Crawling along the floor in front of a Steinway grand, Michael Lawrence aims his camera at two hands busily moving across the keys to articulate complex baroque counterpoint.
The resulting close-up isn't just about the actual pianist doing the playing. It says something, too, maybe even more, about the Baltimore filmmaker. Lawrence is trying to zoom in on nothing less than the enduring, inspiring genius of Johann Sebastian Bach.
The film, known as the Bach Project until an official name is chosen, had its final shoot on Friday in New York with celebrated composer Philip Glass. He joins a remarkable range of other Bach lovers interviewed for the film, from stellar violinists Joshua Bell and Hilary Hahn to banjo virtuoso Bela Fleck, from brilliant video game designer Sid Meier to ukulele wizard Jake Shimabukuro.
A couple of weeks ago, Lawrence and his crew filmed 12-year-old pianist Hilda Huang, who flew in from San Francisco to do the shoot at an unusual location, Keswick Multi-Care. Huang, whose affinity for Bach has earned high marks, played selections from the composer's Art of the Fugue and other pieces for an audience of seniors.
That footage may be the film's opening sequence. "It was great seeing someone so young playing Bach for the old people," says the tall, stocky Lawrence, whose long gray hair and beard give him a Santa-esque look at this time of year, complete with friendly eyes. "I'm thinking of having shots of the Keswick residents lead into a faces-of-humanity montage. I might have a title for the film now: The Faces of Bach."
That a film about Bach should end up shooting in a senior care center says something about the breadth of the enterprise. The idea came from Richard Chisolm, Lawrence's director of photography, whose many credits include the ABC series Hopkins 24/7. "His mom died at the center, and he visited her there often," Lawrence says. "He had the idea that the place would be great for the shoot, and it was."
Currently in post-production, the film will explore the different ways that a German composer who died more than 250 years ago continues to inspire musicians and non-musicians alike. An all-music bonus DVD containing complete versions of performances interwoven through interviews in the main film will be included in the final product, which should be on the market this summer.
