DAY 30 WEDNESDAY 21ST OCTOBER, ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA



Up early for quick trip to the gym. Beautiful day. Pick up the national newspaper: The Australian. 4 new releases reviewed & thankfully one is ours. That’s almost more important than what they actually say. The review is a bit lukewarm but still very useful – and the opening line would sit nicely on any future press release or DVD cover:

A sensitive and meticulous documentary by Phil Grabsky about the life and work of the composer, with a moving emphasis on his encroaching deafness. Despite copious musical excerpts and a host of interviews with musical authorities (not all of them well known) the final effect is unenlightening, never quite matching the success of Grabsky’s 2006 documentary IN SEARCH OF MOZART. Evan Williams

‘sensitive and meticulous’ The Australian. Thank you – that will do nicely. And thanks for the Mozart plug – that will help DVD sales….

Head spinning with trying to keep up to date with the blog, notes, reviews, radio, press, publicity, cinema managers, and all the many emails for other stuff that I get daily – plus trying to start reading up about Haydn…Plus expenses, laundry, hotel bookings, photos for the blog, banking, trying to eat healthy and sneaking off to nearest golf courses… What day is this? I had to check: 30. A month. Right, enough – got to go for first radio i/v of the day.

DAY 29 TUESDAY 20TH OCTOBER, ADELAIDE, AUSTRALIA

Woke up in Hobart
2 flights, one game of golf, one blog, 25 emails, one dinner and went to bed in Adelaide. That was Day 29

DAY 28 MONDAY 19TH OCTOBER, HOBART, AUSTRALIA






Took an early morning flight through an absolutely packed Melbourne airport. I’m hanging in there with all these flights but it’s a shame I lost my lounge access card as the peace and quiet (and the free snacks) of a lounge do hope ease the pain of travel. Once on board, I pulled my coat down over my head and slept the whole way there. I have never been to Tasmania before and from the air it is stunning. I didn’t connect with the person picking me up at first until I heard someone on the phone saying ‘yes, but I don’t know what he flipping-well looks like’ – that had to be for me. It was. John the owner of the one and only Hobart arthouse cinema had found me… He’s another one of these extremely hard-working folk who keep these wonderful cinemas going. He has even dug down into the ground under his cinema to create extra screens… He and his partner Jan seem to work their socks off to keep the cinema going and I hope the locals realise what a treasure it is. Apparently they do as some make long journeys to visit – and some, apparently, have even moved to Hobart from elsewhere in Tasmania just to be near the cinema. Hobart is a rather lovely place too – only 500,000 folk and a real sense of the past which has managed not to have been knocked down and replaced by bland skyscrapers. The evening was great – a complete sell out and, for the very first time, a standing ovation! Now I can only remember standing to applaud a film once (and that was quite recently in Prague for a great film called Anvil) and frankly I didn’t know where to look when the good folk of Hobart offered me the same honour… As always, the proof will be in the pudding and how long it justifies John keeping it in the cinema. It would be great to have a good run… The local radio and press really liked the film so that will help.

DAY 27 SUNDAY 18TH OCTOBER, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

Up at 7am and went for nice run down to the river. There were hundreds of cyclists already there about to go on a sponsored bike raid – and what a lovely ride that must be. I don’t run that far as I need to prepare for the day before going to the cinema to watch a couple of films before my own screening. First up was a thoroughly decent film called Seraphine and the second was the excellent National Theatre performance (filmed and sent to Australia on tape) of All’s Well that Ends Well. Then it was Beethoven time. Pretty well sold out though only a 130 seater. The film went well – and one thing I am starting to notice is that members of the audience seem to have a more profound connection to Beethoven and his music, I have had quite a few on this trip telling me that Beethoven’s music helped them ‘out of a hole’ or through some life crisis or other. More people are certainly moved through the film too – again, more than one has been so emotional after the film that they have found it hard to talk to me. Maybe there is something deeper about Beethoven. I have my views on this but I’m still reserving judgement a little until I have had more screenings. After this one, I went for quick snack with Carol – from the local radio station, who hosted the Q&A, Trent who works for the distributor and the lovely Teri who was publicist on Mozart and now works for a group of lawyers attempting to bring the world closer to being nuclear weapon-free. Good luck on that one, teri!

DAY 26 SATURDAY 17TH OCTOBER, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

Body still hyper I guess. Woke before 7am and was soon tapping away on the computer, trying to get my email in-box back to single figures…No chance…
Another packed press day. Dashing around Melbourne to various radio stations. As I said yesterday, it’s extremely impressive how many radio stations there are and how each of them had done their homework on the film and had a full list of questions they wanted to ask. I thought I might have to adjust my responses depending on whether the channel was a classical radio station, indy music station or a gay & lesbian radio station but in fact all asked broadly similar, intelligent questions that in the UK you might get from only one or two stations. It’s another day passed in a car or radio station but I guess that’s why I’m here. I certainly hope it helps… Certainly the interviewers could not have been more enthusiastic about the film and all essentially insisted their audience come see the film! In the evening I had dinner with some wonderful friends of mine who, truth be told, I so wanted to see again after the last trip to Australia (for IN SEARCH OF MOZART) that I never hesitated for second in any plans to set up this press tour. I’m not sure I should embarrass them by describing them too much but what I will say is that John was the first person I met on the Mozart film. He was absolutely Day 1 (of three years) and the fact that I can now stay at his house in Australia or vice versa – he and his fabulous wife Janet – are welcome to stay with us in the UK any time is illustrative of what a wonderful world the classical music world is. Others may have had different experiences but I have made more friends – some of whom are the world’s best musicians – in the course of these two projects than probably all the 100 or 200 films I made previously. Got to be late again – 1am. Alarm is off: I’m sure to sleep in.

oh, and a little poem:

There once were two mice
Called Ella & Billy
Known for being,
Well, really, quite silly
They lived in my pocket
And ate all my snacks
They really are cheeky
And live life to the max!

DAY 25 FRIDAY 16TH OCTOBER, MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA

Flight at 7am from Sydney to Melbourne. Finally managed to get my baggage down to 23k so no excess baggage at $10/Kilo. Though it did mean my rucksack was stuffed full of books and golf balls… Quick flight to Melbourne and taxi straight to SBS radio for an interview for French folk (done in French) then German folk (done in English). No rest..need coffee…off to ABC radio for national interview. I came here in 2006 but have no memory of the building at all – which is a bit spooky. One struggles to get any radio in the UK but here there’s loads – indeed I did two more and a TV spot until at 3pm I said that’s it – enough’s enough. I suppose I should have had a nap at this point but I dashed off to a nice public golf course instead. Short course and I just managed to finish 18 holes as it got dark. Walked straight to the cinema (where Beethoven showing tomorrow) and went in to see Quentin Tarantino’s latest film – set in WW2. I have never felt the need to rush out of a cinema and go get a shower after watching most of this film. It was so, so disgusting on so many levels – normally I just want to persuade people to watch Beethoven now I want to chain them to their cinema seats and forcing anyone who was thinking of see Tarantino’s film or has had the misfortune to see it – to watch a film that contains hope, optimism, love, genius. Because Tarantino’s is almost sickness, violence, hate. Of course his film will be seen by tens of millions and mine won’t. On that, a 21-hour day came to an end.

October 22nd 2009
DAY 24 THURSDAY 15th OCTOBER, SYDNEY, AUSTRALIA

A sunny day in Sydney – such a great city. I dashed around doing radio interviews – I don’t have any trouble keeping enthusiastic about the film or Beethoven; indeed I enjoy the challenge of being articulate, funny, and a good salesperson. The one question that always trips me up though is ‘So, Phil, who is better? Mozart or Beethoven?’ So, which are your two kids do you prefer? Do you like your left leg more than your right one? No time to enjoy Sydney though – too many emails to keep on top of forthcoming screenings. I did manage to meet a local author called Agnes Selby who wrote a great book on Constanze Mozart. She and he husband Theo invited me for pancakes. And thoroughly nice they were too. Though I am always amazed at the short-sighted stinginess of some restaurants. The pancakes were advertised to come with fruit. They turn up with two strawberries and an inch of banana. Can I have more banana please? Yes, sir, but we’ll charge. Before I can respond in an appropriately Beethovian way, Theo says that will be fine. The waitress reappears with another inch of banana….
After lunch I had a meeting at ABC Australia – great guy works there called Ian who is keeping them honest. Ultimately it comes down the individuals who work in organisation – hopefully they’ll keep Ian on for a good while yet. Especially as he wants more of my films!
Rushed over to AVIS and picked up a hire car and then Linda the publicist and I headed north to a screening at Avoca Beach. It was a two hour drive (through lovely landscapes) and a pretty small cinema but as far as I am concerned Avoca Beach is the absolute model for small, community-based, well-run, fabulously programmed cinemas. Digital had changed everything so one day it’s Beethoven then it’s a live concert from Sydney, a Shakespeare play from London even a Robbie Williams concert. Plus a strong array of films. Good coffee, good cake, a bar, comfy chairs in and out, and cinema owners who know many of their clients by name. And what a great evening we had. A string quartet played on the lawn – with the sea only metres away – and then the film was tremendously well received. Terribly enthusiastic Q&A – lots of laughs too. Linda and I didn’t get to leave until 11pm and then we had to drive back to Sydney. We couldn’t find a cab anywhere for Linda – who is tremendous fun and extremely nice but started to lose her smile by 1am and no way home from the airport (where I was staying). Sorted it in the end. I got to bed in a dingy prison cell of a room – a Formule Un (which can be OK in France) – but a bed’s a bed. I seriously considered not bothering to get undressed as I have to be up in 4 hours..