Madam, - If Michael Dervan had contacted us before writing about the RTÉ Television coverage of the AXA Dublin International Piano Competition Finals (ArtScape, May 27th), he would have discovered that we are aware of both the acoustic qualities of concert halls and the effects on those acoustics of the staging design needed to bring such events to a peak-time TV audience.
We would also have told him that our designer goes to considerable lengths to minimise those effects. Mr Dervan may not have intended to be patronising but his comments on our supposed ignorance did read like that, to us at any rate.
And although, like any other viewer or commentator, he is unquestionably entitled to his opinion of the TV production ("uncalled for and counter-productive visual effects"), it is odd to see his personal taste asserted as a matter of fact.
This collaboration between the AXA DIPC and RTÉ Television brings the competition to a national TV audience which would otherwise have no access to it. Like many people, including our viewers and the competition organisers, we feel that this achievement warrants the degree of technical compromise required on all sides. - Yours, etc,
DAVID McKENNA, Executive Producer, Music & Arts TV, RTÉ, Dublin 4.
A chara, - Michael Dervan rightly criticises the poor television presentation by RTÉ of the AXA piano finals at the Ceoláras Naisiúnta.
Both visually and acoustically the production fell far below normal standards. The pervasive blackness and bad sound effects created a very poor example of what could and should have been a showcase opportunity of presenting the excitement and quality of classical music.
Most disappointing! - Yours, etc,
ANTHONY JORDAN, Gilford Road, Dublin 4.