For all its beauty, the film Pure Genius: The Geoffrey Tozer Story leaves the sense that the renowned pianist himself remains, in some ways, unknowable, writes arts editor HELEN MUSA.

An enthusiastic crowd of music lovers with long memories gathered at Palace Cinemas earlier this week for the unveiling of a new film about the life of the late Australian virtuoso pianist Geoffrey Tozer, who died in 2009 of liver disease at just 54.

It is not to be confused with a 2018 film Eulogy, which featured the late conductor Richard Gill in search of the truth about Tozer.

The documentary, Pure Genius: The Geoffrey Tozer Story, is a labour of love produced by Tozer’s estate executor, Peter Wyllie Johnston, a musician, writer, former opera singer and longtime friend of the pianist.

Wyllie Johnston wrote the script and co-directed the film with Raymond Hoefer. Hoefer also handled cinematography alongside Oscar Nasri, while actor Colin McPhillamy narrates the film.

Wyllie Johnston says the documentary aims to restore Tozer “to his rightful place among the ranks of the world’s great musicians.”

At his death in he left a catalogue of over 150 compositions, more than 1000 live recording and 45+ CDs on Chandos and other labels.

The film includes breathtaking archival material, featuring around 50 musical performances by Tozer. Among them are historic concerts filmed at the Sydney Opera House in 1982, the Vigadó Concert Hall in Budapest during 1987, and performances with the Xiamen Philharmonic Orchestra in the early 2000s.

A child prodigy, Tozer quickly achieved international acclaim.

But even late in life he stood out. One of the film’s most remarkable moments revisits a historic performance in China. In May 2001, Tozer became the first Western artist invited by the Chinese Ministry of Culture to perform the Yellow River Piano Concerto in China. The concert was broadcast live on national television and reportedly watched by an audience of 80 million people. He was swamped with floral bouquets.

As the film shows, despite his global reputation, Tozer spent 10  important years living and working in Canberra as a pianist, composer and teacher. The film explores this chapter of his life and his friendship with former Australian prime minister Paul Keating.

Keating appears frequently in the documentary, describing Tozer as a rare genius of the keyboard. The prime minister first became aware of Tozer when his son was studying at St Edmund’s College Canberra and it emerged that an internationally respected pianist was teaching there to supplement his income. Keating was instrumental in getting him signed up with Chandos records.

Their association grew strong. Through his Creative Artists’ panel, Keating later awarded Tozer two major fellowships — each worth $150,000 — under the government’s Creative Artist Fellowships program, widely known as “the Keatings”.

The documentary also examines Tozer’s time in the Canberra region, including troubling, haunting footage of the pianist wandering the corridors of Benedict House, a former convent in Isabella Street, Queanbeyan. Tozer and Keating had purchased the building with plans to establish a music centre there, although the film offers little explanation as to why the project ultimately failed.

Similarly, the documentary leaves some mysteries unresolved. It does not fully explain why Tozer’s flourishing European and Australian concert career came to an abrupt halt, though Keating suggests he may have been the victim of Australia’s indifference to the arts and believes Tozer might have fared better had he lived overseas.

The film also touches only lightly on Tozer’s formidable mother, Veronica Tozer, who travelled to India to give birth to him and later moved with him to Australia once it became clear he was a prodigy.

Tozer is seen mourning the loss of both his aunt and his birth father, of whom we had previously heard nothing, but no mention is made of his mother’s passing.

Instead, Pure Genius focuses primarily on Tozer’s extraordinary musical achievements. The film includes reflections from friends and admirers, among them the late Hazel Hawke, actress Patricia Conolly, former model and movie star Jill Goodall and Canberra music advocate Ross Gengos, who served on Keating’s fellowship committee.

But many aspects of Tozer’s personal life remain veiled, including the illness that eventually led to the liver disease which ended his life prematurely.

For all its beauty, the film leaves the sense that the pianist himself remains, in some ways, unknowable.

I once talked with Tozer sitting quietly beneath a flowering tree outside the ANU School of Music. Even then, he seemed a figure of mystery.

Despite the insights offered in this loving documentary, he remains one still.