Classical Music Television Director Brian Large's Memoir

In his memoir, Large reflects on collaborations with artists including Stravinsky, Britten, Bernstein, and Pavarotti

Brian Large is a television director and classical music expert with a videography of more than 600 films, including the first filming of Wagner’s The Ring from the Bayreuth Festival. 

Recently presented at a book launch at the Vienna State Opera, Large’s memoir titled “At Large: Behind the Camera with Brian Large,” was written in collaboration with the journalist and playwright Jane Scovell.

Large first studied at London’s Royal Academy of Music with Myra Hess, with the aim of being a professional pianist. He later earned a PhD in Music at the University of London. 

Between 1961 and 1964, he wrote biographies on Bedřich Smetana and Bohuslav Martinů in the former Czechoslovakia, which led him to meet the stage and television director Václav Kašlík. 

Through Kašlík, Large was introduced to cinematic methods in opera productions, and later directed countless productions from the Metropolitan Opera, London’s Covent Garden, the Salzburg Festival, plus most editions of the Vienna Philharmonic’s New Year’s Concert from 1989 until 2011. 

Notably, he directed the first performance of the Three Tenors in 1990, featuring Luciano Pavarotti, Plácido Domingo, and José Carreras. He also worked closely with opera stars such as Birgit Nilsson and René Fleming, among many others. 

From 1965, he worked at the BBC directing sports events as well as concerts, opera, and ballet.

Large told EL PAÍS that due to his music background, he was often picked for concert direction including for the filming of Stravinsky conducting The Firebird at the Royal Festival Hall. 

In 1970, Large had the chance to work with Britten on filming his operas Owen Wingrave and Peter Grimes. Additionally, his 1966 filming of Leonard Bernstein conducting the London Symphony Orchestra helped consolidate Bernstein’s status as an orchestra conductor in Europe.

“Lenny was a force of nature,” Large said. “He was a dynamite personality. He just breathed music. I didn’t always agree with his interpretation, but that didn’t matter. I was there as a conduit to be able to record, document and give the public a vision of a man who was a genius.” 

“I pray to God every day that there won’t be a Third World War,” he added (now aged 86, Large was one of the many children evacuated to the countryside during Nazi Germany’s bombing of London in WWII). “I’ve always maintained that one of the greatest things music can do is to bring harmony and peace and respect for human life,” he continued. “And I hope every concert I did, every piece of music I did, was with that intention of being able to make people feel happy, at peace, content with the world and grateful to be able to live on this wonderful planet.”

To purchase and read the memoir, click here.