RIP Christopher Nupen

The great film maker's classical music documentaries demonstrated how exciting and damn sexy classical music can be, not to mention fun

Sad news has come through that Christopher Nupen has died at the age of 88. His classical music documentaries remain unsurpassed to this day – both for their depth of understanding of classical music and faith in its power, but also as beautifully filmed meditations on humanity and art.

Of course it helped that he was active in a golden era in the 60s and 70s when the likes of Jacqueline du Pré, Itzhak Perlman, Vladimir Ashkenazy and Pinchas Zukerman were blazing their musical trails. They demonstrated just how exciting and damn sexy classical music can be, without compromising their musical integrity – not to mention fun. Nupen’s intimate and perfectly timed camera angles and his now-clichéd narrations captured their world perfectly in all its technicolour glory. He had an instinct for visual story telling, just as his subjects did in sound.

Aside from the iconic performances and interviews he filmed, it’s the detail of musical life I find so fascinating and instructive – the rehearsals, travelling, recording and especially the conversations between musicians themselves, although you can usually tell when they’re playing up to the camera (Perlman especially!).

I was lucky to interview Nupen in 2005 for The Strad. He was charming and still absolutely passionate-bordering-obsessive about his subjects. But how lucky we are that he was able to mobilise this passion to capture such important musical moments for posterity.

Here is a playlist of videos from Allegro films, and a BBC documentary on him:

And a few of my favourite highlights (click on images to go to YouTube):

Watching Itzhak Perlman and Vladimir Ashkenazy in the studio, listening to playback for their Beethoven sonatas and reacting to their own performances, is a lesson in itself.

Nathan Milstein and Pinchas Zukerman chit-chat over spaghetti as Zukerman tries to pin Milstein down on his art. How does he approach Bach? ‘I try not to spoil it.’

A full performance of Beethoven’s ‘Ghost’ Trio, with Pinchas Zukerman, Jacqueline du Pré and Daniel Barenboim. Nupen’s camera acts as the fourth player, following the story of music and closing up on faces and hands. Watching Zukerman’s left hand down the fingerboard is another violin lesson.

Vladimir Ashkenazy and Itzhak Perlman argue about whether the violin is too loud in their Franck Sonata recording.

Another iconic performance – an 82-year-old Nathan Milstein plays Beethoven’s ‘Kreutzer’ Sonata with Georges Pludermacher.

What a legacy. RIP.