Yesterday (12 June 2001), the movie "Passion", featuring Australian
actor Richard Roxburgh as Percy Grainger, was released on videotape
for the rental market. It's not new, made about 1997/98. I rented it,
viewed it, and was somewhat disappointed on how little in the movie
related to Grainger's talent as a pianist and composer. Far too much
of the movie dwelled on his personal lifestyle and idiosyncrasies.
On only three occasions in the movie is there evidence of a player
piano, an upright of unknown make, and only once is it seen playing.
The other views of it are simply background material. No mention is
made in the film about his experiments with "free music".
A review published in Variety Magazine, April 27, 1998, says, "Apart
from his virtuoso musicianship, Grainger, who lived in London and
New York, was a wildly eccentric intellectual, inventor, linguist and
womanizer with a well-renowned taste for self-flagellation, bondage
and S&M ..." See
http://www.findarticles.com/cf_0/m1312/n11_v370/20559890/p1/article.jhtml
Regards,
Terry Smythe
Winnipeg, MB, Canada
http://www.mts.net/~smythe
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