Joseph Banks accompanied Cook on his first voyage of circumnavigation in 1768 and collected over seven hundred hitherto unknown plant species, recorded in drawings by Sydney Parkinson. This film traces that journey of discovery to Madeira, Rio, Tahiti, New Zealand, Australia and Indonesia. It also documents the historic printing of the first full colour edition of Banks’s Florilegium, which, after many misfortunes, finally came to fruition in the 1980s. Written and narrated by Robert Hughes, the programme is a rich mixture of art, history, science and travel.
The Life And Times of Don Luis Bunuel
Buñuel (1906-83) is unquestionably one of the great cinema directors of all time. His fabulously inventive imagination and anarchic spirit were combined with a deeply serious concern about man’s brutality, intolerance and hypocrisy, evident throughout his work. This film examines Bunuel’s career and assesses his importance in the development of European cinema. It includes excerpts from many of his best-known films, including Belle de jour, The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie and That Obscure Object of Desire.
The Caravaggio Conspiracy
To research a book on art theft, journalist Peter Watson assumed the identity of a shady art dealer for almost three years. In this guise and with the help of Sotheby’s, Christie’s and the police, he pursued stolen paintings and was instrumental in the recovery of a del Sarto and a Bronzino – though not the Caravaggio he was hunting. This film, shot in London, Italy and New York, tells the story through extensive reconstructions.
Requiem
Mozart’s last work, the Requiem Mass in D minor K626, receives a strong performance from the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Chorus under Mozart specialist Sir Colin Davis in a classic recording made in 1984.
This live recording from the Herkulessaal in Munich featthe Maestro conducting the Bavarian Radio Symphony Chorus and Orchestra with the outstanding Peter Schreier, Edith Mathis and Trudeliese Schmidt as well as ever-popular Welsh bass Gwynne Howell.
Karl Münchinger
In the aftermath of the Second World War, conductor Karl Münchinger (1915-90) set up the Stuttgart Chamber Orchestra. Under his guidance, the orchestra became world famous for ist consummately modern rendition of baroque music, attracting a new interest in eighteenth-century composers. In this profile, made five years before his death, Münchinger talks about his methods and style and is Seen rehearsing and performing music by Mozart, Pergolesi and Bach.
Romeo and Juliet Suite
Sir Georg Solti conducts the Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra in a performance of extracts from Prokofiev’s music for the ballet Romeo and Juliet, recorded live from the Herkulessaal, Munich.
Ed Mcbain
In 1954, Blackboard Jungle – the film of Evan Hunter’s book – scandalised America with its raw, provocative view of post-war adolescence. Hunter changed his name to Ed McBain and built a huge international reputation with his thrillers about New York’s 87th Precinct detective squad. In this programme he talks about his work and is followed on a night-time journey through his New York domain. Dramatised sequences from his books are also included.
Oscar Peterson
This studio recording features Oscar Peterson, with Niels Pedersen on bass and Martin Drew on drums, playing a piece specially-commissioned from Peterson for the programme. The music takes as its theme the Easter story, and the great jazz pianist talks about how he adapted his unique style to the composition of a religious work.
Stamping Ground
An invitation to attend a large gathering of Aboriginal dancers in Australia fuelled Jiri Kylián’s abiding interest in their traditions. Film of his experience there, together with footage of the work it inspired him to undertake with the Nederlands Dans Theater, form an introduction to a studio recording of the stunning ballet that resulted: Stamping Ground. This stunningly innovative and athletic piece of choreography is danced to music by Carlos Chavez.
This performance is also available with a documentary introduction, Road To The Stamping Ground.
Violin Concerto
Recorded live from the Herkulessaal Munich, Sir Colin Davis conducts the Bayerischer Rundfunk Symphony Orchestra, with soloist Gidon Kremer, in a performance of Alban Berg‘s elegiac Violin Concerto. Alban Berg completed this concerto for violin and orchestra in 1935, impelled by the news of the death of Manon Gropius, the beautiful eighteen-yearold daughter of Mahler‘s widow by her second marriage, to the architect Walter Gropius. He dedicated it “to the memory of an angel”.
The secret life of Alban Berg
Alban Berg (1885-1935) lived in the mainstream of well-to-do Austrian society. His marriage to the beautiful Hélène was thought to be made in heaven. But how can this doyen of Viennese respectability be reconciled with the composer who wrote the dark operas Wozzeck and Lulu? In this multi-layered film, director Krišs Rusmanis explores the private world behind the composer’s public image and reveals the double life Berg led, despite his moving protestationsof fidelity and devotion to his wife.