Master of the music biopic, Ken Russell explores the psyche of Anton Bruckner (1824-96) and the extraordinary music he wrote, by focusing on his recovery from numeromania, an obsession with numbers. The onset of this mental illness began when the Austrian composer, on the brink of committing suicide by throwing himself off a bridge, instead began to count what he saw in the panorama below him. Subsequently, he entered a lunatic asylum and was cured in three months.
Sergei Rachmaninov
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.
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.
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.
On the Edge – Improvisation in Music
The essential role which improvisation plays in music is revealed through the playing and words of a wide selection of performers for whom it is central to their creative process. Musicians in Africa, India, America and Europe were filmed on location, and contributors include jazz drummer Max Roach, rock guitarist Jerry Garcia, baroque specialist Christopher Hogwood, flamenco doyen Mario Maya, blues man Buddy Guy, the great Indian sarangi player Ram Narayan, salsa ace Eddie Palmieri, Nashville session player Buddy Emmons, contemporary composer John Zorn and organist Naji Hakim.
Alfred Schnittke – Words Return to Music
“Schnittke (1934-98) is now established as one of Russia’s most important twentieth-century composers. This programme features the first major television interview he gave in Moscow for broadcast in the West, when he and his colleagues were able to talk freely in the wake of Gorbachev’s reforms. The film reflects the “unreal reality” he describes by using specially-shot black and white sequences and original performance extracts to create an impressionistic tapestry of biography, music and ideas.
Works featured include Violin Sonata No. 2, Symphony No. 1, Prayer of a Young Man, Three Scenes, Epilogue from Peer Gynt and the Faust Cantata.”
I, Berlioz
Tony Palmer’s film contains a startling kaleidoscope of images reflecting precisely what Berlioz (1803-69) had written in his music: war, destruction, death, sometimes blending seamlessly with great natural beauty, sometimes juxtaposed with erotica. The pictures are underscored by the composer’s powerful and evocative music – mainly from his life’s work, The Trojans. This opera’s failure to convince the musical establishment of its greatness caused Berlioz to die a broken man. The programme, which takes as its source the composer’s letters and memoirs, details his vain attempts to gain recognition for this epic work. Corin Redgrave portrays Berlioz. The soloists are Ludmilla Schemtschuk, Giorgio Lamberti, Agnes Habereder and Anne Sofie Von Otter, and the ensemble, chorus and orchestra of the Zürich Opera House are conducted by Ralf Weikert.