14th August 2015

Midway through August….not that you’d know it looking outside of my window in Brighton as the rain pours down in buckets….  The centre of the city is dotted with small floods…Ah, summer time in England.    It is nice, however, to have a pause in the schedule and finally get back to giving everyone an update. It really has been toooooo long.  My, how we have been busy.  Yesterday we finished CONCERTO – A BEETHOVEN JOURNEY.  On and off in production for four years it is a 92’ film about one of the world’s great pianists Leif Ove Andsnes and his dedication over those past few years to playing essentially just Beethoven, above all the 5 piano concertos.  As soon as I heard the suggestion that this ‘journey’ was going to happen I asked him for permission to film from start to finish.  Little did I know just how successful the touring would be and how extraordinary the reviews of the music would be. He and the Mahler Chamber Orchestra became the absolute must-have tickets….  Thus to be on-stage and behind-stage with them has been a privilege and a thrill.  The film though is a re-evaluation of Beethoven and I think we offer a fresh and revealing new biography of arguably the greatest composer that has ever lived.  As ever, making the film is one thing, distributing another.  Our first release is the UK cinemas on September 7^th…yes, that’s 3 weeks!  Now, far be it from me to blow my own trumpet (well, maybe sometimes..) but here’s a review we just had from the highly esteemed Gramophone Magazine:

One of the highlights of the BBC Proms so far has been Leif Ove Andsnes’s Beethoven piano concerto cycle with the Mahler Chamber Orchestra, and if you’re suffering withdrawal symptoms from music-making of such freshness and imagination, there’s a treat in store on the horizon. Phil Grabsky’s film ‘Concerto: A Beethoven Journey’ looks at the five piano concertos in collaboration with Andsnes and the Mahler CO’s three-year series of concerts and recordings (for Sony Classical), 'The Beethoven Journey'.Andsnes proves a wonderful guide to these five extraordinary works, speaking with humility, wisdom and insight about what they mean to him and the challenges they present to the performer. He is disarmingly frank about his relationship with the works when in his twenties and how he came to terms with them. He explains what made him determined to perform them over the course of a few years, and record them. Footage from the concerts in Prague, which Sony Classical used for its CD releases, forms the backbone of the film. We also see Andsnes and Gustavo Dudamel talking about the works prior to performances with the Los Angeles Philharmonic.  For lovers of Beethoven’s music, admirers of Leif Ove Andsnes – and his fan base has probably grown exponentially in the past few weeks – or simply lovers of high-class music documentaries, ‘Concerto’ demands to be seen. It is a wonderfully uplifting and rewarding experience.  ‘I knew this exclusive journey with Leif Ove would allow me access to great performance,’ said Grabsky, ‘but I had no idea it would be this great. These became the best reviewed concerts of the past few years and I was on stage to record them. Even more importantly the music and Leif Ove's intelligent and accessible insight creates a staggeringly interesting new biography of arguably the greatest composer of all time.’ The film will be screened throughout the UK on September 7 – for details of participating cinemas visit Seventh Art’s website.

Not bad!  The release internationally will happen between now and next Spring.  We also had two wonderful preview screenings in Norway, high up in the Arctic Circle in a city called Bodø.  Leif Ove was there with the MCO playing the full 5 concertos and we screened the film twice to a sell-out crowd in between concerts.  It was wonderful to be in Norway with Norwegians for the premiere of a film about Norway’s number one artist.   More than that, it was a great excuse to travel up from Bergen and right up the western edge of this staggeringly beautiful country. I can’t recommend it enough.

To be honest, I needed the break.  The EXHIBITION ON SCREEN mega-project is all-consuming and it was pretty exhausting right up to the US screening on 14^th July (Bastille Day) of our last film in the Season – The Impressionists and the Man who Made Them.   We are really pleased with the 5 films this season – and in some countries they are still screening them (New Zealand, Korea, Brazil to name but three).  I’d always want (and need) a bigger audience worldwide but it’s growing and 40 countries is pretty impressive.  It looks like Van Gogh (with in excess of 100,000 seats sold) will be our best but Impressionists and Rembrandt may run it a close second.  Matisse deserved to do better but being first in the season (after a bit too long of a break from the end of Season 1) didn’t help. Girl with a Pearl Earring was some people’s favourite film but maybe was hindered a little by confusion from the Scarlett Johansson film of the same name.   

Season three is underway….and there are some exciting films coming this Autumn/Fall and into 2016.  I’ve been directing a film about Renoir that we are calling ‘Renoir – the Unknown Artist’. It’s based on the extraordinary collection of Renoirs at the Barnes Foundation in Philadelphia.  We are about two-thirds of the way through and my understanding and appreciation of Renoir has really increased.  The artwork will look super on the big screen but there’s a fascinating story that we unveil as we go.  My colleague David Bickerstaff is working on two films – Goya (based on the forthcoming exhibition at the National Gallery) and Painting the Modern Garden - Monet to Matisse (based on next year’s exhibition at the Royal Academy).   Both films are looking stunning.  Plus, plus. Plus..plenty more in the pipeline for next year and beyond. 

From time to time I even get the chance to go to galleries for fun!  I was in New York a few days ago and wandered (the very busy – who says no-one is interested in art!!) Metropolitan Museum of Art.  Simply staggering – especially if you let yourself get lost and end up in galleries you’ve never seen before.  I certainly left with lots of film ideas – I’d love for example to make a film about Islamic Art and also American (pre-20^th century) art.   I’ll never run out of subjects, that’s for sure.

One final thing: do keep an eye on our Facebook site for EXHIBITION ON SCREEN – we post a lot of art stories. They are really interesting.   And do feel free to leave comments : we respond to them all.

June 13th: Erasing women from the history of art

I just read an interesting article related to the National Gallery exhibition about Durand-Ruel and the Impressionists exhibition. I think she makes some excellent points: 

Under the title Inventing Impressionism: The Man Who Sold a Thousand Monets, the National Gallery in London recently mounted an exhibition about Paul Durand-Ruel (1831-1922). It’s just finished, but don’t worry if you didn’t see it, I’m about to tell you why you shouldn’t have. This is how it was presented on the website:

This spring, the National Gallery presents the UK’s first major exhibition devoted to the man who invented Impressionism, Paul Durand-Ruel (1831-1922). An entrepreneurial art dealer, Durand-Ruel discovered and unwaveringly supported the Impressionist painters and is now considered a founding father of the international art market as we know it today.

I would like to be somewhat picky. One man invented Impressionism? Can this be right? In what sense did a dealer invent Impressionism?

Click here to continue reading and find the original article

June 8th 2015

Check out this article from Vents on the composer of Exhibition On Screen's latest art film:

 Find the original article here

Stephen Baysted scores new Exhibition on Screen film “The Impressionists – And The Man Who Made Them”

British composer Stephen Baysted (“Matisse: Live from the Tate and MoMa”) reunites with award-winning film-maker Phil Grabsky and Seventh Art Productions (“In Search of…Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, Chopin” composer series, “Concerto – A Beethoven Journey”) to score “The Impressionists – And The Man Who Made Them,” a new documentary feature in the acclaimed ‘Exhibition On Screen‘ series of films bringing blockbuster art exhibitions from galleries around the world to the cinema, in stunning high definition. The Impressionists screens in UK cinemas nationwide from May 26.

Recorded at Air-Edel Studios in London, Baysted’s original score for The Impressionists features performances by pianist and mezzo soprano Susan Legg (“A lustrous mezzo soprano” – The Sunday Times) and soprano Louise Walsh (Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera) with additional piano by Jonathan Plowright (“One of the finest living pianists” – Gramophone Magazine). A score album will be released through Baysted’s publisher label Red Rocca on May 28.

The Impressionists – And The Man Who Made Them tells the story of art’s greatest revolutionaries in the most comprehensive film ever made about the Impressionists. With unparalleled access to the highly anticipated international exhibition at the Musée du Luxembourg Paris, National Gallery London and Philadelphia Museum of Art, the film captures some of the world’s most famous paintings in stunning high definition – featuring universally loved masterpieces by Monet, Degas, Cézanne, Renoir, Pissarro and many more – as well as interweaving the incredible story of 19th century Parisian art collector Paul Durand-Ruel and the extraordinary lengths he went to make Impressionism a household name.

Describing the scoring process for this energetic and revealing film, Baysted explains, “When director Phil Grabsky and I discussed The Impressionists, he wanted a cinematic and narratively focused score and one which responded directly to the masterworks being shown on screen. We also discussed a musical style and vocabulary which was contemporaneous with the art works, so I put together a listening list for him which contained many of the most well-known works from Debussy, Faure and early Ravel, and one or two lesser known ‘Impressionist’ composers.”

“The score itself takes several of these original piano works by Claude Debussy as its starting point, and pianist and mezzo soprano Susan Legg and I constructed an entire cinematic and emotive musical landscape around them, interweaving original compositions and orchestrations along the way,” continues Baysted. “In some cases a single melodic contrapuntal line is isolated from the original and then extended, reharmonised, and expanded into a much larger scale cue to picture. In other cases, original compositions that reflect the musical language and style of the period take the viewer on a journey through the paintings and the narrative arc of the film’s main characters.”

Director Phil Grabsky commented, “The great thing about working with Stephen is that one ends up with a soundtrack that is infused with knowledge of the period but also contemporary, coherent and consistent with the film’s needs. In the cinema it helped make a good film better but, always the sign of a top composer, it was a soundtrack I found myself listening to for fun in the car.”

Renowned for his versatility, emotionally charged and expressively powerful music, Stephen Baysted’s acclaimed music scores have been enjoyed by audiences worldwide in a succession of award-winning films and video games including the UK’s recent #1 selling game Project Cars; the Royal Television Society award-winning Matisse: Live from the Tate and MoMa with director Phil Grabsky; the psychological drama Strange Factories; Robert Kirkman’s The Walking Dead: Assault; the international award-winning documentary Life Lines and Tim Pope’s Brandy and Pep.

Born in London, Stephen Baysted’s passion for music began during his school years singing, touring and recording with the internationally acclaimed Wandsworth School Boys’ Choir and playing clarinet in the London Schools’ Symphony Orchestra. Stephen studied music at Southampton University and at Dartington College of Arts, where he was awarded a PhD.

The Impressionists screens nationwide in UK cinemas from May 26 and in select US theatres on July 14.

Trailer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJqCOdblha4

For screenings visit:
http://www.exhibitiononscreen.com/the-impressionists

For more information on the film:
http://www.seventh-art.com/the-impressionists-and-the-man-who-made-them/

May 1st 2015

Dear friends,

I would like to introduce you to Zahra and Nikbakh (photos below). These two Afghan women deserve our respect. You can read in their faces the dedication they demonstrate in the face of endless hurdles a deeply patriarchal society throws at them. Some of you helped a year or so ago when you made donations to help these women become teachers. You may remember I ran a couple of marathons to raise some of the funds needed to enable these two women to attend a teacher-training course. 

Mir – the protagonist of my Afghan films – went to a small school in his remote mountainous village and if it was hard for him and the other boys, it was far harder for the young girls. I couldn’t leave without trying to do something for them. It has not been easy organising this and I would never have managed it without the selfless support of Melanie Bradley at Afghan Appeal Fund and my film-maker friend Shoaib Sharifi. It took us time to find two women who were in a position to travel to the northern city of Mazar to receive training and then bring those skills back to Mir’s village. Eventually Shoaib found them: Zahra and Nikbakh. It’s just two individuals but for the young girls now growing up in the village it will be transformational.

Both women have been back from Mazar and in their holidays have begun teaching. Equally good news is that the school has built a new additional block just for girls – giving them more space and facilities. The village as a whole is delighted to have better education for its young girls which is one small demonstration that Afghan culture is not universally anti-women’s schooling. 

To remind you: parents don’t mind their daughters being educated but, as they reach their teenage years, it is culturally unacceptable for young girls to be taught by men. The school needed female teachers. Indeed, every school in Afghanistan needs female teachers. So thank you to those of you who made a donation. If we all do one small positive thing every day, it does make a difference…..

For my part, I had to pull out of the 2015 Brighton marathon as I hurt my Achilles tendon but am now in training already for the 2016 marathon. We continue to fund the teacher training – and would like to do more – so please, any donation helps, just follow the link to my Just Giving site here

February 24th in LA

Dateline Los Angeles….very flash..  I guess I came about as close as I'll ever get to the Oscars 2 nights ago...I was there to show my In Search of Chopin film on the invite of Poland's no 2 in the USA. He had a party in his house last night as they had 4 or 5 possible Polish winners...In the end they did get the big one - best foreign language film with Ida. As you can imagine they were delighted.  Personally I'm bored to death with awards shows - although, remarkably, the two big winners Birdman and Grand Budapest Hotel were great films...I'm just so glad American Sniper was snubbed. Yuk.

It's very sunny here (though I've been stuck indoors doing emails and research all day) but tonight we have our LA premiere of Chopin – better than any Oscar ceremony!  

I’m shocked when I look at the date and realize we are almost in March.  What a crazy few months it has been –  starting the release of Chopin, filming CONCERTO as well as producing five EXHIBITION ON SCREEN films. These are now done and slowly being released here, there and everywhere.  The brand is building – slower than one would like – but it’s a steady incline at least.   Audience reactions are great – as evidenced but some sell-out shows I attended on the West Coast last week – but the economics are tricky while folk continue to see cinema as cheap entertainment. No-one really questions (well, I do!) paying £80 or $120 for a rock concert or theatrical piece but cinema we expect to be about a tenth of that. I’m not saying that’s wrong but it makes life pretty hard.  Mind you, we are finally starting to get some interest from sponsors which is good news.  It really is essential we keep making films like these: my family and I made a terrible mistake recently and went to see a film called Kingsman. We thought it was a kids’ spy thriller.  Boy, were we wrong!  It is a sick, vile, humourless exploration into how violent we can make a film and still only get a 15 certificate. If you enjoy seeing folk cut in half or a church full of parishioners being slaughtered, then this is for you. But then somehow I doubt you’d be reading my blog if it were…..  And guess what, this awful film has taken over $100m already and climbing.  What a world….

[Next day]   

Back in my oh-so-different world, I had a lovely screening of IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN in (a freezing) New York this evening. The Carnegie invited their privileged members to a screening – plus a preview clip of CONCERTO – A BEETHOVEN JOURNEY. It went really well – and both looked great on the big screen.  CONCERTO looked really super – the first time I’d seen any of it projected.  Very exciting.  Right, need to pack as I have an early flight tomorrow to Philadelphia (a great town) and then home….

8th February 2014

As if Walter's death wasn't bad enough, one of the best cultural commenters and supporters that I have ever met just died in Chicago. Andrew Patner was simply a wonderful, wonderful man. I had a lovely afternoon tea with him and his partner Tom just a few weeks ago. Another sad, sad loss. Here's the announcement from Chicago. This is all so depressing.

We are mortified to learn of the death of Andrew Patner, Chicago broadcaster and music critic for the Sun-Times. His station WFMT has just issued this statement:
It is with a profound sense of sadness, sorry and shock that we must announce that our dear friend and colleague, Andrew Patner, passed away this morning after a very brief battle with a bacterial infection that overwhelmed his body. The news came to us from Tom Bachtell, Andrew’s long-time partner who said, “Our Andrew is no more.” Andrew’s voice, keen intelligence and great spirit will be sorely missed at this radio station, which was part of his professional life for many years. Our thoughts and prayers go out to Tom and to Andrew’s family. When details about services are announced we will provide them to you. Rest in peace dear friend. Your many contributions to WFMT and to this community will never be forgotten. -Steve Robinson, General Manager

27th September 2014

4 films, 4 countries…

It’s been a busy few days once again and luckily the trains, planes and automobile gods have been on my side.

It began with a decent BA flight to one of my favourite US cities: Chicago.   The excellent Gene Siskel has been a warm host to my films over the years and, ages ago, they booked a season of preview screenings of IN SEARCH OF CHOPIN.   Flying these days is so easy with all the hundreds of entertainment channels available though of course I watched the airline version of our Matisse film!  Seriously, I did but then I watched The Grand Budapest Hotel (dir: Wes Anderson) that I missed in the cinema. I loved it – and wished I had seen it on the big screen.  I can’t say it enough: films are best in the cinema… I picked up a paper on arrival at the airport and was delighted with a decent review for Chopin in the Chicago Tribune: 

Anyone who admired British director Phil Grabsky's previous documentary portraits of Mozart, Beethoven and Haydn is likely to find his latest film, "In Search of Chopin," equally absorbing, informative and, yes, entertaining.  Performance excerpts and interviews flesh out the saga of the brilliant if short-lived Polish-born composer and pianist (he was only 39 at his death) whose keyboard music represents the quintessence of the Romantic piano tradition. Links are drawn between Chopin's creative impulse and his emotional fragility, lifelong battle with tuberculosis and sometimes fraught romantic relationships, including a notorious liaison with novelist George Sand.  Included is illuminating commentary by pianist-performer Hershey Felder, who portrayed the composer in his one-man show, "Monsieur Chopin," at the Royal George Theatre here in 2005.

The audiences were good over the weekend – with some sell-outs 

What was extremely pleasing was the crowd reaction to the film.  I thought, while making this film, that Chopin was beginning to seem to me to be as popular as Mozart and Beethoven – and I now think it’s true.  There’s something about a somewhat flawed character – or one with human weaknesses that we all share – that draws us to them and their art.  Those creative giants that sit on their pedestals, stony as granite, don’t draw us in. It’s those who share the human weaknesses we all have and yet still produce extraordinary art, those are for many the most appealing.  Van Gogh – who we are also making a film about – is another perfect example.

Anyway, I always love my visits to the great city of Chicago and I wish I could have escaped the iron claw of the endless emails I have to deal with more often so that I could have explored the wealth it contains.  I did get to visit its Art Institute and also managed to run along its lake shore (so intelligently kept for public use when the city was being built).  But this really is a monumentally busy moment for us and I was only just about able to deal with the dozens of emails I get every day.  It wasn’t long before I was en route to Philadelphia to film at its Museum of Art (yes, the ‘Rocky’ steps!) for our forthcoming Impressionists film).   It and the wonderful Barnes nearby are yet another two examples of great art American galleries.  Our film on the Impressionists will be exploring why so much art ended up there, in Pittsburgh, Boston, New York, DC, LA, Cleveland, Atlanta, Dallas and so on.  I interviewed a very articulate curator there called Jennifer Thompson – I really admire these curators who dedicate their lives to really understanding and caring for the art in their charge.  Jenny’s interview will certainly help us get a deeper understanding of who the impressionists really were.   We talked in front of a gorgeous painting of Poplars by Monet – it will be in the Philadelphia version of the show but is too fragile to travel to Paris or London.

 

Poplars on the Bank of the Epte River –Claude Monet 1891

There’s a nice story about the painting: Monet had to pay to stop them being cut down to be used as timber.  He was desperate to paint them and the money offered did the trick (for a while at least).

After the interview and a quick dash to the Barnes I flew home to London and, after a crazy detour with my son to Manchester to see Man City crush Sheffield Wednesday 7-0, I caught an early morning train to Paris.  The Musee du Luxembourg has started the hanging of its forthcoming exhibition (which is the backbone of our film) – they’ve never really said yes to a film like this before so it was with some sense of relief and accomplishment to be actually inside filming.  One has to tread carefully around the unpacking and hanging of priceless artworks – but we’re used to it.  The thrill of seeing paintings, that you’ve seen many times in books, suddenly before your eyes is magnificent. We were there the day the National Gallery was unpacking and hanging its works. I particularly love this one:

 

Miss La La at the Cirque Fernando – Edgar Degas 1879

It was a strenuous day with all the equipment (for myself and good friend & colleague David Bickerstaff).  (Note: don’t expect to find Parisian taxis in a hurry).  We do, however, have some important footage now – as well as another curatorial interview with Sylvie Patry, a charming and articulate expert from the Musee d’Orsay.   My colleague refused to let me spend all night doing emails and took me on a long walk – with a decent intake of red wine en route – through Paris.  I’ll need to catch up on my sleep another time…(on trains no doubt).

Next day (Friday) was special: we began with a fascinating interview with the descendants of Paul Durand-Ruel. The story of the dealer behind the commercialisation of impressionism (at the end of the 19th century) is gripping.  Equally gripping therefore was the opportunity to see his very stock books, account books, note books with the names of Manet, Monet, Pisarro, Cezanne and others all liberally dotted about.  I love the history that emanates from contemporary objects and this was certainly one of those moments.   

David and I then departed from central Paris and drove the short distance (but 90’ in traffic) to Auvers-sur-Oise.  This town is rightly a pilgrimage centre for art lovers, especially those of Vincent van Gogh.   Here one can visit the Café Ravoux and see the room in which he slept, painted and died.  The café has been wonderfully cared for by an impressive Belgian entrepreneur and art-lover.  It has been lovingly restored and boasts a classy restaurant now (highly recommended!).  Everywhere there are traces of Van Gogh’s last two months.  Around the town, one can see the locations of paintings (with facsimiles attached to posts), the house of Dr Gachet, the church Notre Dame d’Auvers and sadly the cemetery where Vincent and indeed his brother Theo lay side by side. Vincent shot himself on July 29th 1890.

 
Breakfast the next day was fun – sitting in the very café where Vincent sipped his own morning caffeine 124 years ago – and have a look at this photo below – do you recognise the painting that that coffee pot is from? Clue: it’s not a Van Gogh.  Email us at info@seventh-art.com if you do.  First correct answer gets a DVD from Season 1.   Good luck. All I’ll say is that I was surprised to be able to hold it.   (and while the owner is 100% sure of its veracity, we must remain a teeny bit sceptical I guess). 

Rush, rush, rush: filming in Dr Gachet’s attic, the church grounds, by the river Oise, outside the town hall, inside the café… Quick salade et petite bierre then off back to Paris.  Horrible re-introduction to urban life as one meets the traffic again. Urgh.   But we make Gare du Nord with time to spare – at which point poor David heads off alone to London with 6 bags….and I head to Germany with 3. 

First of all I travel the Thalys from Paris to Brussels in 80 minutes. And then Brussels to Cologne in a couple of hours. It’s really so easy – and cheaper too than our criminally over-priced British rail system. (I was, the other day, quoted over £200 / $330 for a two hour train ride from London to Manchester on Virgin Trains! No wonder Virgin boss Richard Branson boasts of his £3bn fortune – disgusting & it’s why so many still drive).   Anyway on the efficient, friendly and cheaper Thalys I got to Koln (Cologne) bang on time and was in my hotel five minutes later.

The next day was all about filming some final scenes for CONCERTO – A BEETHOVEN JOURNEY.   Leif Ove Andsnes is now embarked on his final stage of residencies. This is where he plays all 5 piano concertos in one location over a period of a few days.  I can tell it’s hard – and Bonn was the first one – as he looked noticeably more tired and stressed than he did when I filmed him a month or so ago in Bergen.  But you only have to watch one concert (in this case playing the 1st & 5th) to understand the effort he is putting in.  Not just the performance but the travel, the CD signings, the dinners with executives and so on….   For my purposes I needed some footage of the 5th in particular and the concert as a whole.  The Beethovenhalle, the orchestra and Leif Ove could not have been more helpful and it all went extremely well.

That just left Monday morning – and a very appropriate location to more or less finish the filming of CONCERTO – A BEETHOVEN JOURNEY.  The Beethoven birthplace in Bonn.

I have been there before, of course for IN SEARCH OF BEETHOVEN but it’s an evocative and fascinating place to return to with a camera – especially as it was the first time Leif Ove had visited it – and he was given a detailed your with the director Michael Ladenburger.  It will only be a short moment in the film but something was revealed that they only discovered a few months ago which is directly relevant to the concertos – so that was a stroke of real luck as I captured it on camera. It is something neither I nor Leif Ove knew and is directly relevant to Beethoven and his concertos.  You, dear friends, will need to watch the film….

At that , I took my leave and headed for the final set of 4 train journeys that got me home by midnight.  My feet ache, my back aches, my head aches but what a fascinating few days.