Front Row - 26/10/2009

Writer and broadcaster Kate Saunders reviews the new film An Education. Based on the memoirs of the journalist Lynn Barber, the film follows the story of 17-year-old Jenny, whose life plans and dreams of studying at Oxford change dramatically when she falls in love with a much older man. Paul Theroux's latest novel is a thriller set in Calcutta, India. Jerry Delfont is a writer struggling against writer's block who has embarked on a fairly unsuccessful romance. Events take a sinister turn when a mysterious letter arrives asking for his help and a dead body is found on the floor of a cheap hotel. A Dead Hand is published in hardback by Hamish Hamilton. Mark Lawson reports on two projects bringing together art and music. The video and performance artist Robin Rhode is collaborating with pianist Leif Ove Andsnes to create a version of Mussorgsky's Pictures. The pianist will perform surrounded by five large screens showing Rhode's images, based on Mussorgsky's music, and an animation he has created. At the National Gallery, musician and sound curator David Toop has been commissioned to create sound art inspired by a particular picture. He chose Hoogstraten's: A Peepshow With Views Of The Interior Of A Dutch House. The music forms part of an audio gallery tour. Other sound artists include Chris Watson, Jem Finer, Simon Fisher Turner and students from the Ravensbourne College of Design and Communication.