No longer Urgent!: On R3's live evening concerts

[french frank]

I've just had an email from the producer of Feedback. They're hoping to discuss the new concerts in this week's programme.

Please post any general thoughts that you have here. The only steer is: 'I’d be interested in getting a bit of feedback from you about questions that the FoR3 users might have.'

I'd encourage constructive questions and comments (i.e. don't bother just at the moment about why they axed them in the first place! )

How are they doing?

[aeolium]

This week looks pretty good, with two festival concerts (one a relatively rarely heard Britten opera), Haitink and the LPO in London, and one of Paul Lewis' Schubert cycle concerts at Wigmore Hall. Also all are at 7.30, which I much prefer as a start time.

It is a tricky task for R3 to come up with consistent variety in the evening concert broadcasts, when there is so much duplication in concert programming across the country. It is easier in the summer, when there are so many festivals going on, but I think it will be more challenging come the autumn. So far so good.

[Frances_iom]

How are they doing?

They seem to be a good mix of genres - don't expect all to be to my taste so some I skip (eg film music + light music) but appreciate the chamber works - Sunday afternoon is now much better with the concert . They still seem to be 'big footing' London based presenters into areas beyond Watford - can't they trust locally based presenters or did they fire all these when the 'listen up' studio based format was adopted.

[Chris Newman]

Sadly the Britten begins at 7.00 pm which means I shall have to catch it on iPlayer. I am not sure of the logic of this as it only finishes at 9.00 pm.

Paul Lewis in Schubert is a must. I heard him last week (live) with Mark Padmore in Die Schone Mullerin which exceeded the intensity of their now famous recording.

Bernard Haitink in Bruckner: I cannot wait. In the flesh Haitink, Giulini, Goodall, Horenstein and Jochum have given me my greatest Bruckner experiences.

Plus the BBC Phil and their new MD. What a week!! When will I get time to watch BBC 4?

[french frank]

If they want questions - and to introduce a note of caution - I wonder whether this is a project with a fixed life? I think it was said that the cost of live concerts would be no greater than the previous arrangements (which is hard to believe). Will it be a one-season wonder?

[DracoM]

Contents OK, upcoming looks interesting, bit less eclectic than I personally want, but let that pass,

We were all DELIGHTED when the first tranche began at 7.30, so why go back to 7 p.m.?? Surely a real marketing MINUS if they keep shifting the start times - confuses and annoys punters.

Also WHY do we have to have random bits of chatter / interviews in the midst etc?

[aeolium]

Am I looking at a different schedule from everyone else? As far as I can see, every weekday concert this week starts at 7.30 pm. I assumed that when in previous weeks there was a mix of 7 pm and 7.30 pm starts, that was due to some 7 pm concerts having been planned before the decision to change the start times.

[french frank]

Are people looking at the guide slot in the left hand column which says 19.00 hours? All the concerts this week are scheduled for 19.30.

I would have thought that Radio 3 would be picking up the concerts at the times the venue has chosen - I wouldn't expect R3 to impose a start time on outside venues and orchestras.

[hackneyvi]

Looking at the next week's schedule, it's quite a broad ranging one, I'd have said (and I'm glad to have Rape of Lucretia pointed out to me. I'm in town tonight but will listen on the iPlayer if it gets a half decent notice.)

One query: the schedule is showing Bartered Bride seemingly muddled in with the Gabrieli Consort for Monday 20th June. What's going on there? It looks like the Smetana performance went out in May.

Although I'm a middle-aged man, I've adjusted to the R3 changes and find the iPlayer makes it irrelevant to me that there's little contemporary jazz or classical at peak times. I appreciate it when it's present in a concert - like the James Clarke piece a few weeks ago sharing the bill with Eroica - but the iPlayer means Hear andf Now/Jazz Line Up can be treats for 8 or 9 in the evening.

I suppose that is a point to make to the schedulers. iPlayer listening does't count in audience statistics, I believe, but I would most commonly listen to the late scheduled programmes I've mentioned instead of listening to the evening concert because otherwise there's just too much music to get through on weekday nights.

[vinteuil]

I would have thought that Radio 3 would be picking up the concerts at the times the venue has chosen - I wouldn't expect R3 to impose a start time on outside venues and orchestras.

... surely this depends on when R3 'buys in' to the event? If it's something that was programmed well in advance by a venue/festival, perhaps R3 doesn't have much leverage. But from now on in, if R3 let it be known that they are interested in taking a concert, sure as eggs are oeufs the venue will be happy to agree to any R3 requirement, including timing. And of course when it it's one of the BBC house bands, well R3 will be calling les shots...

[french frank]

iPlayer listening does't count in audience statistics, I believe

Briefly, not wishing to depart from the main topic - Listen Again isn't included in the RAJAR figures, but the total requests for each programmes are recorded separately. RAJAR figures for individual programmes aren't published anyway.

(Yes, they've mixed up the 20th May broadcast - The Bartered Bride - with 20th June, the Gabrielis)

Add: vinteuil, yes, you're probably right. Though I don't really like the idea of Radio 3 'calling the shots'. Or even 'les shots' ...

[salymap]

Britten Rape of Lucretia, concert performance today,is listed as 7.30 to 10 pm in both the RT and BBC MM as far as I can see.

[hackneyvi]

Briefly, not wishing to depart from the main topic -

I didn't make the point very well, FF, but I meant to make an on topic point which is that unless there is some modern/contemporary contents - classical or jazz - in the 7.30 pm concerts, I am unlikely to listen to them. I can hear Schubert, Glinka, Haydn continuously throughout the week but new music on Radio 3 is generally either in a graveyard slot or unplayed. I think there should be one modern and one contemporary piece in the 12 to 15 pieces played in this slot per week.

[french frank]

I think there should be one modern and one contemporary piece in the 12 to 15 pieces played in this slot per week.

Looking at next week: On Monday there will be new pieces by Jonathan Dove - for contemporary. Not sure where 'modern' starts, but Wednesday has Shostakovich's SQ No 3, and on Thursday a programme of Bartók and Kodaly. Not quite 'modern' but more so than Schubert, Glinka and Haydn.

That's a good general point, though.

[johnb]

So far the 'initiative' is going well, but I suppose that (as it is festival time) this is an ideal time of year to implement live concerts, 5 days a week. Things are going to get a little more tricky when autumn arrives and we are back to most live concerts being very much standard repertoire. Also, I wonder whether the commitment to 100% live concerts is all together a good thing - Mondays are notoriously dead as far as concerts around the country are concerned (though there is always something in London, of course) and it does limit R3's flexibility to a considerable degree. The sensible thing for R3 to do would be to somewhat relax the 100% commitment at some time in the future (though continuing to do the presentation, "as live", from the venue).

My only niggle at the moment is that there seems to be an increase in presenters strutting their stuff from the platform, rather than the presenter's booth. I find this vaguely irritating, though I realise that others will probably disagree.