Late-evening pleasures on Radio 3

[Bella Kemp]

I don't understand these last two comments. The ship is far from sinking. Thanks to Radio 3 on BBC Sounds we can so easily satisfy our need for longer attention spans. Those who are more moved by music in shorter bites (take a look at 18th and 19th century programmes where you'd get a bit of this, a bit of that) are now catered for as well as those of us who prefer a deeper experience. Radio 3 is now better than ever, thanks to BBC Sounds. As I said previously it is now incredibly easy to access an entire opera or symphony or quartet or Shakespeare play and people do this all the time without having to rely on a radio producer's whim. Oh, and the sound quality is far far better - remember how we used to listen to it on tinny transistors! - gosh! the joy back then was so great I now wonder if I might have preferred it! To repeat my metaphor: our loved ones change inexorably but our love for them only deepens.

[Serial_Apologist]

I don't understand these last two comments. The ship is far from sinking. Thanks to Radio 3 on BBC Sounds we can so easily satisfy our need for longer attention spans. Those who are more moved by music in shorter bites (take a look at 18th and 19th century programmes where you'd get a bit of this, a bit of that) are now catered for as well as those of us who prefer a deeper experience. Radio 3 is now better than ever, thanks to BBC Sounds. As I said previously it is now incredibly easy to access an entire opera or symphony or quartet or Shakespeare play and people do this all the time without having to rely on a radio producer's whim. Oh, and the sound quality is far far better - remember how we used to listen to it on tinny transistors! - gosh! the joy back then was so great I now wonder if I might have preferred it! To repeat my metaphor: our loved ones change inexorably but our love for them only deepens.

Not so easy for people who don't have the facilities for listening to Sounds etc we're so lucky to possess!

[Bella Kemp]

Ah that's a shame Serial. It's not so difficult or expensive to get, so maybe you might want to try. You would find so much joy. It's funny, but this thread made me remember the time when I was a teenager and raced home to listen to the premiere of The Ice Break on Radio 3! Such a thrill on a summer's evening! But I accept that no other seventeen year old ever in the history of this planet will ever again do such a thing - new technology has taken over and that's not so bad.

[oddoneout]

I don't understand these last two comments. The ship is far from sinking. Thanks to Radio 3 on BBC Sounds we can so easily satisfy our need for longer attention spans. Those who are more moved by music in shorter bites (take a look at 18th and 19th century programmes where you'd get a bit of this, a bit of that) are now catered for as well as those of us who prefer a deeper experience. Radio 3 is now better than ever, thanks to BBC Sounds. As I said previously it is now incredibly easy to access an entire opera or symphony or quartet or Shakespeare play and people do this all the time without having to rely on a radio producer's whim. Oh, and the sound quality is far far better - remember how we used to listen to it on tinny transistors! - gosh! the joy back then was so great I now wonder if I might have preferred it! To repeat my metaphor: our loved ones change inexorably but our love for them only deepens.

I don't know if I've understood this correctly - at face value it doesn't make sense to me, but perhaps you are meaning because it is possible to cherry pick content by listening to it at a time other than that of the broadcast. An easier version of the old tape recording method. Fair enough. However I don't see how that ability makes R3 better than ever, if the desire, or necessity, to cherry pick is the result of the current output being less than satisfactory, which seems to be the situation for a good many folk. The push for me to make the investment(financial and effort) in the means to access Sounds (which isn't just the kit, it also involves changes to my living space) is likely to be the ability to listen to TTN without becoming nocturnal, because there is nothing in the daytime schedule to listen to on the radio. I could also pick up the occasional bits of Afternoon whatever it's called today if I can be bothered to do a fair bit of editing .That isn't in my book the marker of a R3 better than ever.

[smittims]

I'm sorry to have to disagree with gurnemanz, whose posts I have enjoyed, but I do think Radio 3 is getting more and more like CFM and I do think it is being dumbed-down, by the gradual and continuous increase of short snippets of music separated by adverts and trailers, and by the gradual disappearance of those programmes which are intellectually-stimulating but unprofitable, i.e. the sort of broadcasting only the BBC can do.

Yes of course thare are still splendid things on R3 but increasingly ome has to search to find them among the dross.

[french frank]

As I said previously it is now incredibly easy to access an entire opera or symphony or quartet or Shakespeare play and people do this all the time without having to rely on a radio producer's whim.

I think you're sawing off the branch you're sitting on! In the first place, it's an admission that an entire symphony or quartet or Shakespeare play is now broadcast on Radio 3 far less frequently than previously. True, I have off-air recordings of at least 30 Shakespeare plays but that I have to resort to my minidiscs (actually quite good for speech) only highlights a lack on R3. And as for a complete quartet ... Lunchtime Concerts anyone? (Sorry, I meant Lunchtime Concert as the rest have been ditched and one evening concert has been dropped for a variety show).

How is it possible to defend a daytime schedule consisting almost entirely of 3-hour blocks (sometimes more, sometimes a bit less) of presenter-led snippets and chat (à la Classic FM and just about every other popular music station) other than by saying, "Well, actually, I enjoy presenter-led snippets and 'reflective, bewitching, sublime, harmonious, blissful adventurous immersive soundtracks for late-night listening [sic]?" How does anyone not realise they're being fed the musical equivalent of ultra-processed foods? Coincidentally that's a good site to quote in my proposed letter to the Coop complaining about our super-whizz new store which by my estimate is 80% "ice cream, ham, sausages, crisps, mass-produced bread, breakfast cereals, biscuits, carbonated drinks, fruit-flavoured yogurts, instant soups" plus sweets and chocolate (latest research says the nation's 'addiction' to junk foods costs us £268bn in medical treatment, lost working days, mental and emotional problems &c).

Joyeux Noël à tous!

[AuntDaisy]

Ah that's a shame Serial. It's not so difficult or expensive to get, so maybe you might want to try. You would find so much joy. It's funny, but this thread made me remember the time when I was a teenager and raced home to listen to the premiere of The Ice Break on Radio 3! Such a thrill on a summer's evening! But I accept that no other seventeen year old ever in the history of this planet will ever again do such a thing - new technology has taken over and that's not so bad.

Can you listen to the 1977 Tippett The Ice Break premier on Sounds? Or, indeed, much Tippett?
I'd add that, as with Serial_Apologist, I don't use Sounds.

Like French Frank, I also have a large collection of off-air drama etc. - but I have to rely on them because drama on R3 & R4 has almost disappeared (and what little there is doesn't suit me.)
I also miss the Lunchtime concerts & you might have seen me moaning about the lack of Early or Baroque music in the evening concerts etc. - so Sounds wouldn't help there.

[LMcD]

Can you listen to the 1977 Tippett The Ice Break premier on Sounds? Or, indeed, much Tippett? (Not that he's really my cup of tea).
I'd add that, as with Serial_Apologist, I don't use Sounds.

Like French Frank, I also have a large collection of off-air drama etc. - but I have to rely on them because drama on R3 & R4 has almost disappeared (and what little there is doesn't suit me.)

It's thanks to Sounds that I'm now listening to Stephen Hough's recent performance of Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto that has been highly praised by other Forum members (to whom I'm grateful - he's playing it beautifully).

[AuntDaisy]

It's thanks to Sounds that I'm now listening to Stephen Hough's recent performance of Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto that has been highly praised by other Forum members (to whom I'm grateful - he's playing it beautifully).

I heard the start of that concert "live", but a phone call interrupted it. I will catch-up, but not via Sounds.
Sadly, decent Concerts seem to be few and far between...

[LMcD]

I heard the start of that concert "live", but a phone call interrupted it. I will catch-up, but not via Sounds.
Sadly, decent Concerts seem to be few and far between...

'I have heard the future, and it's Sounds'

[AuntDaisy]

'I have heard the future, and it's Sounds'

Here's me thinking it was "Live / Unwind / Undead on Radio 3".

[french frank]

It's thanks to Sounds that I'm now listening to Stephen Hough's recent performance of Beethoven's 3rd piano concerto that has been highly praised by other Forum members (to whom I'm grateful - he's playing it beautifully).

But, as been pointed out quite cogently, it's cherry-picking (when the tree doesn't have many cherries). Ooh, quick! There's one - catch it before a bird gets at it1

[Nick Armstrong]

Thanks to Radio 3 on BBC Sounds we can so easily satisfy our need for longer attention spans. … it is now incredibly easy to access an entire opera or symphony or quartet or Shakespeare play and people do this all the time without having to rely on a radio producer's whim.

I certainly think you’ve put your finger on something here. It’s often occurred to me over recent years that the lament for Radio 3 one often reads hereabouts is inextricably linked with a lament for the old technology (the radio/tuner…).

Yes there are vast swathes of what appears to seasoned listeners (including me!) to be infantilised dross. How many times do I scan a page of RadioTimes and think: there is literally nothing I want to listen to all day until 12.30am. The old radio is silent… Gone are the days of switching on upon waking and having “The Radio Schedule” burbling in the background (or being listened to with focus) for uninterrupted hours on end.

But I don’t really mind. Like you, nowadays I far prefer the choice that current technology allows - listening to what I want, when I want, and drawing on vast reserves of programming. True, there is extra expense involved in having the network and extra kit required. But I love (for example) being able to select a Through The Night (one that’s free of Liszt, Florence Price & other undesirables ), download it to the iPad Pro and be able to listen in the kitchen, in the shower, in bed, whenever & wherever convenient …

This is without adding all the other sources - foreign classical music stations etc., Qobuz… (how often have I noted and listened to an interesting new release flagged up on Qobuz way before the radio tells me about it - it’s old news by the time it turns up on Record Review…)

And since Covid in particular, YouTube! Paying a monthly fee (I’m almost happier to pay this these days than the licence fee) to eliminate adverts, there is now a spectacular range of recent concerts to be explored and enjoyed, in full, in HD vision and sound and free of ‘Play School’ presentation - lately I’ve repeat listened to/watched a fantastic Jordi Savall/Concert des Nations concert*, absolute joy.

And in no case having to structure one’s day around trying to hear something - no setting of alarms or (as you say) rushing home.

So the current listening ‘landscape’ I find pretty ideal, even if one regrets R3 programmes from former decades which are now impossible to listen to with any pleasure
.

* https://youtu.be/J32UiUWVidg?si=KOO-fbTDkCuTjOoF

[LMcD]

I certainly think you’ve put your finger on something here. It’s often occurred to me over recent years that the lament for Radio 3 one often reads hereabouts is inextricably linked with a lament for the old technology (the radio/tuner…).

Yes there are vast swathes of what appears to seasoned listeners (including me!) to be infantilised dross. How many times do I scan a page of RadioTimes and think: there is literally nothing I want to listen to all day until 12.30am. The old radio is silent… Gone are the days of switching on upon waking and having “The Radio Schedule” burbling in the background (or being listened to with focus) for uninterrupted hours on end.

But I don’t really mind. Like you, nowadays I far prefer the choice that current technology allows - listening to what I want, when I want, and drawing on vast reserves of programming. True, there is extra expense involved in having the network and extra kit required. But I love (for example) being able to select a Through The Night (one that’s free of Liszt, Florence Price & other undesirables ), download it to the iPad Pro and be able to listen in the kitchen, in the shower, in bed, whenever & wherever convenient …

This is without adding all the other sources - foreign classical music stations etc., Qobuz… (how often have I noted and listened to an interesting new release flagged up on Qobuz way before the radio tells me about it - it’s old news by the time it turns up on Record Review…)

And since Covid in particular, YouTube! Paying a monthly fee (I’m almost happier to pay this these days than the licence fee) to eliminate adverts, there is now a spectacular range of recent concerts to be explored and enjoyed, in full, in HD vision and sound and free of ‘Play School’ presentation - lately I’ve repeat listened to/watched a fantastic Jordi Savall/Concert des Nations concert*, absolute joy.

And in no case having to structure one’s day around trying to hear something - no setting of alarms or (as you say) rushing home.

So the current listening ‘landscape’ I find pretty ideal, even if one regrets R3 programmes from former decades which are now impossible to listen to with any pleasure
.

* https://youtu.be/J32UiUWVidg?si=KOO-fbTDkCuTjOoF

'Mix and match' - live Radio 3, foreign stations, YouTube and Sounds - suits me!

[vinteuil]

... the fact that alternatives exist is a very poor response to the challenge :

"Radio 3 no longer provides the serious (I want to say, 'sometimes demanding') cultural fodder that it was originally set up to do, and which (in various weakening states) it was doing until (relatively?) recently."

.