Classical Music / Update: Screen tests

IN among the mass-market junketings at the annual MIDEM music festival in Cannes there is a classical oasis, complete with its own prizes for television productions. This year has turned out to be a good one for the BBC. The Music of Terezin, The Vampyr, Song of the Night (about Szymanowski) and Opera Imaginaire have collected awards or special mentions, and a vote of confidence was placed in the forthcoming 32 Short Films about Glenn Gould, a portrait of the Canadian pianist which will be transmitted on BBC 2 during 1994-95. Edith Piaf fans will be glad that another yet-to-be-seen production, Paris Musette, about the song tradition that inspired her, also made the prize list.

(Photograph omitted)