Trip to Asia The Quest for Harmony (2008)

Journey with the musicians of the Berlin Philharmonic and their conductor Sir Simon Rattle on a breakneck concert tour of six metropolises across Asia Beijing Seoul Shanghai Hong Kong Taipei and Tokyo Their artistic triumph onstage belies a dynamic and dramatic life backstage The orchestra is a closed society that observes its own laws and traditions and in the words of one of its musicians is an island a democratic microcosm almost without precedent in the music world whose social structure and cohesion is not only founded on a common love for music but also informed by competition compulsion and the pressure to perform to a high pitch of excellence Never before has the Berlin Philharmonic allowed such intimate and exclusive access into its private world