Fleeing Russia in 1917, Rachmaninov (1873-1943) was forced to set aside composing in order to support his family as a pianist. This film looks at his life in exile and at how this separation from his homeland affected his music. Filming centres on Senar, the villa by Lake Lucerne which Rachmaninov built as a conscious recreation of Ivanovka, his wife’s beloved estate in Russia. His grandson still lives there and, with his co-operation and that of Sofia Satin, his niece, the family archives have been used to piece together a picture of the composer’s life in both Russia and Europe.
Five Blind Boys
Gospel influences many musical styles, including blues, funk and rock. In this programme, great gospel veterans The Five Blind Boys of Alabama are seen in performance and talk about their music.
Spike Lee
Irish Rock Music
Ireland’s output of both influential writers and famous rock musicians is quite disproportionate to the size of the country. This focus on Irish rock music searches for the roots of that creative talent and discovers the importance of the rich tradition of story-telling and mythology that it still very much alive there today. Van Morrison, Sinead O’Connor, Bono of U2, Shane McGowan, Clannad and others contribute their music and their thoughts to the programme.
John Cage – I Have Nothing To Say And I Am saying It
John Cage (1912-92) emerged from the post-war American avant-garde to become one of the most controversial and influential of contemporary composers. This programme was made with him two years before he died. He introduces his philosophy that all sounds, even silence, can be used as the source for music and discusses his arrival at the use of chance operations in composing. His collaboration with artist Robert Rauschenberg and choreographer Merce Cunningham is explored, and other contributors include Yoko Ono and Laurie Anderson, who have both drawn inspiration from him.
Kiri Te Kanawa
Producer and TV director Nigel Wattis directed the film biography of incomparable soprano Kiri Te Kanawa. Melvyn Bragg, as narrator, leads us through the singer’s life, and talks to her about her life and career, while other artist personalities such as George Solti, Dame Joan Sutherland, Richard Bonynge, Jeffrey Tate, Stephen Barlow and John Hopkins add their personal impressions. This portrait, dedicated to Kiri Te Kanawa’s teacher of many years, Vera Rozas, was filmed in 1991, and accompanies the soprano through a whole year. It follows her on trips to New Zealand and the San Francisco Opera, where she was preparing her role in Strauss’ Capriccio. The film includes recordings of her in excerpts from arias by Handel, Mozart, Charpentier, Puccini and Cilèa, as well as in the final scene of Capriccio, and in songs by Richard Strauss.
John Hammond
A talent scout, record producer, impresario, jazz critic and civil rights activist, John Hammond, who died in 1987, was a driving force in popular American music, bringing to prominence such outstanding artists as Billie Holiday, Count Basie and Bob Dylan. This rich and vibrant portrait features film of Hammond reminiscing about his life and career and talking with many of the artists who worked with him. The contributors include Count Basie, Dylan and Bruce Springsteen.
Iannis Xenakis – Something Rich and Strange
The life story of Xenakis (1922-2001) is that of a genius who triumphed over adversity to become, not only a leading composer, but also an architect of renown. His music is rooted in a sub-soil of mathematics, architecture, science and the drama of his personal history. Filmed on the Greek island where he grew up and in his Paris studio, Xenakis is seen talking about his life and his music, which, not only speaks for itself in specially-recorded performances, but is linked to the other sources of his creativity by an inventive use of images.
Maria Joao Pires
The Portuguese pianist’s return to the concert platform in the mid-1980s, after a break due to ill health, was a triumph. This programme shows her pursuing her professional career with renewed vigour and talking with great frankness and intensity about her life and work. Performances of works by Mozart, Schubert, Schumann, Beethoven, Poulenc and Chopin are featured.
Dancing
From the stylised steps of a Japanese kabuki dancer to the frenetic posturings on a disco floor, people around the world use dance to reflect their thoughts and beliefs, their philosophies and desires. Filmed in over a dozen countries on four continents, this series offers a global view of dance in its infinite variety, and is as much about why we dance as how we dance. Each programme focuses on a specific aspect of dance, such as its religious significance, its expression of social values and its role as a medium of cultural fusion.