Think you’re played-out on Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol?” Consider giving this one a shot.

“The Passion of Scrooge” is not just a filmed performance of a work by composer Jon Deak (who, from 1973 to 2009, was also a bassist with the New York Philharmonic); it is a collaborative documentary in which the film direction is every bit as expressive and essential to the overall experience as anything that happens musically or onstage.

The award-winning filmmaker, H. Paul Moon, has received perhaps his widest exposure through the nationwide television broadcast, on PBS, of his documentary “Samuel Barber: Absolute Beauty.” Moon traveled from D.C. to the studios of WWFM – The Classical Network to talk with me about Barber – who was born in West Chester, PA, and attended Philadelphia’s Curtis Institute of Music – in 2017.

We met up again, a couple of years ago, to chat about his work on “Scrooge.” I’m delighted to find that he posted the audio file of our conversation.

Contemporary, challenging, and thought-provoking, “The Passion of Scrooge” strips away the accrued nostalgia for a well-worn holiday tradition to get at the heart of Dickens’ message.

Moon’s film is on BluRay and DVD and is also available for online streaming. To learn more about it, listen to our conversation – with selections from Deak’s opera – or visit scroogeopera.com.

At Paul’s suggestion, the balance of the hour during his visit to WWFM was devoted to a recording of Ralph Vaughan Williams’ “On Christmas Night,” a rarely-heard masque also inspired by “A Christmas Carol.” Here’s a link to the music if you’d like to reconstruct the full experience.

Zen Violence Films