Sky Arts 2

[amateur51]

( Not currently available on DVD, Amateur, in case you were wondering...)

Oh dear, Mr Pee - inadequately researched - here it is, available for purchase http://www.insearchofthemessiah.com/

Yet another commercially available DVD broadcast by Sky Arts 2 for a considerable sum

Oh and the latest in from News International: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13014161

[Mr Pee]

OK, that's a fair cop Amateur, but had it not been shown by Sky, I would probably never even have heard of it, let alone brought a DVD. And even if I had, it would have cost me 13.50- admittedly, less than I pay for my TV package, but then I also wouldn't have seen the interview with Andre Previn that I also watched last night; the Waldbuhnne Concert from Berlin- (Rattle, BPO, Yefim Bronfman, Rachmaninov PC 3, Rite of Spring); the entire Nutcracker ballet from Covent Garden; Anne-Sophie Mutter playing Mozart; Daniel Barenboims's Beethoven Masterclasses and recitals; Peter Grimes from the Met; a film about the RLPO and Vassily Petrenko; Maxim Shostakovitch; Cecilia Bartoli; ....I could go on...and on....

The point being, I would have seen none of it were it not for Sky, and as has been pointed out, if they've paid the relevant broadcasting fees, then what's the problem? Also, it's nearly all been in High-Def, which is a vast improvement on DVD quality- and none of these programmes included a single advert break.

Anyway, must dash- I'm off to watch Qualifying for the Malaysian GP- on the BBC! (They're still good for something!)

(P.S I think you're clutching at straws with your second link- let's keep on topic shall we?)

[amateur51]

Well, Mr Pee the problem is that Sky charges a relative fortune compared to BBC and does not produce any 'new' material, unlike the BBC. If that is the future of broadcasting then it's not one of which I wish to be a part. Our standards are different, obviously.

As to my reference to New International latest revealed skulduggery & its attempts to quash them with cash, how can this possibly be 'off topic'?

News International and Sky are intimately linked and Rupe would like them to be more so. I see a clear connection between NI's illegal and immoral newsgathering methods and Sky's lazy approach to programming. Murdoch's current strategy is to persuade a craven Coalition Government to restrain the BBC financially until it is unable to maintain its standards when a bid to abolish the licence fee will become more popular and we will all end up paying relatively huge amounts for inferior entertainment, 'culture' and news.

I would be the first to say that the BBC has been and could be a lot better than it is currently but it is still in my view streets ahead of NI or Sky. We clearly disagree on that & fair enough.

That you can't see the link between NI's agenda & Sky's agenda suggests that perhaps your brain is being starved of the necessary oxygen by the billowing fumes issuing from Sepang International Circuit in preparation for yet another dreary procession of racing cars, light years away from the Golden Age of motor racing long past

[Mr Pee]

Now, let's see, where to begin?

BBC1 tonight:- Casualty, followed by Live at the Apollo, followed by Football.
BBC2:- Golf.
BBC3:- Well, let's just not go there.
BBC4:- Spiral:- The Butcher of Villette. Sounds delightful.

Sky Arts 2:- Berlioz La Damnation De Faust from the Met, followed by Schumann from Martha Argerich and Riccardo Chailly.

Still, you pays your money and you takes your choice.....

I think that, as a music lover, to cut yourself off from the remarkable range of Arts programming on Sky just because of a default reaction that paints Rupert Murdoch as some kind of Bond Villain, is really rather idiotic. And if you genuinely believe that non-Murdoch tabloid rags haven't behaved equally disgracefully as the News of the World, then perhaps it's time to take off the rose-tinted glasses. The actions of one or two rogue news editors is not sufficient to damn the entirety of News International. The Sunday Times Culture Supplement is still the best such publication on the market.

(And if you want talk about lazy programming, just look at the BBC 90% of the time.)


(Cracking qualifying session, by the way- Hamilton just a tenth of a second off Vettel's Pole position!)

[Flosshilde]

Murdoch's current strategy is to persuade a craven Coalition Government to restrain the BBC financially until it is unable to maintain its standards when a bid to abolish the licence fee will become more popular and we will all end up paying relatively huge amounts for inferior entertainment, 'culture' and news.

& that strategy includes the constant moaning in the Murdoch media about the BBC & paying huge amounts of money that the BBC couldn't (& shouldn't) pay to show popular sporting events - all designed to foster dissatisfaction with the BBC (for being, at the same time, too populist & too elite) & resentment at paying the licence fee, which actually costs pennies compared with digital subscriptions.

[amateur51]

Now, let's see, where to begin?

BBC1 tonight:- Casualty, followed by Live at the Apollo, followed by Football.
BBC2:- Golf.
BBC3:- Well, let's just not go there.
BBC4:- Spiral:- The Butcher of Villette. Sounds delightful.

Sky Arts 2:- Berlioz La Damnation De Faust from the Met, followed by Schumann from Martha Argerich and Riccardo Chailly.

Still, you pays your money and you takes your choice.....

I think that, as a music lover, to cut yourself off from the remarkable range of Arts programming on Sky just because of a default reaction that paints Rupert Murdoch as some kind of Bond Villain, is really rather idiotic. And if you genuinely believe that non-Murdoch tabloid rags haven't behaved equally disgracefully as the News of the World, then perhaps it's time to take off the rose-tinted glasses. The actions of one or two rogue news editors is not sufficient to damn the entirety of News International. The Sunday Times Culture Supplement is still the best such publication on the market.

(And if you want talk about lazy programming, just look at the BBC 90% of the time.)


(Cracking qualifying session, by the way- Hamilton just a tenth of a second off Vettel's Pole position!)

Ah right Mr Pee, I think I'm getting to see your priorities now - you don't like choice, you're confused by it

As for paying my money, I do pay for BBC and happily too, and I have a lot left over at the end to pay for CDs, DVDs, concerts (do you ever go to those or is the choice too baffling?), books (that choice problem again, innit!).

If I'd paid £350+ for a TV channel I suppose I'd want to watch every moment to get my monies-worth, but there is life beyond television you know Mr Pee ( the sun's shining outside now, for instance).

Do people still regard Sunday colour comics as important? - how very 1960s. Just a load of adverts for cars and washing machines and celebrity nonsense, a completely unjustified waste of resources (still no news from you about Fairtrade, btw Mr Pee)

[amateur51]

& that strategy includes the constant moaning in the Murdoch media about the BBC & paying huge amounts of money that the BBC couldn't (& shouldn't) pay to show popular sporting events - all designed to foster dissatisfaction with the BBC (for being, at the same time, too populist & too elite) & resentment at paying the licence fee, which actually costs pennies compared with digital subscriptions.

Well put Flossie!

[Mr Pee]

( the sun's shining outside now, for instance).

What are you doing stuck in front of the computer then????

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Is it possible to subscribe to Sky Arts without paying for all Sky's extra unwanted baggage?

[Mr Pee]

Is it possible to subscribe to Sky Arts without paying for all Sky's extra unwanted baggage?

The most basic Sky Package, which includes Arts 1 and 2, is 19.50. I pay an extra 10 pounds a month for High Definition.

http://www.sky.com/shop/tv/entertainment-packs/variety-pack/

[amateur51]

What are you doing stuck in front of the computer then????

My pooter is situated right by my glass patio door which is wide open - I pop out, do a spot of gardening, coming back in to see if Mr Pee has posted any more gorgeous stream of(un)consciousness, dangle my toes in the sunshine, make coffee. It's a varied life considering my limited means

[amateur51]

The most basic Sky Package, which includes Arts 1 and 2, is 19.50. I pay an extra 10 pounds a month for High Definition.

http://www.sky.com/shop/tv/entertain.../variety-pack/

I can see why you like it, Mr Pee - why, it's even named after a breakfast cereal format

[Flosshilde]

I have been enjoying Sky Arts 2, especially since getting Sky+HD a few weeks ago - it's worth it just to see the grain on the violins and cellos.

Can you see the hairs in the violinists nose, too? Equally important, I would have thought, to appreciation of the music.

It's comments like the one quoted that make me think that HD is, like 3D, a gimmick thought up to persuade gullible people that the television thet've got, that works perfectly well, needs replacing. Unless you have perfect vision, or sit so close to the screen that you must be nearly blind, it would seem to be completely unneccessary.

[Mr Pee]

I can see why you like it, Mr Pee - why, it's even named after a breakfast cereal format

Actually, I'm more of a poached egg man myself. :p

[Richard Tarleton]

Can you see the hairs in the violinists nose, too? Equally important, I would have thought, to appreciation of the music.

It's comments like the one quoted that make me think that HD is, like 3D, a gimmick thought up to persuade gullible people that the television thet've got, that works perfectly well, needs replacing. Unless you have perfect vision, or sit so close to the screen that you must be nearly blind, it would seem to be completely unneccessary.

Flossie my comment was not entirely serious and your response a tad heavy-handed IIMSS. I do notice, and like, the greater picture quality, yes, and it is particularly marked in wildlife programmes, for example. I take a professional interest in some of these.

Talking of grain on violins, like Mr Pee I too enjoyed the programme about Strads and Guarnerii last night, having recently read Tony Faber's book on the subject. OK it was a few years old judging by the colour of Steven Isserlis's hair, I sat just a few feet from him and one of the Strads he has the use of in St David's Hall just the other day. He's older and greyer now, like myself. I was in Oxford not long ago and paid a visit to the Messiah.

It was followed by, for me, a great bit of nostalgia - the concert in RAM by Perlman and Zuckerman (complete with unctuous commentary by C Nupen) in about 1974. I attended their RFH concert which must have been a day or so either side of this event and the programme the same, they had done a European tour. A rare evening's music making. They must have made a record at the time - the commentary referred to them being in the studio the next day - but if they did I missed it, and was delighted to see this film.