ON THE PRESENCE OF CHARACTERS

“ I think it is a lovely piece. What stood out for me were the characters, their presence. It was made alive by the songs and I had a strong feeling that I am with them together in the place … 

“It made me remember my mother and grandmother, and what we shared, it created a very female atmosphere”. 

“What made it so moving for me was something I would call “caring presense”  – both from the characters and from Eva – in the tone of voice and in these little moments of providing slippers or taking shoes off”. 

“These ladies were like the last Indian tribe lost on the mountain, that was very touching”. 

ON THE CONTENT

“It was a very nice way to learn about history  through the stories of these “little” people – it was big for me content wise.”

“ I loved this method to show a very important historical moment, in a very direct way, and full of emotion. It was a catharsis for me to hear these old ladies.“

“It is a very nice piece and at the same time I missed some critical questions – the relationship between Czech and Germans was very complicated, I would have liked you to „push“ them more.”

“I love this program, it was beautiful – it was lovely to listen to these ladies. I was wondering for yourself,  what was your point of view about the events?“

ON THE USE OF SOUNDS 

“It is a good example that paying close attention to a  few sounds can make an importance … There was the sound of shuffling feet on the floor and the mention of the socks and the shoes – there were only a few details but it did a lot to characterize the place and give it atmosphere .”

“I loved it … You left in some bits which normally we might be leaving on the cutting room floor – for example the bit when she is telling you what to do with the teabag, letting the cat out .. all those bits made it really real to the listener.“

“I liked the moment when one of the ladies sings in a group, and then she sings unaccompanied and then there is a moment of silence and she says “Hop!!” and it is just a beautiful piece of production.”

“There was a transformation of the sounds – sounds that you might think are nostalgic like the cow or the cat later on took on a different meaning, were made more troubling … 

“I liked the pace of it and how sounds returned, the little  of details you decided to keep. The cat that came home was a nice metaphor.”

„I enjoyed the „economic use“ of the sounds – there were „just“ a few – birds, rooster, stream – often we put in too much sound and overwhelm the piece, that was not the case here.“

“I liked it that you made them sing – for me there was a strong link between the songs and the interview, the songs were not just “illustrative””. 

„I really enjoyed your story from Trinksaifen as well. A very good idea to tell the story by the songs.“

“I agree … I really liked the program – I was just wondering if the voice of the narrator was chosen well .. I might have preferred a female voice there.”  

“When I first heard the village chronicle,  I though that was not a very inventive way to get the information, but when it was repeated suddenly it transformed into something really interesting -how a  non-emotional statement can become emotional.  I thought that was very cleverly done.”

Contributed to the debate (I am not quite sure who said what, sorry): Matti, Rikke, Philip, Julia,  Steven, William, Nora, Benoit and others