Howards End....

[Barbirollians]

I agree also. I had a slight impression that the complaints about the music were tendentiously 'got up' by some in Telegraph-land, a minor front in their ongoing war of attrition against the BBC. Don't ask for hard evidence in support of that statement!

On a more pedantic note wasn't the singer of the Four Serious Songs a woman in the novel ? I am with Margaret Schlegel probably my least favourite works by Brahms. Why they felt the need to change the name of the hall to the Prince Regent Hall I could not understand .

I have not seen episode 2 yet but I thought that episode 1 was , a few solecisms like " raised " apart very faithful to the novel and captured its atmosphere very well . As for Tibby I recall him as being an annoying character so maybe spot on there too .

This was one of my A Level set texts . Shows how things go in at that age . I was able to spot just about every piece of dialogue that was not in the book in episode 1 !

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I agree also. I had a slight impression that the complaints about the music were tendentiously 'got up' by some in Telegraph-land, a minor front in their ongoing war of attrition against the BBC. Don't ask for hard evidence in support of that statement!

"The complaints"? Where are they all, Jim? LMcD raised the point, and was roundly disagreed with except for a specific incident pointed out by 8thOb. (And the idea of him even passing through Telegraph-land on his way to the Pub is a bit of a stretch.) I don't think there's very much soft evidence to support your impression on this occasion, Jim.

[JimD]

I must blushingly confess that I meant to imply that I'd seen them in the Telegraph while looking for reviews of HW. Not that I'd paid hard (or even soft) cash for it you understand.

[Cockney Sparrow]

"The complaints"? Where are they all, Jim? LMcD raised the point, and was roundly disagreed with except for a specific incident pointed out by 8thOb. (And the idea of him even passing through Telegraph-land on his way to the Pub is a bit of a stretch.) I don't think there's very much soft evidence to support your impression on this occasion, Jim.

I refrained from posting, as I'm not sure I find lots of "me too" posts all that interesting. We've recently gone over to a flatscreen TV from a good (but aged) Cathode Ray TV. The audio on the new Sony TV has been acceptable so far, but episode 1 of Howards End got me searching out the audio output menu and trying to activate the optical output to my audio system. I don't think I have a significant hearing problem but the music was far too strong balanced against the speech component. I found it highly annoyiong, as I found the refusal of the output link to work into the speakers. I think it was less of a problem in the 2nd episode.

I agree with the appreciation of the actors and other production attributes expressed here. I can put up with sound effects as long as I can make out speech. (And - although I haven't read (and won't be reading) the book - Tibby, IMV, gets more annoying in Episode 2).

(And as to episode one, just to say I was recording it onto a Hard Disk recorder - the recorder's optical output does result in a successful signal into my audio system. After 5/10 minutes I switched into viewing what had (a moment before) been recorded and listening through the audio system improved clarity and helped enough to make out the speech. (And to note I am most definitely not a reader of, and have not read for decades, the Daily Telegraph - which is the debased remnant of a once serious newspaper. Is there a particular commercial interest of its owners served by a campaign against the BBC, or is it just in sympathy with the usual "privatise everything for the benefit of our city patrons" policy of the present party "in government".))

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I must blushingly confess that I meant to imply that I'd seen them in the Telegraph while looking for reviews of HW. Not that I'd paid hard (or even soft) cash for it you understand.

-

[Nick Armstrong]

8thOb... the idea of him even passing through Telegraph-land on his way to the Pub is a bit of a stretch.

The audio on the new Sony TV has been acceptable so far, but episode 1 of Howards End got me searching out the audio output menu and trying to activate the optical output to my audio system. I don't think I have a significant hearing problem but the music was far too strong balanced against the speech component. I found it highly annoyiong, as I found the refusal of the output link to work into the speakers. I think it was less of a problem in the 2nd episode.

An interesting point in relation to the speech -v- background music debate. I've long thought that the audio set-up of individuals' TVs might well be significant in some of the complaints about various programmes. I had a relation whose set had this problem and she'd been complaining about it - background noise and music ludicrously out of proportion to the dialogue. On a visit, I twiddled a few settings for her and resolved it - she now has to resort to subtitles only for the more extreme 'mummerset' historical productions...

CS I have a Sony flatscreen too, and I just listen through the speakers on the set - and it's absolutely fine. If you wanted to exchange PMs about the settings, I'd be happy (though it may take a bit of time - I won't be back home for a week or two).

[Cockney Sparrow]

An interesting point in relation to the speech -v- background music debate. I've long thought that the audio set-up of individuals' TVs might well be significant in some of the complaints about various programmes. I had a relation whose set had this problem and she'd been complaining about it - background noise and music ludicrously out of proportion to the dialogue. On a visit, I twiddled a few settings for her and resolved it - she now has to resort to subtitles only for the more extreme 'mummerset' historical productions...

CS I have a Sony flatscreen too, and I just listen through the speakers on the set - and it's absolutely fine. If you wanted to exchange PMs about the settings, I'd be happy (though it may take a bit of time - I won't be back home for a week or two).

A kind offer, I'll engage with the menus, and see if I can somehow arrange a signal to the audio system which will work, as a backstop. Hopefully I won't have to trouble you...... ( I suspect I need constrained bass and crisper higher frequencies).

[eighthobstruction]

....psst....how long does it take to tell a bowler hat from a top hat....I mean where was the hat stand - Camden bloody Town....

[Nick Armstrong]

( I suspect I need constrained bass and crisper higher frequencies).

Ditto!

[Nick Armstrong]

....psst....how long does it take to tell a bowler hat from a top hat....I mean where was the hat stand - Camden bloody Town....

Can't get the staff....

[LMcD]

I'm perfectly willing to concede that my TV has totally inadequate speakers and will try watching the next episode on my PC in the hope that the separate speakers will give me a fighting chance of hearing what the cast are saying. By the way, in the new Radio Times, the producer of 'Blue Planet 2', addressing comments about the intrusive music, claims that the finished product is tested using a normal TV set.....

[Richard Tarleton]

....psst....how long does it take to tell a bowler hat from a top hat....I mean where was the hat stand - Camden bloody Town....

That was the most puzzling bit of the whole episode. The top hat was in the hall (wasn't it?), but the dim maid had put the bowler somewhere else - where? Why? - and couldn't find it - why not? Carol Midgeley in The Times thought Bast should simply have taken Wilcox's hat when it was offered and legged it.

[eighthobstruction]

That was the most puzzling bit of the whole episode. The top hat was in the hall (wasn't it?), but the dim maid had put the bowler somewhere else - where? Why? - and couldn't find it - why not? Carol Midgeley in The Times thought Bast should simply have taken Wilcox's hat when it was offered and legged it.

....and we think Brexit is getting complicated....

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

.. the dim maid ...

... who hadn't been portrayed as particularly dim hitherto. (And if, as jean suggests, giving the role of Jacky to a black actress led to a more dignified portrayal of that role to avoid offending "modern sensitivities around race", then this scene rather shoots the idea in its own foot, doesn't it?)

[french frank]

So, has it finished? I've just reread the book (actually, I wondered whether I finished it last time: I didn't remember much of it).