One the most exciting British painters to emerge in the twentieth century, Patrick Heron (1920-99) was a splendid raconteur, eloquent on the subjects of modern art and colour, his constant Obsession and joy. He spent most of his life in Cornwall, where he was filmed for this rogramme at his studio,painting a major new work during the course of a Single afternoon. He also takes viewers on a lively tour of a retrospective exhibition of his paintings at London’s Barbican Gallery.
Dido and Aeneas
When asked to adapt Purcell’s melodious and moving work for this special studio presentation, composer Howard Goodall aimed to reach an audience normally resistant to opera. He chose Debby Bishop and Peter Straker – stars of musicals rather than opera – as the tragic lovers, used modern instruments, including saxophone, guitar and synthesiser, in his orchestration, and replaced recitative with spoken dialogue. A Dido as Purcell might have written it today? In a short introduction, Goodall and Purcell virtuoso Simon Preston discuss this question.
John Cleese
John Cleese’s success disproves his own Claim that he is “about as funny as the average bank manager”. Monty Python and Fawlty Towers made him Britain’s best-known comic writer and performer. In this programme, he talks about his boyhood, the creation and character of Basil Fawlty, the relative merits of comedy and accountancy, and activities into which he has diversified – politics, and writing books with his psychotherapist.
Hal Prince
Hal Prince has been intimately involved with the history of the American musical since the 1950s, responsible for producing the original stagings of hit shows such as West Side Story, and directing successes including Cabaret, Evita and Sweeney Todd. In this television lecture, he gives a fascinating insight into the past, present and future of this form of entertainment.
Peter Shaffer
This programme with Peter Shaffer, one of the world’s most successful contemporary playwrights, looks at his concerns as a writer, his skill as a story-teller and his mastery of theatrical spectacle. He is seen at work on his play, Yonadab, in the weeks leading up to its opening night. Specially-staged extracts from Amadeus, Equus and The Royal Hunt of the Sun provide the basis for a discussion of his work.
Vladimir Ashkenazy
Vladimir Ashkenazy is one of the world’s most accomplished and charismatic musicians, renowned as both a pianist and a conductor. He left Russia in 1963 to escape the restrictions imposed on individual expression pre-perestroika, and, in this film he talks revealingly about his life, work and motivations. Specially-recorded musical illustrations include passages of Chopin, Beethoven, Rachmaninov and Brahms.
Sidney Nolan
Born in Melbourne of Irish parents, Sidney Nolan (1917-92) became the leading Australian artist of his generation and a prominent figure in the international art world. His Output of paintings, graphics, book illustrations and theatre designs was prolific, and his journey to fame was an eventful one. Made a few years before his death, this biographical survey of his work includes film of Nolan in England, Australia, Ireland and Hong Kong.
Marguerite Yourcenar
Marguerite Yourcenar (1903-87) was the first woman to be elected to the illustrious Academie Française. This programme records an extended interview she gave the year before she died. At home, on the island off the coast of Maine where she lived as a virtual recluse from the 1930s on, she talks in depth about her life and work, which is illustrated with readings by actress Janet Suzman.
James Joyce
This series examines the lives and principal works of ten great modernist writers, the giants of European literature at the turn of the nineteenth Century, whose thought and writing foreshadowed the age to come and whose influence is still felt today. Each programme explores the unique imaginative world of its subject, combining drama, documentary and critical explanation. “Anyone who sees the series, will acquire a remarkably clear idea of the Modern movement in literature and what it represents: in technique, experimentation and introspection; in content, paranoia and despair.” (Financial Times) Joseph Conrad (R0327) Fyodor Dostoevsky (R0225) T.S. Eliot (R0311) Henrik Ibsen (R0310) James Joyce (R0199) Franz Kafka (R0273) Thomas Mann (R0275) Luigi Pirandello (R279) Marcel Proust (R0281) Virginia Woolf (R0274) A follow-u programme is available, in which a panel of writers, including series consultant Malcolm Bradbury, discusses ideas which have been raised. Silver Medal, New York International Film and TV Festival Cable Ace, Best International Cuitural Series
Marches and Polkas
The internationally-acclaimed Czech maestro Václav Neumann (1920-95) conducts the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra in a concert of marches and polkas by Julius Fucik. This live recording comes from the Smetana Hall in Prague.