Jazz Britannia
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ FOUR hits the high notes this winter with a season celebrating
British jazz.
The centre point of the season is Jazz Britannia, a compelling and
ambitious series which tells the story of how Britain has assimilated
and interpreted one of the most important African-American art forms
of the 20th century.
Jazz Britannia explores the plethora of styles, scenes and dogmas
that define the term 'British jazz': from the emergence of Black music
in the Forties, through the battle against rock 'n' roll in the Sixties,
the development of abstract jazz in the Seventies, through to the first
years of the 21st century, when jazz is on the up once more, thanks
to artists such as Jamie Cullum, Amy Winehouse and Katie Melua.
More than just a musical story, the series illustrates how jazz has
held up a mirror to the forging of post-war, post-colonial British society,
where issues of class and race have combined to produce a music that
remains peculiarly British, yet still dependent on its American master.
Predominantly set in London's Soho, the series lifts the lid on a vibrant
musical outsider, independent of the popular mainstream.
Blending a mixture of archive, performance and personal testimony,
Jazz Britannia is a journey through good times, bad times and fascinating
music.
Major names from the world of jazz, including Ronnie Scott,
Johnny Dankworth, Humphrey Lyttelton, Tubby Hayes,
Chris Barber, Joe Harriott and Acker Bilk, contribute
music and recollections.
The Jazz Britannia season also includes an exciting live incarnation,
as London's Barbican Centre joins forces with Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ FOUR to stage a very
special weekend of concerts.
Echoing the themes of the documentary series, the Barbican's event
celebrates the music and musicians that shaped the jazz scene - from
past triumphs and legendary names right up to modern-day innovators.
A Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ production.
SD
Churchill's Forgotten
Years
In 1945, Winston Churchill was stinging from electoral defeat and criticism.
Despite ill health, including several strokes, he struggled back to
the Prime Ministership, and reinvented himself as a man of peace.
Churchill's Forgotten Years documents his later years and delves into
the psyche of this complex man to reveal what made Churchill tick.
Presented by a leading Churchill historian, Professor David
Reynolds of Cambridge University, this film reveals the real
man behind the national icon, and a rich three-dimensional character
with superhuman energies and very human frailties emerges.
A Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ production.
KA
Darkness Into Light
- The Music Of James MacMillan
Within the span of a single work, James MacMillan has the inventive
ability necessary to seize listeners by the scruff of the neck, draw
them to the edge of their seats and reach their hearts with music of
breathtaking power and spiritual intensity.
Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ FOUR broadcasts from the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Symphony Orchestra's acclaimed
annual Composer Weekend at the Barbican, this year celebrating the work
of Scottish composer MacMillan.
MacMillan made a huge impression in August 1990 when his orchestral
work, The Confession Of Isobel Gowdie, was premiΓ¨red at the Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ Proms
and broadcast to a large audience.
Here was a composition of explosive energy, richly scored and thoroughly
compelling.
His prolific output has since been performed and broadcast around the
world, placing him among the front ranks of contemporary composers.
A Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ production.
SD
Kenneth Tynan - In
Praise Of Hardcore
Kenneth Tynan was a theatrical colossus at the centre of Sixties Swinging
London.
Critic, impresario and dandy, he was a man at the top of his game and
no stranger to controversy.
His must-read articles were celebrated for their incisive and cutting
wit.
Battling against censorship, mediocrity, outdated attitudes and his
own ailing health, Tynan was a man of insatiable appetites and endless
wit, never losing his ability to light up a room with his incandescent
humour, or to deliver a damning, earth-shattering observation.
Tynan's uncompromising attitude made him a thorn in the Establishment's
side during a period of social and political upheaval.
With his credibility under threat, his finances in free-fall and his
wife, Kathleen, beginning to lose faith in him, he wrote increasingly
honest and painful columns about his mid-life insecurities.
Inspired anew by his personal credo of "goad, lacerate and raise whirlwinds",
Tynan's creative energies were divided between writing his merciless
theatre criticism and devising Oh, Calcutta!, a controversial erotic
stage revue that promised to bring the sexual revolution to the middle
classes.
Exploring the personal and professional life of this brilliant yet
awkward man of ideas, Kenneth Tynan - In Praise Of Hardcore is a 90-minute
drama, written and directed by Chris Durlacher and produced by Richard
Fell.
Rob Brydon plays Kenneth Tynan, Catherine
McCormack plays Kathleen and Julian Sands
plays Sir Laurence Olivier, with whom Tynan had a close but self-destructive
friendship.
A Βι¶ΉΤΌΕΔ production.
FP
Printable version
