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Sep 06
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Kirby Hall Videos

By fedora strings performance No Comments

We’ve just completed  Kirby Hall videos of our two new violin and cello duet arrangements – Boccherini’s Minuet and Trio and Gershwin’s Summertime. Staff at English Heritage were generous enough to allow us to use this magnificent building as a setting for the filming session and Kirby Hall is a building with great charisma.
Kirby Hall

Deciding on the best setting
We filmed the Boccherini outside in the ‘great garden’ which contains statues, topiary and urns – very appropriate for the classical period. Finding a backdrop for the Gershwin’s Summertime was more of a challenge: the song comes from the opera Porgy and Bess which is set in South Carolina and has a sultry blues feel – not at all English stately home. Eventually we decided on a sandy-coloured walkway with a gravel  floor which  evoked some of the character of the music.
Kirby Hall Videos

Lux Technical
Our film crew were the excellent Lux Technical who made our videos last year – one of which won an award on You Tube. Despite the professionalism of our film crew the whole occasion was quite  tough for us, as, like most people, neither Roger nor I are comfortable about being filmed close up. However, everything went well although it was a relief when it was over. You can see the end result here:
https://www.fedorastrings.com/product/minuet-trio-boccherini/

Kirby Hall website: www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/kirbyhall

Lux technical website: www.luxtechnical.co.uk

Oct 14
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Fedora Strings at Kirby Hall

By fedora strings performance No Comments

Fedora Strings at Kirby Hall
We chose to film our Fedora Strings videos at Kirby Hall. Much of this grand Elizabethan home was neglected or destroyed by varying owners before it was rescued by English Heritage, but although the main structure of the building is all that remains, its beauty is powerful and affecting. Kirby Hall is close to our home base and staff were generous enough to allow us to film our three videos there. Our film crew were Lux Technical: a team of three imaginative young men who have just formed their own company.
Fedora Strings at Kirby Hall

 

A different setting for each recording
As we hadn’t visited Kirby Hall before we weren’t sure which rooms would be best to use, but Jamie – one of the Lux team – went exploring and found settings which suited each of the pieces. The Spanish-looking backdrop for La Cumparsita was really discovered by default: it had started raining by then and this was the only outside part of the building that had any cover, and even that was pretty minimal.

It’s wonderful playing string music in such a responsive setting and it reminded me of other buildings or works of art that have somehow increased in vitality and presence even though they are damaged and incomplete: the Parthenon, the Coliseum, the Venus de Milo statue… Wouldn’t it be good if this rather weird rule could apply to humans too?!

 

Kirby Hall website: www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/kirbyhall

Lux technical website: www.luxtechnical.co.uk