Recital Hall is an American musical television program that debuted on NBC on July 8, 1951,[1] and was broadcast intermittently until 1955.[2]
Format edit
Each 30-minute episode of Recital Hall featured a musician giving a solo performance.[1] The setting — a small audience with the performer on stage — was an effort to form a recital-hall environment on the TV screen.[2] The premiere featured pianist Gyorgy Sandor. Other artists who performed on the program included violinist Ruggiero Ricci, cellist Leonard Rose, and baritone William Warfield.[1]
Production edit
Charles Polacheck was the producer, with Kirk Browning and John Block as directors.[3] Cameras "focused attentively on the soloist", avoiding closeups and often remaining stationary for minutes.[2]
Episodes broadcast in 1953 originated at WPTZ in Philadelphia.[4]
Reception edit
Musicologist Sigmund Spaeth, in a review in Music Clubs Magazine, described Recital Hall as an example of "good intentions gone wrong".[5] He acknowledged the "creditable attempt" to give viewers access to top-quality musicians, but he felt that productions failed to take advantage of the "intimacy and informality that alone can differentiate television from its competitors".[5] As a result, he wrote that the program had been unable to appeal to viewers other than a "quota of serious musical devotees".[5]
Critic Jack Gould, on the other hand, in a review in The New York Times, called the program "an altogether superb half hour of television" and suggested that it should be considered for a Peabody Award.[3] He noted the successful creation of a recital-hall atmosphere and a level of relaxation rare in that era of television and added that the performers' repertoire was "effectively varied and eminently satisfying".[3]
In a two-years-later review in the Times, Val Adams bemoaned the reduced number of broadcasts of Recital Hall (only four that season). Adams pointed out TV's advantage in providing a new dimension via close-ups, "bringing an even greater appreciation for the accomplishments of the musician."[6]
References edit
- ^ a b c Cullison, Art (July 1, 1951). "Subs Offer TV 'Something New'". The Akron Beacon Journal. p. 7-C. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
- ^ a b c Rose, Brian Geoffrey (1986). Television and the Performing Arts: A Handbook and Reference Guide to American Cultural Programming. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 96. ISBN 978-0-313-24159-8. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
- ^ a b c Gould, Jack (January 25, 1952). "TV program upsets a theory on music". The New York Times. p. 18. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
- ^ "Philly Ups Local Web Origins to 11; WOR-TV Seg Features 67 Scribes". Billboard. July 18, 1953. p. 4. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
- ^ a b c Spaeth, Sigmund (May 1952). "From the Reviewing Stand". Music Clubs Magazine. National Federation of Music Clubs. p. 14. Retrieved April 5, 2022.
- ^ Adams, Val (August 15, 1954). "Video in Review". The New York Times. p. X 9. Retrieved April 5, 2022.