Mozart Fest

[Flosshilde]

Not quite half-way through & I'm getting Radio3 withdrawl symptoms

[Flosshilde]

I am also excited that the general tone of Radio 3 sounds increasingly like Classic FM, which I hope means that they will be playing less modern classical music.

If you don't like Radio3, & prefer Classic FM, why don't you simply stick to the latter, rather than wish for two similar stations?

[Bryn]

If you don't like Radio3, & prefer Classic FM, why don't you simply stick to the latter, rather than wish for two similar stations?

I took Peter Hayes's comment to be ironic in intent. Surely it could not be otherwise interpreted?

[Flosshilde]

Well, possibly, Bryn, except for the comment about modern classical music, which gave it a more genuine air.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I see Bernstein's VPO Mozart 40th is to be played on Tuesday, 11th January. Very good. I like Bernstein's Mozart. But broadcasting the same performance TWICE on the same day. What on earth is going on?

[StephenO]

Wouldn't you just DIE without Mozart!!??

Well, no.

Well, yes - but preferably Mozart interspersed with Beethoven, Schubert, Wagner, Mahler, Sibelius, Shostakovich, etc, variety being, of course, the spice of life. I am enjoying the Mozart Fest, though, and don't think there's another composer I could listen to for twelve days.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Well, possibly, Bryn, except for the comment about modern classical music, which gave it a more genuine air.

I think Peter Hayes' views should be respected, even though many may well disagree. All new members deserve a friendly welcome.

[Peter Hayes]

I feel torn about it. I really do not like modern classical music. But I like commentary to be serious and not to descend into dedications to relatives and endless soupy self-promotions as is now happening on Radio 3. My ideal is some of the local classical music stations I used to listen to when in the USA: they were scholarly in tone, but played almost entirely beautiful classical music and rarely assaulted the ears of their audience with the dreadful mistakes of the twentieth century.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

But do you dislike all modern music? Is there a cut-off point where you find it acceptable?

[Peter Hayes]

Not all of it of course, only the envelope pushing stuff. I think my cut off date is about 1907 when Schoenberg started to go bad.

On another topic--Mozart, Alfred Brendel is playing Mozart's C minor piano sonata now, and while generally jolly good, I think he rather underplayed the drama of the triplets at the end of the first movement.

[Flosshilde]

I think Peter Hayes' views should be respected, even though many may well disagree. All new members deserve a friendly welcome.

I really do not like modern classical music. .... dreadful mistakes of the twentieth century.

I really can't find anything to 'respect' in the above comment. We all have music we are passionate about, and music we abhor. But I wouldn't dream of calling the latter 'dreadful mistakes'. To do so implys a level of disrespect for the composers & those who enjoy playing it & listening to it.

& I don't think my original question expressed any disrespect. Why would you want two stations to be carbon copies, rather than have variety & choice?

[Suffolkcoastal]

Nor would I call all 20th century composers mistakes, I personally find this shall we say, to be rather an unfortunate attitude to take. Almost all of my favourite composers are 20th century ones: Vaughan Williams, Holst, Bax, Rubbra, Walton, Britten, Martinu, Shostakovich, Stravinsky, Prokofiev, Bartok, Holmboe, Rautavaara, Harris, Piston, Diamond, Copland, Barber, Hanson, Tubin, even Sibelius, Rachmaninov Elgar and Puccini composed most of their mature works in the 20th century. The composers I listed often wrote highly beautiful and moving music, I wouldn't say that many of their works are 'difficult' in any way at all. I can understand that some composers can be 'difficult' and very demanding to listen too and even I don't particularly all contemporary music by any means, but to dismiss all of 20th century music as a 'dreadful mistake' is highly disrespectful to the composers and those who enjoy their music. I do grant you that there are some rather bad composers and the odd one or two that I find truly dreadful, but you'll find examples of these in all periods of music history.

[Peter Hayes]

I think there is a huge gulf between Elgar, Rachmaninoff and Prokofiev (on a good day) and the likes of Stravinsky. As for respect, if it was a case of mutual tolerance and accomodation, I would agree that one should be respectful and not use words like dreadful, but rather think live and let live eg. there are various kinds of non-western music that I have nothing against although they do not appeal to me. But modern classical music is different, because its exponents claim to be the successors of Beethoven etc when in fact they are creating something completely different, and they have become powerful and have largely choked off efforts to write beautiful classical music.

[Bryn]

I'm more conviced than ever that this is just a rather sub-standard attempt at a wind-up. Surely no newcomer would start off by expressing genuinely held views quite so crass? Oh, and 1907, eh? A year before Syd's favourite interstellar dust cloud from Siberia. Stravnsky was, of course, the air to Tchaikovsky's muse, Schoenberg to Brahms's, and Webern to Mozart's and Schubert's. Stockhausen? Well his muse fell from the Dog Star, possibly brought here in the 'Tunguska event'. There was another similar, though somewhat less powerful such event on the 25th September 2002. I wonder what changes to music that brought about?

[french frank]

Bryn

"Always assume good faith."