Tom Service is an admirable radio personality. His MUSIC MATTERS at the weekend is required listening, as he draws on his considerable knowledge of music and quiet interview skills to create a program that is at once informative yet entertaining - the epitome of what a public service broadcaster should be doing.
What a pity, therefore, that he should have been associated with a such a disappointing television documentary. Perhaps he requires more training in how to talk to the camera; he has the distracting habit of moving his head (as well as other parts of his torso) while he talks; and when he interviews guests, he is almost too enthusiastic in his nods as he listens to what they have to say. Service needs to take a leaf out of Andrew Graham-Dixon's book and cultivate a more relaxed screen persona, talking to viewers as if he were engaging them in face-to-face conversation.
Ben Whalley's documentary sent him to various parts of Russia, Switzerland (but curiously not the United States) in search of Rachmaninov's genius. We learned about the composer's tortured life, where he wrote music to counteract depression, as well as buck the prevailing trend towards modernism. Very much a product of turbulent times, Rachmaninov was forced into exile in 1917, and spent much of the subsequent twenty-six years of his life in America, with occasional summer breaks at his Swiss summer-house, built in direct imitation of the Russian estate where he had completed many of his most famous works.
Among the interviewees were Vladimir Ashkenazy, who told us a lot about how Rachmaninov was perceived in the country of his birth; and Vladimir Jurovski, who explained in painstaking detail the emotional inspiration behind the composer's works. Sadly there were some other guests whose comments veered towards the pretentious; they did not tell us much about the composer.
Despite the gorgeous locations, and rather intrusive camera-work favoring the quick pan as a means of sustaining viewer attention, THE JOY OF RACHMANINOFF did not tell us much about the composer. And then there was the problem with the presenter ...
