Prom 31: Saturday 6th August at 10.00 p.m. (Nigel Kennedy playing Bach)

[Ventilhorn]

Just watched on BBC4, wonderful concert.

Whether or not a solo recital is a prom as I undewrstand it is debatable but this was certainly NOT a suitable choice for television.

Staring at an almost black screen, trying to determine where the soloist had got to and then cutting abruptly to a close-up of violin, bow and haircut is quite different from attending a concert where, from whatever one's own position, the eyes can remain fixed upon one portion of the platform whilst listening to the glorious sound all around.

My late brother-in-law was a television producer. I remember him telling me when I started to do a little amateur cine photography ...
"If you are recording music, never zoom out. The viewer will expect the volume to decrease when the picture recedes."
I had the same problem last night. At times, a tiny little icon in the corner of the screen, next minute, able to count the whiskers on Nigel's chin!

The director should have left just one camera firmly pointed at the soloist and then gone for a cup of tea. All that fiddling about, with lamps sailing across in front of or behind the soloist and views of empty music stands was totally distracting.

The old rule, (set in tablets of stone) that you must keep changing the shot every few seconds, was a rule made to be broken on this occasion.

VH

[Ariosto]

Whether or not a solo recital is a prom as I undewrstand it is debatable but this was certainly NOT a suitable choice for television.

Staring at an almost black screen, trying to determine where the soloist had got to and then cutting abruptly to a close-up of violin, bow and haircut is quite different from attending a concert where, from whatever one's own position, the eyes can remain fixed upon one portion of the platform whilst listening to the glorious sound all around.

My late brother-in-law was a television producer. I remember him telling me when I started to do a little amateur cine photography ...
"If you are recording music, never zoom out. The viewer will expect the volume to decrease when the picture recedes."
I had the same problem last night. At times, a tiny little icon in the corner of the screen, next minute, able to count the whiskers on Nigel's chin!

The director should have left just one camera firmly pointed at the soloist and then gone for a cup of tea. All that fiddling about, with lamps sailing across in front of or behind the soloist and views of empty music stands was totally distracting.

The old rule, (set in tablets of stone) that you must keep changing the shot every few seconds, was a rule made to be broken on this occasion.

VH

I agree VH about the televison presentation. They should get a real violinist to direct the cameras and then we could learn something about Nigel's playing, his fingering and the like.

I was pleased to see that he played a lot of the Bach unnacompanied in first position, where possible anyway, and this is the ONLY concession he (and I) give to the HIPsters, where we avoid the extremes of some editors, who think it the done thing to play passages high up on the G string, or any other string for that matter.

Nige has put a lot of intelligent thought into his Bach style, and he does not have to be either an elitist or to talk down to people about it.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

My late brother-in-law was a television producer. I remember him telling me when I started to do a little amateur cine photography ...
"If you are recording music, never zoom out. The viewer will expect the volume to decrease when the picture recedes."

Since video virtually replaced cine film, the standard of camera-work has plummeted. Pans and zooms are nearly always a bad thing. Panning when following a moving object is sensible enough, but not to show the camera operator has changed his/her mind about what's important. Zooming can make the viewer quite seasick. People with itchy zoom fingers should try to restrict their use for reframing between shots.
If only David Lean were still around.