Piece Comment

Review of RN Documentary: Six Ways to Vermeer


I'm a fan of Radio Netherland's documentary work and I really looked forward to this piece after reading The Girl With The Pearl Earring. But here's the deal...you have to KNOW the paintings to appreciate this doc. There are three featured paintings and the producer moves through a discussion of the works with beautiful music and articulate historians. So I liked the The Girl segment because I could picture the painting in my mind. The other two segments discussing paintings I didn't know left me a bit...well...clueless. I don't know that most public radio listeners would have more of a reference point so it's difficult to recommend to stations unless programmers are certain that their listeners would know all three paintings. If this were TV, no problem. If this piece was audio for a web stream with the paintings posted on the site, great. But as a radio documentary for an American audience, I think it would be difficult to program.