SEEN AND HEARD INTERNATIONAL

Karim’s Journey :  Anne Ozorio previews Christopher Nupen’s new film (AO)

Karim Said - Picture © Allegro Films

Christopher Nupen’s classic films about music and musicians are being shown in a retrospective on BBC4 TV during this summer.  To start the season, there’ll be a special screening and recital at the Barbican Theatre in London on 1^st May 2008, of the very latest film, Karim’s Journey.  Who is Karim, one might ask ?  What journey ? Why is this complete unknown included as part of a series which features great artists like Jacqueline du Pré, Barenboim, Zuckerman and so on ?

But as Nupen says, when the earlier films were made, Du Pré, Barenboim, Zuckerman and their group were unknown themselves:  they were very young then, and the time was long before they became the legends they are now.  When the cameras were rolling, no-one could have predicted that Jackie’s career would end far too soon, or that Barenboim’s many achievements would include founding the West-Östlichen Divan Orchestra.

The West-East Divan Foundation holds workshops each summer where young musicians from different backgrounds  come together for the joy of making music.  After one concert, Daniel Barenboim walked up to the piano and said, “”Ladies and Gentlemen, I have a surprise for you.  You are going to hear someone who has not appeared so far.”  And in walked a diminutive boy. “This is Karim”, said Barenboim, “You heard him last year when he was 10 and now he’s 11”.  And Karim started to play Mendelssohn’s Rondo capriccioso.  “I was so touched”, says Nupen.  “I thought, how is it possible for a boy this age to create so much music out of a few slow chords ?”. Nupen had started filming Pinchas Zuckerman when Zuckerman was only 19, but good musicians start very early. Following Karim’s development might be interesting, whatever he might do in his career.  So Nupen suggested gradually filming his progress over time.  “Oh!  I’d like that!” piped the youngster.  His parents were more protective. “Television”, said his mother “does too much harm. We don’t want that for our son”. So the film deliberately does not attempt to present Karim as anything other than what he is now, a young person starting out on a journey through life, wherever it may lead.

“Whatever he will do in the future”, says Karim’s mother at the end of the film, “I hope he will have a fulfilled life. Even if he does become famous, I hope he will remain modest”.  Too much pressure can certainly harm. At music school, Jacqueline du Pré was so unhappy that she stopped playing for a while and what makes Karim’s Journey so interesting is that it shows how modern, nurturing approaches can work.  When he was five, Karim’s piano teacher, who’d trained in Moscow, recognised his natural ability and put him on a more demanding course, but he took to it well.  His parents encouraged him to participate in the West-East Divan foundation programme  which encourages education “through” music as well as “of” music. Barenboim’s commitment to helping young musicians reflects the support his own parents gave him when he was a boy. Because the best opportunities were in Europe, they moved with him, and were there when he was introduced to circles like those around Furtwängler and Markevitch.

Karim was also fortunate to attend the Purcell School in Britain.  He  was so happy there that his father noted that he was “homesick for school” when he went home for holidays.  The Purcell School has a “glorious atmosphere”, says Nupen. Students are encouraged to develop themselves in an environment where they work together outside the formal curriculum. Karim started his own afternoon sessions playing with a few friends, and soon so many wanted to join in that they called themselves the “Beethoven Orchestra”.  Although most of the students were older than Karim, they found his enthusiasm infectious.  When Nupen asked one of them what it was like to work with Karim, the student said “He’s so VERY funny !”

No-one knows what the future will hold for Karim Said, but he’s developing a personality which will stand him in good stead whatever he may choose to do.  Nupen has observed him grow up and says he has “astonishing maturity for his age but without a hint of precocity”. That’s quite unusual.  He comes over as a well balanced, level-headed person who loves making music – playing, conducting, composing.  Nupen’s film simply shows Karim as he is at this point in his life.  It documents what it’s like to grow up in an environment where creativity is encouraged along with a healthy approach to life.   Perhaps when and if he does become famous, he will, as his mother hopes, remain “modest” and firmly rooted in values that really count.

The film “Karim’s Journey” will be screened at the Barbican Theatre on 1^st May, 2008 at 7.30. Please see the Barbican web site for details.

The BBC will be showing a series of films by Christopher Nupen on BBC Four over the summer.  When the original TV programmes were broadcast, audiences went up dramatically each week, proving that there was an untapped new audience for classical music, for whom film enhanced the experience of listening.

Anne Ozorio


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