Record Review at the 2016 Edinburgh Festival...

[pastoralguy]

A big day in Edinburgh as the Record Review team head to the city for their EIF debut. The BBC have a tent in the grounds of Heriot's School where various broadcasts are being scheduled.

Mrs. PG and I will be up early to get a seat near the front to be close to the action. One of Andrew's guests will be Anne McAlister of MacalisterMathiesonMusic, the last independent CD shop in our wonderful city which celebrated its 25th anniversary last Wednesday.

[pastoralguy]

A nice but windy morning here in Edinburgh as we sit in the BBC tent watching Record Review in action! The site at Heriot's was really busy but only because there's a recording being made of 'Al Murray - pub landlord' at 10 so the crowd has thinned leaving the cognoscenti behind!

Great bacon sandwiches as well...

[pastoralguy]

Well, that's it over. A great opportunity to see how the show is put together. We were sitting right next to Andrew so we could hear the asides to the guests. He's very good at making his subjects feel comfortable and involved and seems eager to get the best out of them. It was getting very noisy towards the end, (the set up was next to the bar!) so Ian Burnside's contribution was in danger of being hijacked by the children playing ping pong!

[Stanley Stewart]

Thank you for your comments, pg. I was disappointed in the programme as it lacked a sense of presence which other EIF broadcasts have in spades. More than three hours which had little more than shreds and patches sequences. The background sound of other activities also irritated but the quality of the morning performances from the Queen's Hall over the past week mitigate by reminding me of so many years of pleasure at Auld Reekie! I wasn't surprise that Ian Burnside sounded exasperated as he raised his voice to be heard.

I've compensated by playing this afternoon a DVD off-air recording transmitted on BBC2, 23/24 Dec 2002; a performance of the Beethoven Cello Sonatas; Mstislav Rostropovich and Sviatoslav Richter in 1964 EIF, at the Usher Hall. I was playing in 'rep' at the Gateway Theatre, (Leith Walk) at the time and hectored the management to get me access to the morning run-through rehearsals - a thrill to see those performances after almost 40 years.

[pastoralguy]

As the morning went on so more people arrived with children in tow and the volume of disinterested parties went up. (Most odd that there was a ping pong table so close by!) The lack of 'prescence' was probably due to the fact that the venue was a tent which was pretty much open to the elements as opposed to a proper building. I was amazed that there were so few audience members there for Record Review. Perhaps there were half a dozen who stayed for the whole three hours. (I remember there being a LOT of folk who turned out for the Sage, Gateshead show a year past November.)

Still, it's great to see the show being done so close up. And Andrew is a super bloke to talk to 'off air'. Genuinely interested in speaking to the audience members.

What the hell. Why don't I admit that in 2001 I had a huge nervous breakdown after being bullied by an ignorant and destructive senior manager at work. What I found helped a lot was mini-discing CD Review on a Saturday morning and then editing it into its component parts whilst adding text to the disc via the machines facility for adding a keyboard. It required a lot of concentration and patience and helped to get my brain working again. I still have these detailed discs in shoe boxes and, years later, it's interesting to play these recordings and see the work I put into archiving them.

So, Andrew MacGregor, for me was a kind of quasi therapist who, unbeknownst to him, helped me through one of the worst periods of my life. The power of radio!

[Old Grumpy]

As the morning went on so more people arrived with children in tow and the volume of disinterested parties went up. (Most odd that there was a ping pong table so close by!) The lack of 'prescence' was probably due to the fact that the venue was a tent which was pretty much open to the elements as opposed to a proper building. I was amazed that there were so few audience members there for Record Review. Perhaps there were half a dozen who stayed for the whole three hours. (I remember there being a LOT of folk who turned out for the Sage, Gateshead show a year past November.)

Still, it's great to see the show being done so close up. And Andrew is a super bloke to talk to 'off air'. Genuinely interested in speaking to the audience members.

What the hell. Why don't I admit that in 2001 I had a huge nervous breakdown after being bullied by an ignorant and destructive senior manager at work. What I found helped a lot was mini-discing CD Review on a Saturday morning and then editing it into its component parts whilst adding text to the disc via the machines facility for adding a keyboard. It required a lot of concentration and patience and helped to get my brain working again. I still have these detailed discs in shoe boxes and, years later, it's interesting to play these recordings and see the work I put into archiving them.

So, Andrew MacGregor, for me was a kind of quasi therapist who, unbeknownst to him, helped me through one of the worst periods of my life. The power of radio!

Thanks for sharing that PG - very brave of you. I can understand why you have an attachment to CD/Record review. Must admit, I dip in and out as Saturday mornings are usually occupied by other "daily living" activities - enjoy the bits I hear (usually in the car). I have the highest respect for Andrew MacGregor, though - having also seem him in action at Sage Gateshead.

OG

[antongould]

Thanks for sharing that PG - very brave of you. I can understand why you have an attachment to CD/Record review. Must admit, I dip in and out as Saturday mornings are usually occupied by other "daily living" activities - enjoy the bits I hear (usually in the car). I have the highest respect for Andrew MacGregor, though - having also seem him in action at Sage Gateshead.

OG

Yes PG thanks for sharing your experience .... I like OG tend to dip in and out of RR but it is a wonderful programme with a fine host ....

[Stanley Stewart]

Well done, pg - another positive step forward - and a welcome break for a holiday is due soon.

Happy are they who live in the dream of their own existence...
who walk by faith and hope;
to whom the guiding star of their youth
still shines from afar and into whom
the spirit of the world has not entered.
They have not been 'hurt by the archers'
nor has the iron entered their soul.
The world has no hand on them." Hazlitt

[richardfinegold]

Well done, pg - another positive step forward - and a welcome break for a holiday is due soon.

Happy are they who live in the dream of their own existence...
who walk by faith and hope;
to whom the guiding star of their youth
still shines from afar and into whom
the spirit of the world has not entered.
They have not been 'hurt by the archers'
nor has the iron entered their soul.
The world has no hand on them." Hazlitt

Wonderful poem, Stanley.
And PG, we are glad that you made it through.

[Nick Armstrong]

Wonderful poem, Stanley.
And PG, we are glad that you made it through.

Seconded in both respects

Sounds as if "you had to be there" to enjoy the programme to best effect... Only heard a bit of Burnside bellowing above the café ambiance