you so powerfully and profoundly. But you have no intention of tackling a two-volume biography, even a critically- acclaimed and insightfully- written one, and encyclopedias bore you. What to do? Wait for the movie?

Well, wait no more. There IS an Otto Klemperer movie -- a television documentary re-edited into (VHS) video format by filmmakers determined to disprove the notion that documentaries must be dull. Otto Klemperer's Long Journey through His Times crams the entire epic saga of a life that spanned 88 years, 4 continents, 2 world wars, and any number of heartbreaking reversals and magnificent triumphs -- this life that provided enough material to fill books, dissertations, essays, articles, and reviews galore -- into 96 minutes. That's including the sections devoted to the many composers with whom he was closely associated -- among them Mahler, Stravinsky, Hindemith, Schönburg, and Richard Strauss -- as well as the scenes of Klemperer in rehearsal and performance, which supplement the biographical commentary. The commentary itself is provided by people who worked with Klemperer in every stage of his career from his Strasbourg years on, including Curjel of the Kroll and Peter Heyworth of the Philharmonia/ New Philharmonia period, and by Klemperer himself, who proves a most congenial story-teller.

This is intense viewing, a visual and aural onslaught of riches, an award-winning inundation of treasures. Klemperer's history, music history, world history, inextricably intertwined, lavishly illustrated, enthrallingly narrated, richly accompanied by Klemperer's music, unfurl before you at breakneck speed. Plan to be glued to the screen. Plan in an intermission -- you'll need one. And do not expect to take everything in the first or even the second time through.

Unfortunately, the favorite option for those wishing to preview Klemperer works -- get it from your library -- isn't available here. Chances are your library won't have it, unless your library is one of the following: Stanford University Library (CA); Chicago Public Library, Northwestern University Library (IL); Grinnell College Library (IA); the libraries of Amherst, Williams, or Wellesley College (MA); Bowdoin College Library (ME); the West Virginia library system. And because libraries are reluctant to lend out videos via inter- library loan, it won't be able to get it for you, either. Your options are:

• purchase it. The best deal appears to be from Movies Unlimited, which charges $56.99 instead of the standard $59.99 (plus air mail rates: $4.50 per order plus $9.00 per tape) and doesn't add an extra surcharge for outside-the-U.S. orders.
• request that your library purchase it. Public libraries are required by law and higher ethical principle to respond to the acquisitions requests of the nice taxpayers upon whose support their survival depends.
• Write to the program director of your local PBS station and request that they air it. You are encouraged to do this, for the sake of your community, even if you're able to obtain a copy of the video for your personal use. They won't ignore you. They'll at least attempt to procure a viewing copy to evaluate as the result of your request, if you ask them properly. Anyone needing assistance in asking properly will be faxed or E-mailed a sample letter upon request.

PHILO BREGSTEIN'S remarkable film is nothing less than a survey of the life of a legendary musician and human being. "Conductor Otto Klemperer's life was a high Romantic tragic triumph -- the stuff of which movies are made," wrote The San Francisco Chronicle.

KLEMPERER LIVED and made music through two world wars to become a great interpreter of Brahms, Beethoven, Bach and Wagner. Yet he was also a visionary of new music, who was deeply influenced by Gustav Mahler, Schonberg, Hindemith and Stravinsky. Attacked by the Nazis, he emigrated to the U.S., only to be persecuted a decade later during McCarthy era witch-hunts.

RARE ARCHIVAL material, including Klemperer conducting during the 30's and 40's, together with interviews with Klemperer and his colleagues and associates, places Klemperer against the rich backdrop of intellectual Europe of the 20th century.

OTTO KLEMPERER'S Long Journey through His Times takes the viewer on a revealing journey through eight decades and across four continents, in a unique look at an extraordinary artist.

CALLED "a portrait of the purity of the human spirit" by The San Francisco Chronicle, "brilliant. . . priceless. . . a banquet of a film" by The San Francisco Examiner, and "a highly recommended portrait of a remarkable music personality" by Variety, the film has received prizes in Berlin, Edinburgh and Haifa, and was broadcast on television in 12 countries.