Afternoon Concert - general thread

[smittims]

I'm with you there, Sir Velo, as I said in #317. But it is tragic , all the same, as SerialApologist explains so well in#323.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

True, although Soundz does seem to be the BBC's default excuse for providing any old demotic nonsense during the day.....

As an observation, I am surprised how many here, presumably with substantial record collections, to say nothing of access to the invaluable treasure trove of Qobuz and Tidal et al still choose to put themselves through the torture of daytime Radio 3, but then there's nowt as queer as folk, I guess.

Sounds is indeed often used as an excuse for the increasing sloppiness elsewhere .

[Sir Velo]

Ah, but we did not have the great resource which is BBC Sounds in those days You had to listen live or set the timer for the tape recorder in order to listen on demand.

True, although Soundz does seem to be the BBC's default excuse for providing any old demotic nonsense during the day.....

As an observation, I am surprised how many here, presumably with substantial record collections, to say nothing of access to the invaluable treasure trove of Qobuz and Tidal et al still choose to put themselves through the torture of daytime Radio 3, but then there's nowt as queer as folk, I guess.

[Serial_Apologist]

What upsets some of us is how the vision that first got us into classical music and thereafter enriched its appreciation and understanding was, at its best, one of coherent, undemeaning contextualisation and presentation. Radio 3 was, if you will, our initiation, from which some of us delved further into the literature and in some cases possibly went on to formal study and subsequent careers in performance, composition, or at least some ability to assess recordings and concerts and help nurture critical perspectives or historical and stylistic "loyalties", which we were moved to communicate. Very little remains of that inductive Radio 3 today, even in presentations, with materials offered according to the opinions of someone merely imposing distorted narratives of their own without situational perspective.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

Ah, BBC Soundz...

[Bryn]

Are you sure you wouldn't be better off on the CFM forum?

There are plenty of people who are happy with the trash on Radios 1 and 2. No reason why Radio 3 has to be similarly affected.

To be honest, and at the risk of being taken for an unutterable snob, I don't think you would have lasted two minutes on Radio 3 1980s/90s vintage which for most of us here is the last time the station was indispensable.

Ah, but we did not have the great resource which is BBC Sounds in those days You had to listen live or set the timer for the tape recorder in order to listen on demand.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Very depressing to see that yesterday's concert was largely Essential Classics in the afternoon - Nimrod on its own for example.

Nimrod works best in its Variation context . The way it emerges so hushed from the preceding variation - so beautifully done by Boult for example. . I don’t like it played as an In Memoriam piece. It wasn’t written to be that.

[JasonPalmer]

Have tried cfm and prefer radio 3. Was into pop music in 80s and 90s. Listening to a cd of blues music at the moment. Life has taught me I don't really belong anywhere so I just go everywhere I want.

[Sir Velo]

Perhaps he in transition to becoming a radio 3 type while started out at classic fm, all good. Point is, someone was very happy with the Elgar.

Are you sure you wouldn't be better off on the CFM forum?

There are plenty of people who are happy with the trash on Radios 1 and 2. No reason why Radio 3 has to be similarly affected.

To be honest, and at the risk of being taken for an unutterable snob, I don't think you would have lasted two minutes on Radio 3 1980s/90s vintage which for most of us here is the last time the station was indispensable.

[smittims]

What you say, oddoneout, is sadly all too true, I think. I was taken aback when a music-loving friend said to me recently, 'You don't need Radio 3 if you have CDs'. They do seem to be stumblng around trying to find some answer for those for whom there are so many alternative sources of classical music, which didn't exist in 1967 when Radio 3 started.

This is how I await some announcement about what the new Controller is intending to do.

[Sir Velo]

Ian Skelly on twitter happy, one person pulled over their vehicle and sent him a video of how ecstatic they were to hear nimrod on the afternoon concert.

Presumably not having heard it for at least three days. Some folks will do anything to get on radio, which rather illustrates the depths to which Radio 3 has plummeted.

[JasonPalmer]

Perhaps he in transition to becoming a radio 3 type while started out at classic fm, all good. Point is, someone was very happy with the Elgar.

[Bryn]

Ian Skelly on twitter happy, one person pulled over their vehicle and sent him a video of how ecstatic they were to hear nimrod on the afternoon concert.

Must have been a CFM listener who accidentally tuned it to Radio 3.

[JasonPalmer]

Ian Skelly on twitter happy, one person pulled over their vehicle and sent him a video of how ecstatic they were to hear nimrod on the afternoon concert.

[oddoneout]

Very depressing to see that yesterday's concert was largely Essential Classics in the afternoon - Nimrod on its own for example.

I have commented on this previously. There are now various forms of dissection - individual movements, stripping of large works over consecutive days, and disassembly of recorded concerts and recitals. These now seem to be embedded features, together with increasing "talk" content of various kinds.
It is no longer a "Concert". The basic format seems to be settling/has settled down, which suggests that this is intended to be the way forward for the afternoon schedule. I may be wrong about this( I don't listen, but don't seem to have seen any listed recently) but it also looks as if weekday opera broadcasts have gone as a regular feature - once a week on Saturday is evidently enough?
We now have the unappealing offering of EC lite(Breakfast) first thing, the EC itself, a brief interruption for CoW and lunchtime concert, then EC Plus(formerly Afternoon Concert), then end of afternoon/early evening more bits and pieces. Even for me, who listens to the morning schedules, that is unacceptable and I now miss(deliberately or subconsciously) more and more of the afternoon offering. The incomplete/inaccurate listings don't help, but even when they are reasonably in line with the broadcast, I don't want to listen to the juxtapositions(dissected works, bits from recorded concerts) that now seem to be the pattern. I realise this is perception, but too much of the "big work" content is standard repertoire - same limited number of composers/works - whereas the peripheral pieces are more varied, but they are the ones that aren't presented in their full context, being broken bits of concerts/recitals, sometimes split over the afternoon and/or more than one day.
As many of the evening concerts are now of limited interest to me (after 6 decades I've decided to stop trying to like certain composers' output - if it hasn't happened by now it ain't likely to do so!) that would have increased my focus on the afternoon offering which, in the past, seemed to be more varied and have more that was unfamiliar. Alas, that has been taken away. It's no good the Beeb touting its listen again options because if the basic offering is poor, then faffing around to find the one bit that might be of interest isn't an appealing way to spend my time, even if I had the set-up to do so. Unreasonable as it seems I would like to be able to switch on the radio to hear something now, not have to construct my own programmes from what I can scavenge of the day's output to listen to at some other time. If I were to go that effort why stick with the BBC - I gather there is a whole other world out there of music ouptut if I have to make my own programmes?
It used to be the case that I would often put on Afternoon Concert without feeling the need to look to see what was on offer - blind listening often worked fine. In the new version of EC plus I often can't be bothered; if I've listened to the morning schedule, I neither need nor want more of the (nearly) the same.
All part of the seeming modern trend to make any form of service provision a DIY affair while still demanding the rate(directly financial or indirectly via equipment investment etc) for the "proper" version.