The Eternal Breakfast Debate in a New Place

[french frank]

Not I .........IMVVHO moves in the right direction .....

[cloughie]

Not I .........IMVVHO moves in the right direction .....

Is that the anton official vote of confidence?

[antongould]

Is that the anton official vote of confidence?

Indeed ..... It is Cloughers - of course more Skellers would seal the deal ......

[Old Grumpy]

Indeed ..... It is Cloughers - of course more Skellers would seal the deal ......

Seconded!

OG

[french frank]

I am listening to Friday's programme now. First three pieces an excellent variety. I await 'Bach before 7 (or is it Bach before 8?) when no doubt there'll be a shout out for some listener, somewhere; but keep it short, Ian

[Old Grumpy]

I await 'Bach before 7 (or is it Bach before 8?)

7, FF, definitely 7.

OG

[french frank]

7, FF, definitely 7.

OG

Yes, yes, it was. And a sensible request message to go with. Also a request for George Pinto, of whom I had not heard. Ian, very sensitively, announced AFTER playing it that it had been suggested by Monica McCabe - widow of John McCabe - with additional information. A streak of fun all the way through - and it appears that Lord Gould's man will be 'seeing what damage he can do' on In Tune next week from Monday?? No Suzy Klein, then?

Anyway: a very interesting/instructive listen from several points of view. Little (nothing?) about this that was murder to listen to. Biggest surprise was the Scarlatti sonata played on the mandolin - and banjo Very neatly executed - I would have had some difficulty working out what instruments were being played if Ian hadn't said beforehand. More successful, for me, than the string quartet playing McCartney. No mention of the Charts …

One could still carp (e.g. at the single movements, and still relatively short pieces) but this is much more like the Radio 3 I used to listen to

[subcontrabass]

One could still carp (e.g. at the single movements, and still relatively short pieces) but this is much more like the Radio 3 I used to listen to

Still missing the advance playlist to entice people to listen.

[french frank]

Still missing the advance playlist to entice people to listen.

Indeed. I have an idea that this is so tightly bound up with the computer-generated playlists and the iPlayer timings that that's a lost cause.

Unless I'm much mistaken, notice has been taken of the suggestion that trails (here Free Thinking, In Tune, The Verb, David Attenborough) should be kept to the breaks before the news and shouldn't be inserted between pieces of music. A fairly short exchange with Rob came just before the last piece. The tweets and texts seemed more discreet than has been the case. CB-H is back next week so it will be interesting to see if what seems to me to be an improvement continues.

[Old Grumpy]

Still missing the advance playlist to entice people to listen.

Not a problem for me, personally in regard to Breakfast, as I am usually listening in my car.

In addition to the points raised by FF in #5905, presumably there needs to be some flexibility for last minute emails, texts and tweets

OG

[subcontrabass]

Not a problem for me, personally in regard to Breakfast, as I am usually listening in my car.

In addition to the points raised by FF in #5905, presumably there needs to be some flexibility for last minute emails, texts and tweets

OG

I would be happy with a 90% or so playlist so that I knew when it was worth switching on/over and when to avoid. Without such a list I don't bother with Radio 3 at that time, particularly since I stopped having a lengthy drive to work in the mornings.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The tweets and texts seemed more discreet than has been the case.

Oh! They're still there then?

CB-H is back next week so it will be interesting to see if what seems to me to be an improvement continues.

Let's hope so.

[french frank]

Oh! They're still there then?

I've always taken the view (for the past few years anyway) that we live in the 21st century and we can't uninvent Twitter &c. But two things seem important: the first that the content of the tweet should be generally interesting - and be about the music rather than the listener - and secondly that they don't become too intrusive. Ian said that they 'tried to read out as many as possible' but it seemed to me that, if that was true on Friday, they didn't get many

scb - if there is a move (as I hope there will be) towards restoring the concept of a 'music programme' (music-led, rather than speech/presenter-led) the clearing out of phone-ins, 15-minute news headlines and trails between the music, would make a coherent case for going back to the On Air custom of publishing the chief/longer pieces in advance, with space left for short fillers as necessary. It might also end the nonsense of having no details about a composer such as George Frederick Pinto, if people had the time to consult Grove or ODNB and, oh ...

... and being about to sigh over the Wikipedia links that we've been getting for some years, do I find that there seem now to be specially written profiles? I checked Dvořák and Elgar and there were profiles by Jan Smaczny and Anthony Burton. The 'More' links to the Elgar homepage (but there are still links to LastFM and Musicbrainz (Wikipedia) ). I won't guarantee that this is new since when, if I've wanted to know what Wikipedia said about (say) Elgar, I'd go straight to Wikipedia. I've never thought to check since.

Any info on this, anyone? I mean on whether this is new …

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I've always taken the view (for the past few years anyway) that we live in the 21st century and we can't uninvent Twitter &c. …

Twitter's fine for those who wish to use it, but there's no need whatever to subject the entire broadcasting public to their ramblings.

[ahinton]

I've always taken the view (for the past few years anyway) that we live in the 21st century and we can't uninvent Twitter &c. But two things seem important: the first that the content of the tweet should be generally interesting - and be about the music rather than the listener - and secondly that they don't become too intrusive. Ian said that they 'tried to read out as many as possible' but it seemed to me that, if that was true on Friday, they didn't get many

No, indeed Twitter et al cannot be uninvented and, even though I never use it, I wouldn't especially wish to witness its uninvention even were that possible, but the sense of "because something is possible it is inevitable" all too often takes over in all manner of places and contexts, the infestation of what are purportedly music broadcasts on BBC Radio 3 by incessant Tweets, texts, faxes, phone-ins and the rest being just one egregious and partiularly unwelcome and unnecessary example of this; it's not about Luddite-ism or wanting to turn the clock back but about proportionality and everything in its place - which, in this case, it patently isn't - as well as the very question of the extent to which people are encouraged to expect to participate in a programme by any or all of those communicative means as against whether they should be encouraged to listen to the music that sometimes interrupts the often inconsequential and irrelevant chatter.

scb - if there is a move (as I hope there will be) towards restoring the concept of a 'music programme' (music-led, rather than speech/presenter-led) the clearing out of phone-ins, 15-minute news headlines and trails between the music, would make a coherent case for going back to the On Air custom of publishing the chief/longer pieces in advance, with space left for short fillers as necessary. It might also end the nonsense of having no details about a composer such as George Frederick Pinto, if people had the time to consult Grove or ODNB and, oh ...

Given the will, this should not be so hard to do, should it? Again, it's not simply because I would like to witness a drastic reduction in the number of words and consequent increase in the number of crotchets and quavers in such programmes but about the word content, one of the most grating examples of which is in the results of opportunities for listeners not known personally to other listeners to communicate what this, that of the other piece means to them and why, and/or where they were and what they were doing when first they heard it...