Sunday Breakfast without Martin Handley

[AuntDaisy]

The format doesn't entail saying a great deal. But a single (pithy) sentence can be thought-provoking and illuminating, and from memory, I agree with your assessment of those two. I don't sense that either is concerned to inject something 'distinctive' of themselves into their input.

However, there are occasional quirks...
As Caliban pointed out, what did John Shea (JLTS) mean by this esoteric phrase in a 2013 TTN listing?

Bach, Johann Sebastian (1685-1750) NB use with discretion jlts Nov2000!
Cantata no.36c (BWV.36c) 'Schwingt freudig euch empor'

[LMcD]

I can't recall any profound criticism here of Through the Night presentation: which I attribute to the presenters' very limited time for announcements and back-announcements. This seems to me to facilitate their focus on the music itself. John Shea and Jonathan Swain are masters of the pithy, musically informative introduction.

[french frank]

what did John Shea (JLTS) mean by this esoteric phrase in a 2013 TTN listing?

I hesitate to make a suggestion. I will say that I had noticed a certain dry, understated wit on the part of JLTS. I seem to remember a comment (I misremember the exact words) one morning, at about 3am: "Now if you've been lying awake wondering about the oboe and the Scottish bagpipes ..." And by a remarkable coincidence ...

[AuntDaisy]

I hesitate to make a suggestion. I will say that I had noticed a certain dry, understated wit on the part of JLTS. I seem to remember a comment (I misremember the exact words) one morning, at about 3am: "Now if you've been lying awake wondering about the oboe and the Scottish bagpipes ..." And by a remarkable coincidence ...

A gloriously dry wit.

Now I'm going to wonder exactly which TTN it was!

[kernelbogey]

...A gloriously dry wit!

And often applies it to the recondite nature of TTN's repertoire of unusual instrumentation (as in FF's example).

[oddoneout]

I didn't listen to very much of today's Breakfast, so can't really comment on it. I would make a couple of observations though. What happens on the first outing of a change isn't necessarily what will always happen. I think many of us had some reservations about Daniella J doing TTN because of her bright voice and upbeat style, but that has softened over time so that the clarity is still there but not so much "wake up" bounce.
The other issue, following on from that, is something that I fear may not happen in the same way as has happened in the past, and that is a combination of the presenter establishing their mark, and positive, if small, changes being made from above. Much of the dross of the early stages of Breakfast and Essential Classics was ditched over time - phone-ins, silly games etc. My concern is that however good TM is(and I happen to think he is good) he may not be able to overcome the increasingly heavy baggage dumped from above - ads, too much chat, "listener input" etc - which I think will be seen as part of the "refresh" (aka change for change' sake) and that will be what sinks Sunday Breakfast for many, rather than the change of presenter.
The references to the imposition of privileged lifestyle on the audience interest me. I can see why they are made, but perhaps I have been fortunate in not finding such things a problem, as it didn't, to me, come across in a negative sense, unlike the ceaseless stream of celeb culture "look how rich I am" that so many millions of folk seem to choose to consume, or well- off privileged politicians telling voters how to live their lives.

[AuntDaisy]

I hesitate to make a suggestion. I will say that I had noticed a certain dry, understated wit on the part of JLTS. I seem to remember a comment (I misremember the exact words) one morning, at about 3am: "Now if you've been lying awake wondering about the oboe and the Scottish bagpipes ..." And by a remarkable coincidence ...

Academic really, but could it have been this 2005 Notturno... (Genome is scant on detail).

02:01AM Loeffler, Charles Martin (1861-1935)
Cornemus (Bagpipe), movement for Oboe, Viola and Piano from Two Rhapsodies (1901)
Stephen Taylor (oboe), Paul Neubauer (viola), Jeffrey Swann (piano) [recorded at the Lincoln Center, New York in 2004]

From this webpage: "The second poem, La Cornemuse or The Pipes, tells of bagpipes which can be heard like a wailing wind through the woods."
There's a performance on YouTube.

[LMcD]

Academic really, but could it have been this 2005 Notturno... (Genome is scant on detail). .

Possibly a rehearsal in the small hours for a Boston Wedding With Sunrise.

[AuntDaisy]

Possibly a rehearsal in the small hours for a Boston Wedding With Sunrise.

Good suggestion, LMcD, I'll have a look...

[RobP]

I managed ~40mins of Sunday's Breakfast, then gave in. Apparently it has "... music that captures the mood of Sunday morning" - no sign of fury at Sam J .

The pieces just jump about too much for me & there's far too much chat - it jars.
Soon it will be "Here's the 3rd note of the fourth bar of the final movement of XXX's string quartet / symphony / concerto and we've had lots of Twitter / Facebook comments on what a great job we're doing and a few about cats & humorous toasters".
..and if he asks where listeners are one more time!!! Then another wretched ad., now with added Jools H.

Please, please, please, can we have Martin Handley back. TM did thank him earlier and point out MH would be presenting some evening concerts...

I listened to about 30 minutes of Breakfast this morning for the first time in 10 years or so and turned it off. There was a presenter, who sounded as though she was taking to a child, babbling some nonsense about Joe or Freda in their garden and telling me how zestful and spring-like the Spring Sonata is. I assumed I had made a mistake and tuned into a BBC infant schools programme, but it seems not. Laughable.

[oddoneout]

I listened to about 30 minutes of Breakfast this morning for the first time in 10 years or so and turned it off. There was a presenter, who sounded as though she was taking to a child, babbling some nonsense about Joe or Freda in their garden and telling me how zestful and spring-like the Spring Sonata is. I assumed I had made a mistake and tuned into a BBC infant schools programme, but it seems not. Laughable.

Ironically Saturday Breakfast is one of the slots that hasn't been changed, so it's still Elizabeth Alker, who for a good few isn't a favoured presenter anyway. Saturday listening would previously have skipped that slot to start at 9-00 am and Record Review, which has now moved...

[RobP]

Ironically Saturday Breakfast is one of the slots that hasn't been changed, so it's still Elizabeth Alker, who for a good few isn't a favoured presenter anyway. Saturday listening would previously have skipped that slot to start at 9-00 am and Record Review, which has now moved...

Yes, if I had time I would listen to Rec Review for an hour or so and catch-up later, but I was genuinely stunned by what I heard this morning. But I'm sure loads of other people have said the same about the quality of these programmes.

[kernelbogey]

In a spirit of conciliation, perhaps, but also because I wanted to hear the news, I listened to about 20 minutes of Sunday Breakfast today with Tom McKinney. What made me switch off abruptly was his mention of the coming announcement on Thursday of the Proms rep, followed by Pomp and Circumstance - with a kind of verbal flourish about it being the obvious thing to play in illustration. Flaunting what to me, and I think many others, is the worst aspect of the Proms, just illustrates perfectly where Radio 3 is going.

[AuntDaisy]

In a spirit of conciliation, perhaps, but also because I wanted to hear the news, I listened to about 20 minutes of Sunday Breakfast today with Tom McKinney. What made me switch off abruptly was his mention of the coming announcement on Thursday of the Proms rep, followed by Pomp and Circumstance - with a kind of verbal flourish about it being the obvious thing to play in illustration. Flaunting what to me, and I think many others, is the worst aspect of the Proms, just illustrates perfectly where Radio 3 is going.

I was getting breakfast ready (inc. the dog's) and reluctantly heard that as well. Really missing Martin Handley - Tom McKinney is "alright", but the waffle is banal & the music often jars.

"Start your Sunday the Radio 3 way with Tom McKinney"
Never mind the quality, feel the width?

Radio is off for the moment. Might try Music Nap and see what I'm missing... EMS on catchup because the new time is awkward.

[LMcD]

I was getting breakfast ready (inc. the dog's) and reluctantly heard that as well. Really missing Martin Handley - Tom McKinney is "alright", but the waffle is banal & the music often jars.

"Start your Sunday the Radio 3 way with Tom McKinney"
Never mind the quality, feel the width?

Radio is off for the moment. Might try Music Nap and see what I'm missing... EMS on catchup because the new time is awkward.

Has Sunday Breakfast previously served as an extended plug for BBC One's coverage of the London Marathon?