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downloads > Benjamin Britten: A Time There Was... £6.99
synopsis
Digitally Restored
Winner of the Prix Italia BENJAMIN BRITTEN A TIME THERE WAS… “Palmer is a master of the medium - he takes us into the minds of men of music and explains why they accomplished what they did. This is the most absorbing film ever made about a composer, how he worked, what he thought and what made him what he was. It is as important as any book written on the man and his music.” John Ardoin, The New York Times “Tony Palmer proves once again he is a deeply intuitive, caring and thoughtful film maker, second to none. This was a loving portrait of a most remarkable and gifted man.” Martin Jackson, The Daily Mail With Benjamin Britten Peter Pears Leonard Bernstein Robert Britten Barbara Britten Beth Welford (sister) Sviatoslav Richter Janet Baker Julian Bream Heather Harper John Shirley-Quirk Imogen Holst Rosamund Strode Rudolf Bing Henry Moore Paul Rotha Beata Sauerlander David Rothman Elsie Hockey (cousin) Miss Hudson (housekeeper) Rita Thomson (nurse) The English Chamber Orchestra conducted by Steuart Bedford Extracts from: Peter Grimes The Rape of Lucretia Billy Budd Turn of the Screw Noye's Fludde A Midsummer Night's Dream Curlew River The Burning Fiery Furnace Phaedra Death in Venice War Requiem Nocturne Prince of the Pagodas Les Illuminations Building of the House Nocturnal The Way to the Sea Night Mail Sinfonia da Requiem Young Person's Guide to the Orchestra There are always dates which resonate for ever in our lives – “I remember exactly what I was doing….”; or even “I was there……” The death of Kennedy, for instance. For me that date is May 30th 1962. By chance, I had been taken to Coventry Cathedral by a friend, John Culshaw, to hear “a big new choral piece” by Britten whose entire works Culshaw, as head of DECCA, was then in the process of committing to disc. And thank God he did. To him, we should all be eternally grateful. That big new piece was, of course, the world première of the War Requiem. I remember the utter silence which followed the performance. No words, let alone applause, could express what we all felt, a feeling which has never left me every time I hear music by Britten. Years later, I was able to repay a tiny part of my gratitude to him for what he had given us with a film called Britten & His Festival about the opening of the original Snape Concert Hall in 1967. I can with modesty say that he loved the film, with the consequence that after he had died, Peter Pears, his lover and long-time inspiration, asked me to make a more substantial film in memory. This film, made in 1979, with Janet Baker, Julian Bream, Richter, Leonard Bernstein, his brother & sisters, Pears himself and a host of close friends, was the result. I could never repay my debt to him, but I hoped (and hope) the film would enable others to share something of this strange, haunted man, and his inspiration for us. Humphrey Carpenter once played the Young Person’s Guide on his programme In Tune on Radio3. Following the tumultuous fugue at the end, there was a long pause, and eventually Humphrey said: “that, ladies and gentlemen, is pure genius”. Yes, it is. By Tony Palmer download information
Cast: Benjamin Britten, Peter Pears, Leonard Bernstein, Robert Britten, Barbara Britten, Janet Baker, Julian Bream, Heather Harper, John Shirley-Quirk Customer Reviewspeople who bought this product also bought...
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