Barrie Gavin obit

Barrie Gavin (1935-2024)

 

He was not on the list.

We are saddened to learn of the death of film maker Barrie Gavin. Colin Matthews, NMC Founder & Executive Director, writes:

The film maker Barrie Gavin has died at the age of 89. A good friend to NMC from its beginnings, he was a pioneer maker of music documentaries, collaborating with Boulez over many years, and later with Simon Rattle. His achievement was second to none, and his portraits of contemporary composers include those of Stockhausen, Berio, Nono, Sofia Gubaidulina, Aribert Reimann, Takemitsu, Birtwistle, Maxwell Davies, Henze, John Adams, Oliver Knussen, George Benjamin, Mark-Anthony Turnage and many more besides. In recent years he had undertaken extended filmed interviews with British composers, recognising that this was a gap that needed filling. At the time of his death he was making a film with Howard Skempton. Colin Matthews, NMC Founder & Executive

In 1966 his fascination with contemporary music brought him into contact with the French composer and conductor Pierre Boulez. Over the next 40 years they collaborated on a series of analytical documentaries on the founding fathers of 20th-century music: Schoenberg, Berg, Webern, Bartók, Stravinsky, Ives, Varese, Messiaen and of course Boulez himself. They made twelve films together:

 

Pierre Boulez: Portrait – Analysis – Performance, 1966

The New Language of Music (Schönberg, Berg, Webern)

The New Rhythm of Music (Bartók, 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: Roberto Gerhard, Luciano Berio, Luigi Nono, George Benjamin, Karlheinz Stockhausen, John Adams, Sofia Gubaidulina, Aribert Reimann, Toru Takemitsu, Isang Yun, Harrison Birtwistle, Peter Maxwell Davies, Mark-Anthony Turnage, Oliver Knussen, Hans Werner Henze and many others.

 

Director

Between Two Worlds: Erich Wolfgang Korngold

6.9

TV Movie

Director

2005

 

All the Russias

8.5

TV Mini Series

Director

2002

 

In Rehearsal: Christoph von Dohnányi with the Philharmonia Orchestra (1998)

In Rehearsal: Christoph von Dohnányi with the Philharmonia Orchestra

TV Movie

Director

1998

 

American Dream: Stephen Collins Foster und seine Zeit

TV Movie

Director

1997

 

Gala from Berlin (1977)

Gala from Berlin

TV Series

Director

1989–1996

5 episodes

 

Leaving Home (1996)

Leaving Home

8.7

TV Series

Director

1996

1 episode

 

Soviet Echoes

TV Series

Director

1995

 

The Fairy Queen (1995)

The Fairy Queen

6.4

TV Movie

Director

1995

 

Peter Grimes (1995)

Peter Grimes

8.4

TV Movie

Director

1995

 

Verdi

6.0

TV Movie

Director

1994

 

Diana Rigg in Cleveland Plays the Proms (1994)

Cleveland Plays the Proms

TV Movie

Director

1994

 

Berlioz: Messe solennelle (1993)

Berlioz: Messe solennelle

TV Movie

Director

1993

 

Benjamin Britten: War Requiem (1993)

Benjamin Britten: War Requiem

7.3

TV Special

Director

1993

 

Street Scene (1992)

Street Scene

TV Movie

Director

1992

 

Mlada (1992)

Mlada

7.1

Video

Director

1992

 

Handel: Messiah (1992)

Handel: Messiah

6.8

TV Special

Director

1992

 

Music on Two

TV Series

Director

1992

3 episodes

 

Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique (1991)

Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique

TV Special

Director

1991

 

Maria Ewing in Carmen by Georges Bizet (1991)

Carmen by Georges Bizet

8.2

TV Movie

Director

1991

 

Opus 20 Modern Masterworks: Ernst Krenek (1991)

Opus 20 Modern Masterworks: Ernst Krenek

TV Movie

Director

1991

 

The Cunning Little Vixen (1990)

The Cunning Little Vixen

TV Movie

television director

1990

 

Thomas Allen in Billy Budd (1988)

Billy Budd

6.7

TV Movie

Director

1988

 

Crossover: Richard Rodney Bennett

TV Movie

Director

1987

 

George Benjamin in Towards Antara (1987)

Towards Antara

Director

1987

 

Live from the Proms (1975)

Live from the Proms

TV Series

Director

1987

1 episode

 

Leonardo

TV Movie

Director

1987

 

Quiet Man with Welding Torch: A Portrait of the Sculptor Julio Gonzalez 1876-1942

Director

1985

 

Ernest Ansermet: Archives and Memories

Director

1985

 

The Tenor Man's Story

TV Movie

Director

1985

 

Guitarra (1985)

Guitarra

9.1

TV Series

Director

1985

8 episodes

 

Costakis: The Collector (1983)

Costakis: The Collector

Director

1983

 

The Seven Deadly Sins of the Middle Class (1983)

The Seven Deadly Sins of the Middle Class

TV Movie

Director

1983

 

Ruddigore (1983)

Ruddigore

6.3

TV Movie

Director

1983

 

Bernard Levin in The Levin Interviews (1980)

The Levin Interviews

TV Series

Director

1981

1 episode

 

Mrs. Woolf's Room

TV Movie

Director

1980

 

The Lively Arts (1969)

The Lively Arts

TV Series

Director

1977–1979

6 episodes

 

Robert Vas Film-maker

TV Movie

Director

1978

 

A Line Through the Labyrinth

TV Movie

Director

1977

 

Scenes from a Geordie Ceilidh

TV Special

Director

1976

 

Omnibus (1967)

Omnibus

7.1

TV Series

Director

1969–1973

4 episodes

 

Aquarius (1970)

Aquarius

6.6

TV Series

segment director

1972

2 episodes

 

Music on 2 (1965)

Music on 2

TV Series

Director

1970–1972

13 episodes

 

Desmond Dekker in Review (1969)

Review

5.8

TV Series

director: Getting Everything In...

director: The Pied Piper of Battersea

director: The King's Road to Park Lane

1971–1972

5 episodes

 

Music Now

TV Series

Director

1971

1 episode

 

One Pair of Eyes (1967)

One Pair of Eyes

8.2

TV Series

Director

1970

1 episode

 

The Callas Conversations (1968)

The Callas Conversations

TV Mini Series

Director

1968

2 episodes

 

Masterworks

6.6

TV Series

Director

1966

11 episodes

 

Workshop

TV Series

Director

1966

1 episode

 

Producer

George Benjamin in Towards Antara (1987)

Towards Antara

producer

1987

 

John Martyn - In Vision 1973-1981 (1982)

John Martyn - In Vision 1973-1981

TV Special

producer

1982

 

Seven Artists

TV Series

executive producer

1979

7 episodes

 

Brecht and Co

TV Movie

producer (as Barry Gavin)

1979

 

In Performance: Trailblazers - Reich's Revolution

TV Special

executive producer

1979

 

Omnibus (1967)

Omnibus

7.1

TV Series

executive producer

producer

1971–1978

22 episodes

 

Robert Vas Film-maker

TV Movie

producer

1978

 

A Line Through the Labyrinth

TV Movie

producer

1977

 

A Spanish Legacy

TV Series

executive producer

1977

 

My Homeland

TV Movie

executive producer

1976

 

Pressure (1976)

Pressure

7.2

executive producer for the BFI (as Barry Gavin)

1976

 

Scenes from a Geordie Ceilidh

TV Special

producer

1976

 

Desmond Dekker in Review (1969)

Review

5.8

TV Series

producer

1971

9 episodes

 

Abel Gance: The Charm of Dynamite (1968)

Abel Gance: The Charm of Dynamite

7.3

producer

1968

 

The Movies (1967)

The Movies

TV Mini Series

producer

1967

27 episodes

 

Sunday Night

TV Series

producer

1965–1966

2 episodes

 

Workshop

TV Series

producer

1964

 

Writer

Guitarra (1985)

Guitarra

9.1

TV Series

Writer

1985

8 episodes

 

Music on 2 (1965)

Music on 2

TV Series

writer

1970

3 episodes

 

Omnibus (1967)

Omnibus

7.1

TV Series

script

1969

1 episode