Live concerts

[Dave2002]

Maybe I'm imagining it - probably am - but I've managed to catch bits of the concerts since they went back to live recently, and they do seem to be more exciting somehow. I enjoyed the Tchaikovsky 5 last night.

I suppose it's possible that the performers and conductors play differently if they know there's a larger audience. However, I could just be imagining it.

I hardly ever bothered to listen when they went to the delayed/recorded mode, perhaps because it didn't fit my schedule.

[DracoM]

What has hugely amused me is tha stream of trails for it as if R3 was being cuitting edge revolutionary and just thought up 'a new thing'. It has been the clamour on the old mbs and with lobby groups for the past I don't know how many years, and suddenly, someone at the BBC has stumbled on this fantastic new wheeze - get the house bands to play IN THE EVENING! Gosh! AND at 7.30!!

Actually, the R3 programmes are not quite as adventurous as many of the CFM 'whole works' programmes and rather a continuation of much the same warhorse diet we get in the daytime - i.e. stuff the orchestras can virtually play in their sleep. BUT at least they are happening, and at least this may be where they try out new stuff and start imaginative programming. Let's see how it goes.

[salymap]

Yes I agree Dave but there don't seem to be any/many reviews on the MBs do there? When the concerts began at 7pm and were mostly pre-recorded people moaned. Now, there is a deafening silence. I am rather afraid to start a review as there are professionals out there

[Flosshilde]

Actually, the R3 programmes are not quite as adventurous as many of the CFM 'whole works' programmes and rather a continuation of much the same warhorse diet we get in the daytime - i.e. stuff the orchestras can virtually play in their sleep. BUT at least they are happening, and at least this may be where they try out new stuff and start imaginative programming. Let's see how it goes.

That's possibly because CFM's programmes are compiled from CDs & don't have to worry about pulling in a paying audience. The BBC house orchestras should be able to be a bit more imaginitive than purely commercial outfits, although obviously in these straightened times they have to get as much income as possible - hence possibly the mainstream nature of last night's programme. (Actually I would have liked to have been at last night's, but I'm still plagued by my problem ears; the piano in the Beethoven sounded like a badly tuned pub upright )

Tonight's Bach is a bit more out of the mainstream, & there's Buxtehude next tuesday (very much not standard repertoire, quartets on Wednesday, & Smetana's Bartered Bride on Friday, so it's shaping up to having a reasonable range of periods & genres.

[doversoul1]

Yes I agree Dave but there don't seem to be any/many reviews on the MBs do there? When the concerts began at 7pm and were mostly pre-recorded people moaned. Now, there is a deafening silence. I am rather afraid to start a review as there are professionals out there

Maybe we should create a logo for some of us to use when posting a comment on a performance to show that ‘I am not a professional. Please treat my post gentry’ then my comments may go beyond my Word file.

[ed.] I do enjoy the sense of ‘it’s all happening now’ which I had almost forgotten.

[3rd Viennese School]

I love Tchaikovslys 5th.

But... again!! They only played it last week!

Just as well I like this one isn't it.

3Vs

[french frank]

Yes I agree Dave but there don't seem to be any/many reviews on the MBs do there? When the concerts began at 7pm and were mostly pre-recorded people moaned. Now, there is a deafening silence. I am rather afraid to start a review as there are professionals out there

Very often 'deafening silence' after protests is the sign of contemplative satisfaction. I imagine the schedule will now have the possibility of a longer gestation period and hopefully a gradually improving programme - assuming that R3 doesn't suddenly decide again that people don't make any special distinction between live broadcasts and edited recordings. We don't know what pressures were on then which have now been lifted.

I think we know pretty much who the 'professionals' are and how well (or in some cases, badly ) they share their knowledge with the rest of us. If you're enthusiastic, don't be flattened by wet blankets - some of them are no better informed than you are!

[salymap]

And the Bournemouth SO concert the other day came up with the Tchaik Bb minor PC. But as someone said, they have to get the locals in to balance the books.

What about a few by a BBC Orchestra from one of the studios, but live. They could afford to be more adventurous and the studios can take a small audience. 150 in Maida Vale, or something like that.
surely.

[salymap]

FF err yes, a rock and a hard place come to mind. [Where do I pick up these awful expressions?]

[Bryn]

Well I have been listening to far more evening concert broadcast on Radio 3 at the time of transmission since the restoration of live broadcasts. Even if he lacks the basic integrity to admit the error of his ways in getting rid of them in the first place, at least Roger Wright has at last caved in and given live concerts back to us. For that he deserves at least one cheer, I suppose. I wonder what, if any, role in the decision was played by the introduction of the live HD Sound stream.

[Ventilhorn]

Good morning, Dave

Maybe I'm imagining it - probably am - but I've managed to catch bits of the concerts since they went back to live recently, and they do seem to be more exciting somehow. I enjoyed the Tchaikovsky 5 last night.

I was listening to and recording last night's PO3 on HD and it kept breaking down, so I reverted to FM for the Tchaikowsky 5th, which was very good and much better I thought than the recent LPO/ Jurowsky concert.
The horn solo in the second movement is terribly dull if not played with a certain amount of rubato. Well, the LPO principal certainly did use rubato, but as I said to a former horn playing colleague, I felt that he used it in the wrong places.

Last night, David Flack (surely along with the BBCPOs' Jonathan Goodall) the most reliable of the BBC horn players also used rubato but he used it in the right places, with a most effective and alluring result.

What I heard of the Beethoven concerto was a disappointment. Too many wrong notes from someone announced as one of the world's finest; playing what is surely not the most technically demanding of Beethoven's piano concertos.

I suppose it's possible that the performers and conductors play differently if they know there's a larger audience. However, I could just be imagining it.

When broadcasting live, you only get one chance and therefore you really concentrate and give it your best.

It's like the old days of cutting 78s on a shellac disc. There was no editing so if someone made a boo-boo you all had to start again from the top!

[RobertLeDiable]

As far as I understand it, the new policy of the live concerts is to reflect what's happening around the country. So don't expect 'adventurous' programmes every night: most British orchestras wouldn't know an adventurous programme if it hit them on the head. Last night's concert started with an attractive recent piece by a young composer. That was good. The Beethoven and Tchaik were superb. What's not to like?

[RobertLeDiable]

What I heard of the Beethoven concerto was a disappointment. Too many wrong notes from someone announced as one of the world's finest; playing what is surely not the most technically demanding of Beethoven's piano concertos

ALL of Beethoven's concertos are technically demanding. Listening again, I heard one or two slips, but far more importantly I heard consummate musicianship, which made it enthralling to listen to. Lord save us from bean and note-counters!