This visually stunning and emotionally raw piece of dance theatre was conceived with reference to the notorious Dennis Nilsen’s murders of homeless London teenagers. It is a passionately sympathetic look at loneliness, at the terrible consequences of lust imagined as love and trust turned to vicious sexual torment. Created by Lloyd Newson, Nigel Charnock, Russell Maliphant and Douglas Wright, who perform in this film version, it was specially reworked for the cameras, losing none of its hard-hitting intensity. (Music by Sally Herbert)
Fitzrovia
The Second World War was a particularly active period for British writers and this literary portrait of that era includes an anthology of their poetry and prose. Anthony Powell, Alan Ross and Roy Fuller represent those who saw military action, and interviewees, including Stephen Spender and Peggy Ashcroft, focus on the experiences of the writers who were in London during the Blitz.
Hans Werner Henze
Leading German composer Hans Werner Henze’s early experiences of Nazism and wartime conscription left him with a passionate belief in music as a means of political resistance and as a healing force. Filmed while on a rare visit to his home town in Westphalia, Henze talks candidly about his youth, the development of his revolutionary aesthetic and his nomadic musical life. He is seen at work on the score for his opera, The Treacherous Sea.
Christopher Hogwood on Haydn
Haydn (1732-1809), the ‘Father of the Symphony’, spent his most creative years as Kapellmeister at the Esterháza Palace in Hungary. Conductor Christopher Hogwood travels to Esterháza with his orchestra, the Academy of Ancient Music, and leading Haydn authority H. C. Robbins Landon, to explore the composer’s life and his music. Musical illustrations recorded at Esterháza raise questions about the authentic style of rendition championed by Hogwood and his musicians.
Mark Morris
Morris is a brilliantly creative choreographer whose musicality and almost classical regard for form have led him to be hailed as the successor to the late George Balanchine, the doyen of twentieth-century dance. This programme was made when he was the resident choreographer at La Monnaie in Brussels. It focuses on his highly-acclaimed ballet L’allegro, il penseroso ed il moderato. He is also seen creating a new work in rehearsal, with dancers including Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Yuri Bashmet
The internationally-acclaimed Ukrainian viola virtuoso, whose dark good looks have earned him the nickname of ‘the Paganini of our age’, is seen giving the Russian premiere of Schnittke’s Monologue and performing with the legendary pianist Sviatoslav Richter in the Pushkin Museum. In his Moscow flat, he discusses social and musical issues with other Russian artists and improvises on the viola. It transpires that The Beatles were the catalyst to his musical success!
Martin Amis
Noted for his provocative, dark comedies, satirising the more grotesque aspects of modern urban life, Martin Amis is the leading British novelist of his generation. In this profile, he reads from his book, London Fields, and explains how the onset of what he describes as “early middle age” changed his outlook on tife and death.
Robert Altman
This programme looks at the work of one of American cinema’s most individual and innovative film-makers. Altman is seen on location in Holland working on his film, Vincent and Theo, and talking about his distinctive style and working methods as well as his often difficult relationship with the American film industry. The programme also includes extracts from M.A.S.H., McCabe and Mrs. Miller, Secret Honour and Tanner ’88.
African Literature as Celebration
This lecture by Chinua Achebe, Africa’s foremost contemporary novelist, provides an eloquent introduction to the new and genuinely great world literature which has emerged from Africa in the past fifty years.
Movie Music Man: Lalo Schifrin
The pianist, conductor and composer Lalo Schifrin is perhaps best-known for the award-winning film and television scores he has penned, such as Mission Impossible, Cool Hand Luke, Bullit and The Fox. This documentary includes clips from these screen classics and features extensive extracts from a concert Schifrin gave in Cannes, with the Lyon National Orchestra and guests, including Dizzy Gillespie, Ray Brown and Grady Tate (The Dizzy Gillespie Trio) and soprano Julia Migenes.