Afternoon Concert - general thread

[gurnemanz]

The feast of French music & orchestras promised in all listings for the afternoons this week is going well:

The programme description state "features performances by French orchestras", not mentioning either "feast" or indeed "French music".

[oddoneout]

The feast of French music & orchestras promised in all listings for the afternoons this week is going well:

The irony being that today we have been presented with a more detailed schedule than is usual these days, with works and approximate timings. However even with that detail it doesn't exclude random other pieces appearing as well, although making two complete substitutions in the first hour is going some even by current AC standards - or lack of. Days when the schedule says "To include" are the ones when things get aired in any order together with other bits and pieces not declared on the menu. I suppose the assumption is that as nobody listens in real time it doesn't matter 'cos folk can just select from whatever catch-up they use... with the benefit presumably of being able to edit out the adverts and increasing quantity of presenter input.

[Nick Armstrong]

The feast of French music & orchestras promised in all listings for the afternoons this week is going well:

[Serial_Apologist]

Who writes this stuff?
my bold.
My first thought was " smeared" followed by "peanut butter sarnie". In fact it seems to be a fairly standard format of first part, interval music, second part.

"Benedicite omnia opera" was always recited before school meals, so I learned early on they had something to do with food.

[Frances_iom]

[QUOTE=oddoneout;873514... In fact it seems to be a fairly standard format of first part, interval music, second part.[/QUOTE]
that's assuming a lot - smearing works is an apt description of what the totally misnamed "Afternoon Concert" does - Thursdays used to be a complete Opera broadcast complete with all parts broadcast in the same sequence as would be heard in an opera house - with AC there is no such 'guarantee' .

[oddoneout]

Who writes this stuff?

We'll hear the opera divided in two parts, spread around the afternoon.

my bold.
My first thought was " smeared" followed by "peanut butter sarnie". In fact it seems to be a fairly standard format of first part, interval music, second part.

[oddoneout]

How very Islamophilic of them. After all, only Allah is perfect.

As the Amish quiltmakers know.

[Bryn]

Wonders will never cease - all the items played were listed in the pre-broadcast info box, and in the order they appeared there. As usual, too much presenter input (and that's nothing to do with whether I like the person concerned or not) and some very intrusive adverts, but also a pleasing selection of items. There was no connection between them, as is now standard for AC (not a concert so no need for programme planning as if it was?), but they followed on very well as far as this listener was concerned. The Handel aria that is listed but doesn't appear in the "Music Played" list was played, in case anyone wants to know.

How very Islamophilic of them. After all, only Allah is perfect.

[oddoneout]

Wonders will never cease - all the items played were listed in the pre-broadcast info box, and in the order they appeared there. As usual, too much presenter input (and that's nothing to do with whether I like the person concerned or not) and some very intrusive adverts, but also a pleasing selection of items. There was no connection between them, as is now standard for AC (not a concert so no need for programme planning as if it was?), but they followed on very well as far as this listener was concerned. The Handel aria that is listed but doesn't appear in the "Music Played" list was played, in case anyone wants to know.

[gradus]

Maestoso, Grandioso indeed, the Great Gate of Kiev must have been quite something given this afternoon's rip-snorting performance by the Ulster Orchestra. Not the only time - Tchaik 3rd Orchestral Suite sticks in the memory - I've heard performances by this orchestra that would be greeted with tumultuous applause by any Proms audience. A conductor, Daniele Rustioni, unafraid of being accused of vulgarity and making one hell of a racket at the slowest pace imaginable that brought out the air percussionist in me.

[oddoneout]

An email isn't a complaint - there is a process for complaints, so that would be the next step. I'm sure you know, you get an acknowledgement and then a polite email explaining why the BBC doesn't need to agree with whichever complaint you made.

I think the next step is to complain to OFCOM, but I'd need to check the process as I've never gone that far. Even egregious breaches of the BBC's obligations (I understand) aren't taken up by OFGEM because (I also understand) basically they aren't interested..........

The first couple or 3 weren't complaints they were specific queries, and I had autoreplies ( "we get too many emails to be [.....] to reply individually"), but after that I did send complaints and got no response at all.
On the other hand when I contacted Through the Night about having repeated most of an Afternoon Concert broadcast earlier in the day I quickly got a nice email back from the Lead Producer explaining it was a mistake.
I know that the pandemic has caused difficulties but the occasional attempts at contact (not about A. Concert) pre-pandemic didn't fare any better frankly.

[french frank]

I think the next step is to complain to OFCOM, but I'd need to check the process as I've never gone that far.

I have. They denied all responsibility for regulating that particular area of complaint (I've forgotten what it was). In truth it's difficult to pin down the essentials of Radio 3's remit, and it becomes ever more difficult as fewer people value what has been lost.

As the BBC focuses on pursuing its own interest with its programmes, gradually people become first inured to them and then postively to appreciate them.

[Cockney Sparrow]

It's on my to-do list, as emails have got nowhere and I think are now not even read.

An email isn't a complaint - there is a process for complaints, so that would be the next step. I'm sure you know, you get an acknowledgement and then a polite email explaining why the BBC doesn't need to agree with whichever complaint you made.

I think the next step is to complain to OFCOM, but I'd need to check the process as I've never gone that far. Even egregious breaches of the BBC's obligations (I understand) aren't taken up by OFGEM because (I also understand) basically they aren't interested..........

[Ein Heldenleben]

It's on my to-do list, as emails have got nowhere and I think are now not even read.

I would be surprised if you don’t get a reply even if it’s a standard reply . Broadcasters get more complaints about unannounced schedule changes than anything else. Though technically this isn’t a schedule change but a re-ordering within a magazine programme.

[oddoneout]

Have you thought about writing in and enquiring as to why there are so many unlisted pieces . My guess is that the biliings are written before they have had time to do final timings and these pieces are then inserted to make up time. I don’t have any inside knowledge of what’s happening on Radio 3 but I do know that working from home and covid absence is making a lot of the detail work in and around broadcasting and media production cumbersome and prone to error. I also suspect that there’s been a huge fall off in the amount of recorded music being produced (again through covid restrictions) and these Afternoon concerts are being slightly “cobbled together.”

It's on my to-do list, as emails have got nowhere and I think are now not even read.