FNiMN

[Ein Heldenleben]

Whilst I would prefer longer works I completely respect the views of those who like the formats of Breakfast and EC. As I listen to the latter virtually every day I must enjoy it -
despite the irritations . I’m emphatically with LMcD . More British and Irish music -Alwyn and Moeran and Brian and I would add less American - the overplayed Gershwin, Price and the narrow range of Bernstein . Please no more Walking The Dog and West Side Story Dances for 6 months.

[LMcD]

Whilst I would prefer longer works I completely respect the views of those who like the formats of Breakfast and EC. As I listen to the latter virtually every day I must enjoy it -
despite the irritations . I’m emphatically with LMcD . More British and Irish music -Alwyn and Moeran and Brian and I would add less American - the overplayed Gershwin, Price and the narrow range of Bernstein . Please no more Walking The Dog and West Side Story Dances for 6 months.

I would certainly welcome a break from the overture to Candide.

[Roger Webb]

I would certainly welcome a break from the overture to Candide.

And Fingal's Cave.....

[french frank]

At the extremes, if you have a 2-3 hour daily programme made up of 30+ short pieces you're more likely to get frequent repeats than in a 2-3 hour programme made up of longer works. And the more 2-3 hour daily programmes you have, each requiring 30 short pieces, the more frequently a particular piece wil recur.

[gradus]

Happened to hear Clare Teal singing Spring Can Hang You Up The Most on FNIMN, in a wonderful Guy Barker arrangement superlatively played by the BBC Concert Orchestra, a real jewel of a performance. Well worth a visit to BBC Sounds if you missed it.

[LMcD]

Happened to hear Clare Teal singing Spring Can Hang You Up The Most on FNIMN, in a wonderful Guy Barker arrangement superlatively played by the BBC Concert Orchestra, a real jewel of a performance. Well worth a visit to BBC Sounds if you missed it.

They're certainly on fine form these days.

[oddoneout]

Happened to hear Clare Teal singing Spring Can Hang You Up The Most on FNIMN, in a wonderful Guy Barker arrangement superlatively played by the BBC Concert Orchestra, a real jewel of a performance. Well worth a visit to BBC Sounds if you missed it.

I heard the whole programme last night and very much enjoyed it. The theme was used sensibly, the pieces varied(and as noted played very well) and a proper singer. I do hope that this marks a turning point, and that they have finally got the hang of FNIMN. There will always be the argument about whether it should be on R3, but if that is where it is destined to be for the foreseeable at least give us a bit of quality. I would prefer less bumptious presenting, but one can't have everything, and certainly not all at once.
I did have a sudden jolt back to childhood however when the last piece(Las Vegas) started - Animal Magic!

[french frank]

This makes depessing reading. For me, 18 pieces in 134 minutes is the same old mixed melody ragbag, with Mozart and Elizabeth Maconchy rubbing shoulders with Baby Tate and Tommy Wolf. Time is better spent, as far as I'm concerned, putting on a CD than searching out one song however superbly performed, even in an upmarket version of R2's programme. In all, it's just another 134 minutes removed from Radio 3. But if you enjoy it, you'll probably come to enjoy the rest of Radio 3's programming.

[oddoneout]

This makes depessing reading. For me, 18 pieces in 134 minutes is the same old mixed melody ragbag, with Mozart and Elizabeth Maconchy rubbing shoulders with Baby Tate and Tommy Wolf. Time is better spent, as far as I'm concerned, putting on a CD than searching out one song however superbly performed, even in an upmarket version of R2's programme. In all, it's just another 134 minutes removed from Radio 3. But if you enjoy it, you'll probably come to enjoy the rest of Radio 3's programming.

Nope. I had already stopped listening to EC and the Afternoon Concert even before Jacko got going because I got fed up with bits'n'chat and, coupled with the longstanding dislike of much of the evening concert repertoire, I now listen to very little R3, and certainly don't have the radio on most of the day as used to be the case. However, in the same way I don't always want to read serious books, I don't always want to listen to serious music. The pieces last night may have been short compared to much of the evening concert fare(not difficult when Classical repertoire is no longer included...) but that wasn't because they were all incomplete, and/or lacking merit, IMO.
The 3 items after Las Vegas were fillers, not part of FNIMN, so WAM didn't have to rub shoulders with Liz M, and I would disagree with "ragbag".

[AuntDaisy]

Bit of trivia... Bruce Montgomery (FNIMN's "Overture Bartholomew Fair") was the crime author Edmund Crispin - his Gervase Fen is a wonderful character.
He also wrote music for the BBC, e.g. the "Woodlanders" 1955 radio serial with Tony Britton and Renée Asherson.

[french frank]

However, in the same way I don't always want to read serious books, I don't always want to listen to serious music.

Nor do I. But neither do I want to listen to music all the time. When I do listen to music it's to "serious music" (your words): i.e. at least one complete work - symphony, concerto, string quartet. BUT I'm only describing my personal preferences/foibles. I don't expect everyone (anyone?) to share them. If a particular programme is brought to my attention and sounds interesting, I may listen but otherwise Radio 3 is just a waste of time. Like social media (though in serious 'company' like here it encourages thinking about issues) and rethinking.

[LMcD]

I heard the whole programme last night and very much enjoyed it. The theme was used sensibly, the pieces varied(and as noted played very well) and a proper singer. I do hope that this marks a turning point, and that they have finally got the hang of FNIMN. There will always be the argument about whether it should be on R3, but if that is where it is destined to be for the foreseeable at least give us a bit of quality. I would prefer less bumptious presenting, but one can't have everything, and certainly not all at once.
I did have a sudden jolt back to childhood however when the last piece(Las Vegas) started - Animal Magic!

I think Petroc judged his Maida Vale audience correctly.
(It was 112 minutes including the interval, by the way, not 134)

[french frank]

(It was 112 minutes including the interval, by the way, not 134)

I was judging by the length of the Sounds recording.

Btw, it would be good if people responded to arguments. I realise by reading posts here that people generally respond very differently to music. How they experience it, its meaning or significance to them, seem to differ vastly. Possibly a different discussion from FNIMN

[cloughie]

Happened to hear Clare Teal singing Spring Can Hang You Up The Most on FNIMN, in a wonderful Guy Barker arrangement superlatively played by the BBC Concert Orchestra, a real jewel of a performance. Well worth a visit to BBC Sounds if you missed it.

I agree with you about Clare Teal’s delivery of ‘Spring can really hang you up the most’ was excellent, however her big band up tempo ‘It might as well be spring’.was a little too raucous to my ears.

[oddoneout]

I've just noticed that the playlist gives the composer of the London Fields Suite as Baby Tate, rather than Phyllis Tate, and also doesn't indicate that it was a single movement from the suite rather than the whole thing.... The programme blurb had both correct so difficult to see why/how that mistake crept in.

A few more general thoughts.
Take as read that there is a basic problem with a R2 programme being transferred to R3.
If it is here to stay then it needs to be up to scratch in terms of quality and the effort that goes into each concert; thoughtful selection of music('ware gimmicks) and guest performers able to do justice to the excellent BBC Concert Orchestra are essential.
It is a live concert, not something we are over-blessed with these days, especially since the axing of 4 of the lunchtime concert slots.
It is "in-house", making use of one of the BBC orchestras - and one that is much admired, rather than seen as slightly "less" because it plays a different repertoire.
It is a chance to hear different music(mostly British ?) that isn't the Beeb's idea( dumbtime in its various forms) of extending variety.

FF, there were two complete works last night - the William Blezard suite and the RVW Folk Song suite, and I think it is permissible to consider overtures as such, since they are also found in their own right as part of a conventional R3 type concert. However I understand what you are saying in terms of what you prefer to listen to.

As a slight aside, in the course of looking up a couple of the pieces I came across Wally Stott/Angela Morley - the Wiki entry was quite a read. Surprised R3 hasn't been doing those works to death - so many juicy tick-boxes - says I with my PC- cynical hat on.