Igor: The Paris Years [1982] (Brothers Quay)
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- Опубліковано 23 жов 2024
- The first of Koninck's animated biographies for Channel 4; this followed their (great, but nearly impossible to see) treatment of Punch & Judy puppetshows. Interesting that the traditions of Russian Constructivism exercised such a strong influence on their imaginations until the revelation of Jan Svankmajer's Dimensions of Dialogue. Anyways!
Raymond Durgnat's review for the MFB is essentially his discursion on the puppet film, per se, but here's the synopsis which accompanies his piece: "On his first visit to Paris, Mayakovsky (who always bellows through a megaphone) describes the rich diversity of artists overflowing its cafe terraces and spinning off into their own orbits. He visits Stravinsky in his apartment above a player-piano repair shop at 22 rue Rochechouart. Stravinsky has accepted a contract to transcribe his works on to piano rolls, thus preventing future distortions of his music. He plans multi-pianola compositions, and explains the machine's workings, with its paper roll and pneumatic motor (cut in shots show pianolist Rex Lawson playing the instrument). When Jean Cocteau calls, Mayakovsky rhapsodises about the pianola mechanising music, and images of its chains and cogs evoke a staid 'ballet mechanique'. But Cocteau insists on showing Mayakovsky Paris by night..."
I am the musician who performed the music rolls in this film and appeared as the only visible human being. We recorded the live music in the former Studio 2 of the Decca Record Company in West Hampstead, in a building that had been built as West Hampstead Town Hall, then became Decca's recording headquarters, and was subsequently taken over by English National Opera and used as its rehearsal rooms. Probably the Rolling Stones used the same studio for many of their recordings. The film came about because Keith Griffiths, the producer, was Film Officer at the Greater London Arts Association, whereas I had been Music Officer at the Eastern Arts Association in Cambridge, but I had left in 1975 in order to make an effort at championing the player piano, which is still one of the most widely misunderstood instruments in the world. Keith and I therefore knew each other, and I think he suggested the idea to the Brothers Quaij.
The Pianola push-up used was manufactured by the Aeolian Company in Garwood, New Jersey, sometime around 1912. Its serial number is 44864, and it is sitting about three feet away from me, in south-east London, as I write this in August 2022. I've taken it all round the world since 1982. The Stravinsky music rolls, which were not played by him, but which were transcribed by hand according to his instructions, were on loan to me from a Jesuit musicologist in Canada, Louis Cyr, whom I had met in September 1982 at a Stravinsky conference in San Diego. Louis died a few years ago, but he kindly gave me all his Stravinsky rolls, and I have acquired others over the last forty years as well. If you are curious about Stravinsky's use of the player piano, then you could visit the webpage that I keep for him, at www.pianola.org/history/history_stravinsky.cfm.
The most difficult shot for me came about because the director wanted a "pianolist's-eye-view" of one of the rolls, as I played it, so I had to lean to the side and pedal and use the various levers at a very strained angle, while the camera rested on my right shoulder. You can see my left hand moving sideways as I operated the sustaining pedal. A similar awkwardness occurred a few years later, when I supplied an upright player piano for a John Schlesinger film of Alan Bennett's "An Englishman Abroad." in which Alan Bates played the part of the British spy who defected to Russia, Guy Burgess. Bates decided that he couldn't concentrate on the script and play the Pianola at the same time, so I had to kneel down between his legs and pedal with my hands. I re-recorded the music later, to fit with the film, but my efforts on the floor caused my reputation amongst those friends of mine who were gay to leap by 100%!
Coincidentally, one of the voice-over actors in this film, Alexei Jawdokimov, also appeared as Guy Burgess's Moscow lover in the later film. One final point - it was only in the last year that I discovered that Stravinsky's Pleyel studio was actually at its retail roll sales building, at 20 avenue de l'Opéra, and not at its headquarters in the rue Rochechouart. But this film is a fairy tale in any case, so it's the atmosphere that counts, and not the exact detail. The Pianola can be a very subtle, very emotional instrument, but composers like Stravinsky were drawn to its ability to play fistfuls of notes at the same time. Modern pianists like to think of the Pianola as a "mechanical" instrument, because a Pianola that can play chamber music as gently as they can is unnerving to them. In forty years I have not managed to correct that attitude, which saddens me. But this is a delightful film, and many thanks to Gone Dawn for posting it.
Rex Lawson
Thank you for sharing this rarity! The Quays are my drug of choice - I can watch their films all day (or rather I'd do just that if I had the time).
What a joy to finally see this early film of the Quay Brothers.
OMG.....not seen this one before.....just brilliant and of course, visually stunning!!
The musical score supports the visuals and spoken narrative very well! I wonder did they spend much time on storyboarding or did they free-flow then edit and add. Svankmajer said "first you become a collector then you become a filmmaker".
this is so awesome this is a true gift thank you
Wow
Bravo!
Where can I watch their version of Punch and Judy?
Is there a reason this film is not included in the collection dvd?
It's one of the best Quay film-
That one is not on dvd in usa
7:30
ótimo, isto é animação, sem estas besteiras de 3d, computer....
*!*
It was hard to watch
yeah they're showing you they're young when they made this, pretty immature as well as amateur
Well that sucked...