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Neil Brand - news and future projects |
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For 2010, Neil has been commissioned with long-term
writing colleague Michael Eaton to write ‘Waves
Breaking on a Shore’, two afternoon plays for BBC Radio 4 dealing
with the beginnings of cinema in the East End of London and the impact on
the Music Hall of the day and London’s multiracial community. |
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Neil had great success performing twice at 2009’s
London Film Festival, once in Trafalgar Square
with transport films showing London through the cinema’s eyes, and the
following night at the Queen Elizabeth Hall with
the Prima Vista Social Club (Gunter Buchwald, Romano
Todesco, Denis Biason and Frank Bockius) for a gala Archive premiere of the
BFI’s new restoration of Anthony Asquith’s
UNDERGROUND (1928). The score was semi-improvised
on themes written by Neil to great critical acclaim. |
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Following his appearances last year discussing
silent film music and the score to ‘Vertigo’,
Neil has been broadcasting regularly on R4’s ‘Film
Programme’ during 2009, analysing famous film scores including
Casablanca, Jaws and The
Pink Panther. In 2010 he will be back looking at the work of specific
film composers. |
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Neil had two writing projects broadcast on BBC
Radio 4 in December 2009 – a new 45-minute play, Headliner,
dealing with the politics of stand-up comedy during an election in an ex-Soviet
satellite country, and (with ‘Clare in the Community’
creator Harry Venning) a new six-part comedy series,
Sneakiepeeks, about a covert surveillance team. |
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Following an acclaimed tour of Paul
Mertons Silent Clowns last autumn (which was seen by 15,000 people)
Paul and Neil were on the road again in April/May 2009.
Click
here to read reviews. |
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Neil’s score for the silent version of Hitchcock’s
‘Blackmail’ for 60-piece orchestra for
the Bologna Film Festival was performed to enormous
acclaim before 5000 people on July 1st 2008, in the Piazza Maggiore by the
Opera House Orchestra of Bologna, conducted by Timothy
Brock. Plans are now being discussed with the BBC Symphony Orchestra
for a London premiere in 2010. See separate page. |
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Neil is currently scoring ‘The
Wrecker’ (1929), directed by Géza von Bolváry,
for DVD. |
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In May 2008, Neil enjoyed a superb collaboration
with The Umbilical Brothers in ‘Flicker’
a specially-commissioned show for Cat Laughs Comedy Festival,
Kilkenny. |
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Neil’s own show in Edinburgh last year: ‘Neil
Brand – the Silent Pianist Speaks’ played to critical acclaim
and has since played in London, Orkney, Bath, Tromso, Bonn, Zurich, Inverness
and in rural touring venues. See separate
page and Forthcoming Events for this year's
dates. |
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His new radio play, ‘Seeing
it through’ aired on Radio 3 in October 2007 – it is a
political drama set against the background of Wellington House, the deeply
secret department of propaganda during World War One. See
Guardian review. |
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He has recently recorded scores for DVD releases
‘Mitchell and Kenyon in Ireland’, ‘The
Open Road’ (BFI, both with Gunter Buchwald),
Bluebell Railway No 3 (Bluebell/South-East Screen
Archive) and The Life Story of David Lloyd George
(Welsh Film Archive). The Silent Britain BBC documentary
for which he composed the music is now available through Kino
in the States – this DVD is available from BFI
Film and Video. |
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Neil’s score for ‘The
Cat and the Canary’ was performed to great acclaim at the New
Zealand Film Festival in July 2007. |
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Neil appeared with Paul Merton
on Room 101 in March, defending Charlie Chaplin
from the wrath of Ian Hislop. For those who missed it, Charlie didn’t
make it into Room 101. |
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Neil is very proud to have had his radio play ‘Getting
the Joke’ shortlisted for the Tinniswood Award,
given by the Society of Authors and the Writers
Guild for outstanding radio drama. The play concerned the trial for
obscenity of 80-year-old postcard king Donald McGill. |
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DICKENS BEFORE SOUND,
a DVD of Dickens-related silent material held by the NFTVA and featuring the
full-length ‘Oliver Twist’ starring
Jackie Coogan was released in August 2006 –
scored throughout by Neil it also features textual soundtrack work by writer
Michael Eaton and the wonderful Ken
Campbell. |
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The BBC presented a season of films
on BBC4 in May 2006 on the subject of silent film: |
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SILENT BRITAIN,
which Neil scored, is a 90-minute overview of British silent cinema,
a subject which has never been approached in such detail before. Containing
clips, scenes, interviews and anecdotes the film is a fascinating treasure
trove of rarely seen material which will throw some much-needed light
on a vanished art form. This has also been released as a BFI
DVD. |
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PAUL MERTON’S SILENT
CLOWNS is an opportunity to hear about the great silent clowns
from a comedy expert (and comic legend in his own right) who has grown
up knowing and enjoying this material all his life – four one-hour
episodes deal with Chaplin, Keaton,
Harold Lloyd and Laurel
and Hardy and each episode ends with a complete short by that
artist, scored by Neil. Chaplin’s ‘Easy
Street’ is a live improv accompaniment recorded at Bristol
Slapstick with German friends (and world-class improvisers) Gunter Buchwald
on violin and Frank Bockius on percussion, Keaton’s ‘The
Goat’ and Lloyd’s ‘Never
Weaken’ are studio recordings featuring great session musicians
including Sonia Slany on violin and finally Laurel and Hardy’s
‘You’re Darn Tootin’ has
the 10-piece score commissioned by Paul from Neil for last year’s
SLAPSTICK, recorded live at
Pordenone Festival featuring Dutch and Italian musicians and
the trouser-ripping sound effects of the entire audience!! |
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And finally, his TV adaptation of STAN,
the Sony-nominated radio play from 2004, aired to huge critical acclaim
– Jim Norton and Trevor Cooper played the older Stan and Ollie
and Nik Howden and Mike Goodenough played the younger. The director
was Jon Sen. The reviews will be on the website soon. |
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Neil’s musical, TALKING
WITH MR WARNER received its second showcase at the Menier
Chocolate Factory with a superb cast in December 2005 after extensive
rewrites, again to great critical acclaim. The next stage will be a full production. |
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Neil has recently recorded piano accompaniments
to Schloss Vogelod (Murnau), Spione
(Fritz Lang), The Woman Men Wanted (Dietrich),
Die Grosse Sprung (Leni Riefenstahl) and When
I was a man (Lubitsch) for the FW Murnau Institute
which will be aired on European TV and ultimately receive DVD release. Neil
has also recorded a piano accompaniment for the 1925 Charlie Chaplin classic
The Gold Rush released on DVD by French TV company
MK2, along with the 1934 reissue with Chaplin’s own score. Neil’s
score uses melodies from the compilation conductor's score of that first performance. |
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Neil’s new jazz score for E A Dupont’s
Piccadilly was featured in a sell-out performance
at the 2000 seat Barbican Concert Hall to great acclaim,
(described by Phillip French in the Observer as
‘the cinemagoing event of the year’)
and was performed live in the Piazza Maggiore, Bologna in July. It has now
been released as a BFI
DVD. |
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Neil has scored Paul Leni’s The
Cat and the Canary for Photoplay Productions. This spooky house comedy-horror
is scored for 12 musicians including Theremin, conducted by maestro Timothy
Brock, and received rave reviews as the closing event of the Pordenone
Silent Film Festival in October 2004. It has played on Film Four, will
play on ARTE and in the States and will eventually be released on DVD. |
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His radio play, STAN,
about Stan Laurel’s last meeting with stroke victim Oliver Hardy, went
out on Radio 4 at 2.15, Friday July 30th 2004, starring Tom
Courtenay as Stan Laurel. It was received with great critical acclaim,
being Pick of the Day in most broadsheets as well as the Radio
Times and featuring prominently on BBC Radio 4’s ‘Pick
of the Week’ and ‘Feedback’.
See the STAN
page on this website. Subsequently nominated for the Sony
radio awards. |
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Neil appeared in the BBC2 series ‘Who
Do You Think You Are’ in the episode featuring soprano Lesley
Garrett’s search for her roots, particularly her grandfather,
Colin Wall, who was a silent film musician in Rotherham. |
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He has also done a day’s filming as a movie
pianist for Ken Loach’s new film, The Wind the Shakes
the Barley. |
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