John Ogdon

In 1962, the British pianist John Ogdon won the Tchaikovsky Competition along with Ashkenazy and embarked on a successful international career. Ten years later he was struck by a crippling mental illness from which he took many years to recover. This programme was made with Ogdon shortly before his tragic death in 1989, as his musical genius was beginning to reassert itself. It focuses on his overriding love for music and concludes with him improvising a new work at the piano.