Circle of Light (1972) - Anthony Roland / Pamela Bone / Delia Derbyshire +Elsa Stansfield.

 Would dearly like to see the whole of this film

Now did not know this Arena docu-drama existed - they do a good job telling Delia Derbyshire’s story in an elliptical and oneiric way that suits the  music and the crazily mixed-up era she passed through. But I can imagine that if you didn't know anything about her story, you might struggle. 

The cult of Delia is a remarkable phenomenon

 

The posthumous acclamation is extraordinary: a play, several docs, a major component of Cosey Fanni Tutti’s book Re-Sisters, a biography in the works, tribute records, an entire Wiki devoted to her every last bleep. 

There are aspects of her biography and personality that made her irresistible material for cult figuration, where composers like Pauline Oliveros or Ann Southam or Beatriz Ferreyra or Else Pade simply don't.There's the Dr. Who theme and its national and generational impact. The brushes with famous rock stars. The eccentricities (snuff!). And then the disappearance into remote obscurity.  She was beginning to be a cult figure in her Sixties prime, notable enough to be a thinly disguised character in a novel. But then that was cut short and a decades of wilderness years ensued. 

A good proportion of the work is genius. But there is a sense that of its potential being constrained  and curtailed.  Who knows what  she might have done in different circumstances (not held back by the founding conception of the Radiophonic Workshop as ancillary and subservient - its output intended to be nothing more than audio components of other people's productions). What might have happened if she had gone on longer? "Longer" in both senses: longer in terms of her creative life, and longer in terms of expanding her canvas, doing works of scale. Her finest work consists of miniatures, anywhere from 23 seconds to 3 minutes. The exception that proves the rule here is Inventions for Radio. 

That sense of “what might have been” adds to an aura of tragic romance, whereas if she had found some cosy berth of institutional tenure and carried on making works at regular intervals … who knows? It is very similar to the romance of figures like Syd Barrett or Nick Drake or Alexander Spence… which wouldn’t exist if their grown-stout presence had been regular sightings on the Jools Holland show and a series of compact discs had chuntered out through the ‘90s and 2000s (cf Van Morrison, John Martyn et al)

The curtailment comes not just from institutional strictures but from her personal struggles - reverse adrenalin, composer's block, which started during the latter days of her time at the Workshop, and then the alcoholism and the retreat from the trendy, happening world of London.

Yet in a way, those very constraints at the BBC seemed to have given her focus and impetus. 

Perhaps she would have flourished with complete freedom and endless support from a backer, but who knows? 

The Circle of Light soundtrack doesn't really stand up on its own without the images - Anthony Roland’s film based on the photography of Pamela Bone. 

Whereas the best of the miniatures that she made at the Workshop are marvels that outlasted their original function and context, even though that originating purpose was their sole reason for being. 

Perhaps it's another case of "restriction is the mother of invention".