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Front Row: Frederick Forsyth discusses new novel Cobra

Frederick Forsyth discusses new novel Cobra

20/08/2010

BBC Radio 4 - Front Row, Frederick Forsyth discusses new novel Cobra

Arts news and reviews with Mark Lawson. Frederick Forsyth on his new novel, Cobra.

With Mark Lawson. Frederick Forsyth talks about his new novel The Cobra; a documentary about piano-tuning for the virtuoso concert pianist; and time-jumps on film and stage.

With Mark Lawson. Frederick Forsyth discusses his new thriller The Cobra in which an ex-CIA agent is charged by the President of the USA to take on the international drugs barons and bring down the global cocaine industry.

The use of the flash-forward device - where the action in a plot jumps forward in time - has long been popular in theatre, opera and film: for example, Verdi's Simon Boccanegra, recently staged at the Royal Opera House with Placido Domingo, sees the plot flash forward 25 years after the prologue. Theatre director John Caird and film critic Mark Eccleston examine the techniques directors use to convey passing time. 

Pianomania is an award-winning documentary which follows master piano-tuner Stefan Knupfer for a year, chronicling his work with leading pianists such as Lang Lang, Alfred Brendel and Pierre-Laurent Aimard. In partnership with the performers, Knupfer seeks to create the perfect tone, so that the piano in question will suit the virtuoso's interpretation of the music. Pianist Melvyn Tan and piano-tuner Iain Gordon review the documentary, and discuss the working relationship between tuners and pianists.

Producer Jerome Weatherald.

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