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Up close and personal: Â鶹ԼÅÄ Four to screen series of legendary music films
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Christopher Nupen's intimate and pioneering portraits of
great musicians are among the most celebrated classical music
films ever made. Â鶹ԼÅÄ Four is screening a series of eight of
these classic films on consecutive Friday evenings over
eight weeks during the autumn.
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Starting with the iconic film about the brilliant and tragic
British cellist Jacqueline du Pré – and continuing with
portraits of Pinchas Zukerman, Itzhak Perlman, Vladimir
Ashkenazy, Evgeny Kissin and Nathan Milstein (two films) –
the Â鶹ԼÅÄ Four series culminates in the debut screening of
Nupen's latest film Karim's Journey.
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This new documentary
follows the progress of Amman-born musician, Karim Said, a
protégé of Daniel Barenboim's, from the age of 11 to 17.
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Now
on the brink of his public career, Said has already won eight
international prizes, and this film won the Special Jury
Award at the Palermo Festival in July.
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Nupen says that the pioneering work of his Allegro Films team
was based on four things: "Television was new, enthusiastic and full of hope that it
could do something of real importance for the arts in general
and for music in particular.
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"A new kind of camera was
invented which made it possible to follow musicians into
places where the camera had never been and to show intimate
scenes not possible before.
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"With those cameras film became
capable of remembering performers in a new way and one not
matched by other media.
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"A new generation of musicians
appeared young, full of bounce and different in kind from
their predecessors, at least in their relationship with the
camera.
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"It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time
and the fact that we were making films with my friends added
another and very telling dimension.
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"We were having fun and
were able to make a kind of film that had never been possible
before. We really were very lucky."
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The Oxford philosopher and historian of ideas, Sir Isaiah
Berlin, described some of Christopher Nupen's films as being
"at just about the highest level which television is capable
of reaching".
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Â鶹ԼÅÄ Four broadcast listings
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Friday 26 September
Jacqueline du Pré And The Elgar Cello Concerto
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Jacqueline du Pré's brilliant career as one of the finest
musicians that Britain has ever produced was cut tragically
short by multiple sclerosis when she was 28, and she died in
1987 at the age of 41.
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The film begins with an account of her
activities after the onset of her illness and includes, at
her request, a re-edited version of the film which Nupen made
with her in 1967.
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It outlines her childhood, her first steps
in music, her studies with William Pleeth, her meteoric
career and her meeting with and marriage to Daniel Barenboim.
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It ends with a performance of the Elgar cello Concerto with
the Philharmonia Orchestra conducted by Daniel Barenboim – a
performance which has already passed into legend.
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Friday 3 October
Pinchas Zukerman: Here To Make Music
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Six years in the making, this Emmy-nominated film traces the
development of one of the finest violin talents of the
20th century through the crucial years of transition
from wunderkind to early maturity.
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It was one of the first
of its kind, presenting audio material from the age of nine
and film from the age of 19.
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The film also follows the
growth of Zukerman's relationship with the English Chamber
Orchestra which drew him into conducting for the first time,
and caused quite a stir, as can be seen in the film.
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Friday 10 October
Itzhak Perlman: Virtuoso Violinist (I Know I Played Every
Note)
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Shot over a period of three years, this film is an intimate
account of the formative years in the life and career of one
of the world's leading violinists.
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Itzhak Perlman fell in
love with the sounds of the violin at the age of three-and-a-half, but contracted polio a few months later and was soon
to learn that it would be impossible for him to pursue a
high-level career as a violinist.
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Not only has he succeeded
in doing what the world thought impossible, but he has done
it on a level that few have matched.
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It is a heartening story
of the triumph of talent, determination, character and
tenacity over seemingly insurmountable odds, producing
glorious results along the way.
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Friday 17 October
Vladimir Ashkenazy: The Vital Juices Are Russian
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A pioneering film which takes an intimate look at the life,
talent and trials of one of the most quietly successful
musicians of our time.
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It was shot at a crucial turning point
in Ashkenazy's life and career when, after leaving the Soviet
Union and living in London for five years, he and his
Icelandic wife, Thorunn, decided to move to Iceland.
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It is
also a closely observed account of one of the most demanding
and rewarding of all professions and a lively reminder of a
new kind of television music film which inspired a new
audience for classical music.
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It was described by Ingmar
Bergman on Swedish television as the best he had seen about a
living musician.
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Friday 24 October
Evgeny Kissin: The Gift Of Music
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The rise to fame of young Russian pianist Evgeny Kissin has
seldom been equalled in the classical music world.
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This film
shows Kissin in preparation, interview, rehearsal and
performance with several dazzling performances shot live on
stage, in true concert conditions, where this artist is
undoubtedly at his best.
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It contains footage from Kissin's
memorable Â鶹ԼÅÄ Proms concert at the Royal Albert Hall in 1997,
the first solo recital in the history of the Proms.
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It also
includes sequences with Kissin's mentor from the age of six,
Anna Pavlovna Kantor, who has become a member of the family
and remains a guiding friend to this day.
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The music is by
Liszt, Gluck, Haydn, Beethoven, Kissin, Schubert and Chopin,
the composer for whom Kissin feels the closest affinity.
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Friday 31 October and Friday 7 November
Nathan Milstein: Master Of Invention (part one and two)
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This two part film – the second part of which receives it
first UK broadcast here – follows the life and times of one
of the finest performing musicians of the 20th century.
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Nathan Milstein's career spanned a remarkable 73 years, one
of the longest in the history of music, though he
scrupulously avoided publicity throughout.
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It took Nupen
three years to persuade this most modest of musicians to make
this two-part film, and it includes revealing interviews
about his life, his career, his music and his friends, as
well as extended sequences of live performance.
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Friday 14 November
Karim's Journey
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Receiving its first broadcast here, Nupen's latest award-
winning film follows the progress of pianist, conductor and
composer Karim Said over seven years, from the ages of 11 to
17.
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Born in Amman where he studied percussion and piano,
Karim Said has been applauded by several established
musicians, is a protégé of Daniel Barenboim's and has already
won eight international prizes although he is still only
19 years old.
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The film was shot in Lithuania, Jordan,
Spain, the Czech Republic, Germany and the UK with music by
Mendelssohn, Beethoven, Chopin, Debussy, Schubert, Mozart and
Liszt, and has recently won a Special Jury Award at the
Palermo Festival. Ìý
VB
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