Barrie Gavin

Barrie Gavin
Barrie Gavin
	Barrie Gavin, 10 June 2005, Cascob, UK. Photo by Dmitri N. Smirnov
Born	10 June 1935 (age 88); London, UK
Occupation	Film director

Barrie Gavin (born 10 June 1935) is a British film director.

Early years

Barrie Gavin was educated at St Paul's School, and studied history at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge from 1954 to 1957.^[1] He joined the BBC as an assistant film editor in 1961. With the opening of BBC Two in 1964 he began to direct programmes principally about music.

In the early years of BBC2 there was regular coverage of chamber music and Gavin learnt his craft with many studio-based productions. His experience in the cutting room led inevitably to the making of film documentaries.

Collaboration with Pierre Boulez

In 1966 his fascination with contemporary music brought him into contact with the French composer and conductor

Messiaen

and of course Boulez himself. They made twelve films together:

Pierre Boulez: Portrait – Analysis – Performance, 1966
The New Language of Music (
Webern
)
The New Rhythm of Music (
Stravinsky
)
Telemarteau (
Le marteau sans maître
)
The Outsiders (Ives, Varese)
Olivier Messiaen: Vision and Revolution
A Different Beauty (
Webern
) 1977
The Doors are Open (conducting master classes in Lucerne)
In Search of the Future (80th birthday portrait for German TV)
Tomorrow Today (the Boulez years at the BBC) 2005
Boulez
Now (retrospective up to mid-1980s)
Pierre Boulez: Living in the Present 2005

Portraits of contemporary composers

From the 1970s until the end of the 20th century Gavin specialised in portraits of contemporary composers:

Toru Takemitsu, Isang Yun, Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Oliver Knussen, Hans Werner Henze

and many others.

Films on folk music

In 1970 Barrie Gavin began to explore folk music with the writer and musician A. L. Lloyd. Together they travelled across the British Isles and visited Romania, Hungary, the United States. The death of A. L. Lloyd in 1984 brought this work to an end.

Years in Germany

In 1977 Gavin had been invited to Germany to make a film about Kurt Weill. This marked the beginning of a long association with German television, resulting not only in many adventurous documentaries (mainly in Frankfurt for the producer Swantje Ehrentreich) but also in a new area of work, directing concerts for television. To date he has been responsible for some 250 relays of concerts and opera.

Collaboration with Sir Simon Rattle

In the 1980s Gavin began a collaboration with the conductor Sir Simon Rattle. They worked on a long series of productions with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. The list of films created together includes:

1911 (a trilogy on a crucial year in music)
From East to West (a trilogy on the influence of the East on classical music)
A Symphony in Time of War (
Stravinsky
– Symphony in three movements)
Young Apollo (the early works of
Britten
)
Carl Nielsen: A Life in six Symphonies
Leaving Home (a seven part series on the music of the 20th century)
Sinfonia (Luciano Berio)
The Middle of Life (Hans Werner Henze)
A Romantic Imagination (3-part series on
Berlioz
)
Stockhausen
: Gruppen (documentary and performance)

Collaboration with Gerard McBurney

In 1989 he worked for the first time with the composer and writer

Shostakovich

).

In 2006 he began a collaboration with Gerard McBurney and the

Debussy

. There were created the following films:

Bartók – The Miraculous Mandarin Archived 22 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
2006

Mozart – Piano Concerto No. 27, K.595 Archived 31 March 2012 at the Wayback Machine
2007

Tchaikovsky – Symphony No. 4 Archived 30 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
2008

Shostakovich – Symphony No. 4 Archived 30 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
2008

Holst – The Planets: suite Archived 25 March 2011 at the Wayback Machine
2008

Vivaldi – The 4 Seasons Archived 22 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
2008

Ravel – Pictures from an Exhibition Archived 30 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
2008

Sibelius – Symphony No. 5 Archived 19 August 2011 at the Wayback Machine
2010

Dvořák – Symphony No. 9 (From the New World) Archived 11 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine 2010
Debussy – La Mer Archived 22 October 2011 at the Wayback Machine
2010

Films on arts and literature

The vast majority of Gavin's work has concentrated on music, but he has also produced in 1967 a series on classic film directors. In addition there have been films on literature and the visual arts. Among them: Sir William in search of Xanadu (Award of Montreal Festival of Films on Art, 1984) and Images – A History of Early Photography (Award of New York Festival of Films on Art, 1989).