Listen Live - Isn't that what you asked for?

[Guest]

Over the past months, message boarders have repeatedly asked for concerts other than the Proms to be transmitted as they actually take place; without interference from 'massaging' the output before transmitting and also for Performance on 3 to be at 7.30 (or later) to enable those at work to get home in time to hear the whole performance live.

So the request has been granted and I have noted such events as

Sept 28th: CBSO
Oct 5th : BSO
Oct 11th :Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Oct 12th :BBCSO
Oct 13th :BBCNOW
Oct 14th :Ulster orchestra

And, looking at the thread "What are you listening to now?" I see that between the hours of 7.30 to 10.00
only three contributers have claimed to be listening to those six programmes at the time they were actually being transmitted live.(All three were for the Lucerne/Abbado concert)

You reap what you sow. If Radio 3 go back to transmitting doctored recordings and calling them "Performance on 3"
don't be surprised.

And don't be surprised if Radio 3 packs up altogether; if this is a reflection of dwindling listener numbers.

No wonder that RW and his minions turn a blind eye to our complaints and suggestions.

Ventilhorn

[Ariosto]

Over the past months, message boarders have repeatedly asked for concerts other than the Proms to be transmitted as they actually take place; without interference from 'massaging' the output before transmitting and also for Performance on 3 to be at 7.30 (or later) to enable those at work to get home in time to hear the whole performance live.

So the request has been granted and I have noted such events as

Sept 28th: CBSO
Oct 5th : BSO
Oct 11th :Lucerne Festival Orchestra
Oct 12th :BBCSO
Oct 13th :BBCNOW
Oct 14th :Ulster orchestra

And, looking at the thread "What are you listening to now?" I see that between the hours of 7.30 to 10.00
only three contributers have claimed to be listening to those six programmes at the time they were actually being transmitted live.(All three were for the Lucerne/Abbado concert)

You reap what you sow. If Radio 3 go back to transmitting doctored recordings and calling them "Performance on 3"
don't be surprised.

And don't be surprised if Radio 3 packs up altogether; if this is a reflection of dwindling listener numbers.

No wonder that RW and his minions turn a blind eye to our complaints and suggestions.

Ventilhorn

Hi VH

Yes, I sympathise with a lot of your post. It seems that R3 has got into a spiral where the minions and RW are changing it so much that people do not listen, and the "new" audiences are probably not making up the difference.

I have never understrood the long running thread on the old BBC boards and on here, called "What are you listening to now." Who cares what people are listening to, what matters is to have a particular view of a particular work.

We need live music because without it the music scene will die. I attended three live concerts this week, and I rarely buy CD's anymore, unless it is something special. People with libraries of over 1,000 CD's (and some have 5,000+) are living in a phantasy world. When will they get time to hear them? A quick listen once and never to be heard again I suspect.

Radio 3 should be a living vibrant station, run by real musicians and not accountants and career politicians like Roger Wriight.

[John Skelton]

You reap what you sow. If Radio 3 go back to transmitting doctored recordings and calling them "Performance on 3"
don't be surprised.

Ventilhorn

Why should the non- for3 contributing listeners reap what they haven't sowed?

(I listened to the Lucerne Festival Orchestra / Abbado Bruckner 5 which was wonderful in every possible way. None of the other concerts really interested me. If Radio 3, now & again, broadcast new music in the evening slot I'd certainly listen. But the occasional token 'filler' apart they don't. I'm sure many people did listen to & enjoyed those concerts, though).

[mercia]

So the request has been granted

not as the result of any demand from a few people on here, I'll be bound.

I'm sure the BBC doesn't take decisions based on the views of a couple of dozen (or less) customers.

[french frank]

I also think that people don't listen just because it's a live concert and on at 7.30pm. People surely pick and choose, as they would with concert-going: if it's a programme of music they are interested in, or perhaps performers they want to hear, they will listen or attend. And having done so they don't necessarily feel under any obligation to share their thoughts with the world. If they're not interested, they may play CDs.

[salymap]

I very often listen to part of a live concert but it doesn't occur to me to report on the MBs every time. However Iam glad of the 'heads up' or reminder here. Therefore I don't think we can assume anything much from these threads.
I wouldn't think 'What are you listening to now' covers the same ground. It is usually about new discoveries and IMHO there is room for both forums.
If someone else starts a critical review I would be much more likely to post, not having a lot of faith in my critical faculties.

[DracoM]

Finger put on it earlier: we have been so mucked about by R3 as to what 'live' actually means that I very much fear some people see the label and now routinely disbelieve it. OK, so they miss fine things, but reap and sow can work in other ways too!

[french frank]

I rarely buy CD's anymore, unless it is something special. People with libraries of over 1,000 CD's (and some have 5,000+) are living in a phantasy world. When will they get time to hear them? A quick listen once and never to be heard again I suspect.

Ariosto

You live in London. If I could get to Wigmore Hall regularly (it would cost me about £55, if I bring sandwiches, for the cheapest seat and about 7-8 hours of my life) I would. CDs are a more realistic alternative. You hear the concert once, I hear the CD once.

[MrGongGong]

You reap what you sow. If Radio 3 go back to transmitting doctored recordings and calling them "Performance on 3"
don't be surprised.

I'm sure I've banged on about this before ?
Its really important not to conflate the various forms that transmitted sound can take. In the visual arts this was understood many years ago ( "Ceci n'est pas une pipe" etc ) why can't people apply the same intelligence to music ????
In the field of electroacoustic studies this is basic stuff (what a recording is and what it isn't etc etc ) yet people still seem to be completely at a loss to conceive of the idea that music and its transmission can take many forms INCLUDING being in the room, being in another room at the "same" time, being in another room AFTER the event and listening to a documentary recording of the event, being in another room and listening to an edited version of the "live" event etc etc etc
there are many permutations
and they ALL have a context in which they "work"

[Mahlerei]

VH

What an imperious post. I never requested live concerts, so include me out. In any case some of us have other commitments of an evening that preclude listening to these concerts live.

As for the thread What are you listening to now, I find it intriguing to see what discs others are spinning. More than once I've been tempted to try them for myself.

Lighten up

[Ventilhorn]

VH

What an imperious post. I never requested live concerts, so include me out. In any case some of us have other commitments of an evening that preclude listening to these concerts live.

As for the thread What are you listening to now, I find it intriguing to see what discs others are spinning. More than once I've been tempted to try them for myself.

Lighten up

I also have evening commitments sometimes, but I usually set my recorder to listen in my absence and I then hear the works as they were played at another time.

My only reason for mentioning "What are you listening to now" was not to condemn it - I think it draws attention to a lot of good music, oftenh by neglected composers - but only to point out that between the hours when a concert is being transmitted (1930 to 2200), nobody ever reports that they are listening to Radio 3 at that time. This, to me, seems to send a message to the programmers that the general tendency of listeners is not to be unduly interested in orchestral concerts when CDs of practically every work written over the past 300 years are available anyway - to listen to at any time.

Imperious? No such intention, but surprised and disappointed - yes.

I am disappointed that some respondents seem to be more interested in picking faults with minor details in my opening post, without recognising the warning of impending danger if the BBC jump on the fact that broadcasting CDs costs less than hiring orchestras to fill their evening programme slots.

Am I right in saying that you are involved in some way with writing critiques on concerts, Mahlerei? Surely then, you can see the danger.

"Keep Music Live!" A lot of highly skilled and dedicated performers rely on it to make their living.

VH

[amateur51]

Ariosto

You live in London. If I could get to Wigmore Hall regularly (it would cost me about £55, if I bring sandwiches, for the cheapest seat ....

Are you saying that they charge more or less if you don't bring sandwiches, french frank?

[doversoul1]

Originally posted by Ventilhorn

And, looking at the thread "What are you listening to now?" I see that between the hours of 7.30 to 10.00, only three contributers have claimed to be listening to those six programmes at the time they were actually being transmitted live.

This only tells that few people post to this particular thread while they are listening to the programme.

And what do you mean by leaving out the splendid York Early Music concert on Monday 10th Oct?
:wagging a finger emoticon:

[Ariosto]

Ariosto

You live in London. If I could get to Wigmore Hall regularly (it would cost me about £55, if I bring sandwiches, for the cheapest seat and about 7-8 hours of my life) I would. CDs are a more realistic alternative. You hear the concert once, I hear the CD once.

In fact the three concerts plus a meal cost me £74 so it wasn't so cheap, but I don't do it every week.

Some members of the audience and the performers came all the way from the USA.

But I suppose CD's are a cheap way to hear music these days.

But VH has a point, the Beeb are looking for ways to close down serious music and the arts generally. This is what happens with commercial companies trying to cut costs. Just why we pay a licence fee I don't know. It's getting to be a total con.

[aeolium]

the Beeb are looking for ways to close down serious music and the arts generally.

But if they do that, they will lose the support of those who would typically be the defenders of public service broadcasting (including people influential in the media and the establishment). If the BBC simply emulates the work of the commercial broadcasters then people will understandably ask what is the point of having a public service broadcaster at all.

As for commenting on evening concerts while they are taking place, I've never seen the point in that (unless there is a problem with sound quality). I'd rather form an opinion after listening to the whole concert.