Barrie Gavin
Barrie Vincent Gavin was a British film and television director.
Early life
Gavin was born in Stanmore, London on 10 June 1935. His parents were John Gavin and Margaret Gavin. He was educated at St Paul's School, and studied history at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge from 1954 to 1957. 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. These experiences led to his work as a documentary filmmaker. Gavin subsequently worked at London Weekend Television and the British Film Institute in the 1970s before returning to the BBC.
Collaboration with Pierre Boulez
In 1966, his interest in contemporary music brought him into contact with 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
- The New Rhythm of Music
- Telemarteau
- The Outsiders
- Olivier Messiaen: Vision and Revolution
- A Different Beauty 1977
- The Doors are Open
- In Search of the Future
- Tomorrow Today 2005
- Boulez Now
- 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.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 documentaries 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 Sir Simon Rattle, on a series of productions with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. The list of films created together includes:1911 From East to West A Symphony in Time of War Young Apollo Carl Nielsen: A Life in six SymphoniesLeaving Home Sinfonia The Middle of Life A Romantic Imagination- Stockhausen: ''Gruppen''
Collaboration with Gerard McBurney
In 1989, Gavin worked for the first time with the composer and writer Gerard McBurney. Their co-produced films included:Think Today, Speak Tomorrow, Giving Voice, two films on dissident composers in the Soviet Union The Fire and the Rose, about Sofia Gubaidulina The Face behind the FaceIn 2006, Gavin began a collaboration with Gerard McBurney and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on a series of music documentaries, for the Beyond the Score Series. These documentaries included:
- Bartók – 2006
- Mozart – 2007
- Tchaikovsky – 2008
- Shostakovich – 2008
- Holst – 2008
- Vivaldi – 2008
- Mussorgsky/Ravel – 2008
- Sibelius – 2010
- Dvořák – 2010
- Debussy – 2010
Films on arts and literature
Whilst much of Gavin's work concentrated on music, he also produced in 1967 a series on classic film directors. He also produced films on literature and the visual arts, which included:Sir William in search of Xanadu Images – A History of Early Photography.Later projects
In 2007, Gavin finished a film, Finding the Music in Croatia, on the composer Nigel Osborne. In 2008, he received an award from International Music Publishers' Association for Services to Contemporary Music. In 2009, he completed a film Towards and Beyond, a portrait of the composer. In 2010, he made two short films: A Mind of Winter and How Slow the Wind, using music by these composers. He also started work on a continuing series of archival, unedited interviews, mainly with contemporary composers.Copies of many of Gavin's films on contemporary music have been deposited in the archives of the Paul Sacher Foundation in Basel, Switzerland.