JS on Sunday Morning

[doversoul1]

I think this has been posted elsewhere but just in case (from next Sunday)

Jonathan Swain joins the Sunday Morning presentation team with a programme that includes this week's Building a Library choice from yesterday's Record Review, played in full. Today the work is Brahms's Violin Sonata in G Op 78. Following on from that piece, which incorporates themes from Brahms's song Regenlied, or "Rain song", Jonathan explores how composers including Frank Martin, Debussy, Berlioz and Takemitsu have depicted water and the elements. The programme also includes English music from William Byrd to Gustav Holst.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075p6n1

Host: If the thread title is against the house rules, please amend it.

[antongould]

I think this has been posted elsewhere but just in case (from next Sunday)

Jonathan Swain joins the Sunday Morning presentation team with a programme that includes this week's Building a Library choice from yesterday's Record Review, played in full. Today the work is Brahms's Violin Sonata in G Op 78. Following on from that piece, which incorporates themes from Brahms's song Regenlied, or "Rain song", Jonathan explores how composers including Frank Martin, Debussy, Berlioz and Takemitsu have depicted water and the elements. The programme also includes English music from William Byrd to Gustav Holst.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b075p6n1

Host: If the thread title is against the house rules, please amend it.

So are we saying Jonathan Swain and James Jolly share Sunday Mornings and RC does something (as yet undefined?) on Saturdays?

[DracoM]

Delighted we have Jonathan Swain doing something significant on daytime R3! He and Rob shared CD Masters for years and was highly listenable to.

[antongould]

Listen to most of this morning's edition and enjoyed it .........

[Quarky]

There seems to be a distinct possibility that Jonathan is going to keep all the various factions happy, which is no mean feat.

[VodkaDilc]

Whilst agreeing with everything above, I wonder if we are playing R3's game by getting more concerned with the presenter than the music. Difficult to avoid though, when many are so dire.

I've just had a (rare) look at the R3 website. Why do the photos alongside each programme have to be the presenter, not the composer or performer. For example, a concert of Schubert, Smetana and Dvorak at 7.30 today. Is the photo alongside one of those three - or even the performers? NO - it's Ian Skelly. Surely the least important element in the programme. I despair.

[french frank]

Whilst agreeing with everything above, I wonder if we are playing R3's game by getting more concerned with the presenter than the music.

Are there many regular programmes where the music is beyond reproach but the presenter invariably awful? On the whole, poor presenter, poor programme. There have been cases where decent presenting mitigates the programmes' naff content.

Radio 3 is merely copying (now there's a change) the populist style of popular radio. For Radio 2, when Wogan retired the only issue of importance was: which presenter would replace him? Same when Moyles left Radio 1. Broadcasting Proms on television - who on earth can we get to present classical music?

John Peel, Andy Kershaw, Mary Anne Hobbs, Jarvis Cocker, Steve Lamacq &c. - all considered essential to give their take on their selection of music. Classical music must be unique in not needing a special 'take' - though in the sense that Rob has his noted favourites among the vintage performances of the classics, he too comes into the same category: presenter puts his/her stamp on the programme and is therefore 'important'. What BBC Radio doesn't seem to get its head round is that presenters can be 'important' because they ruin a programme. And if that's the case, seeing a large picture of the presenter simply rubs salt in the wounds.

[oddoneout]

What BBC Radio doesn't seem to get its head round is that presenters can be 'important' because they ruin a programme. .

Perhaps because of a refusal or inability to accept that R3 is different from the other music stations?

[doversoul1]

I enjoyed the programme. Jonathan Swain seems to be ‘allowed’ to talk about music (I think it is a good mix of information and his own observations) whereas (from what I heard) poor Rob could only say ‘great performance’, ‘excellent recording’ or ‘amazing music’ etc.. JS also makes a point of telling us what music we would be hearing in the programme as if to cover the lack of the playlist.

All in all, I think it was a good start.

Come to think of it, I’ve never bothered to listened to Sunday Morning even when James Jolly was presenting simply because of the lack of playlist. I have occasionally listened to James Jolly’s programme which I thought was usually well presented. Just that it isn’t a sort of programme that comes on top of my list of iPlayer listening.

I look forward to listening to the radio on Sunday morning again.

[french frank]

Omitted items: The Takemitsu seems to last roughly 10 minutes and is followed by Vivaldi's Gloria RV 589, performed by the Monteverdi Choir/JEG. It lasts about 28 minutes and is followed at about 2h 31' by Holst's Egdon Heath, LSO/B Britten. The Ginastera pieces follow.

I presume that trails/texts/tweets are non negotiable, but I did notice that one email was reduced to the substance of the comment which was something that JS might have referred to anyway. (Kiss of death is the: "I've had an email/text/tweet from Freda Bloggs. Freda writes, 'Dear Jonathan, I wonder if you might consider playing a piece of music which I first heard when I and my husband-to-be went to a concert - our first date together - blah blah blah …')

I think I may investigate further The Mystery of the Missing Playlists to see if I can at least extract an explanation for their non appearance in advance.

[antongould]

.......... .....
I think I may investigate further The Mystery of the Missing Playlists to see if I can at least extract an explanation for their non appearance in advance.

We are all/mostly right behind you leader .....

[french frank]

We are all/mostly right behind you leader .....

Well, I do recall one person on the old BBC messageboards who was quite definite that he DID NOT want there to be an advance playlist. When it was pointed out that he didn't have to look at it, he said just KNOWING that there was an advance playlist destroyed the notion of spontaneity.

[ChrisBennell]

Well, I do recall one person on the old BBC messageboards who was quite definite that he DID NOT want there to be an advance playlist. When it was pointed out that he didn't have to look at it, he said just KNOWING that there was an advance playlist destroyed the notion of spontaneity.

Well there were some very interesting items in this programme. I caught a snatch of Egdon Heath and went looking for it on iPlayer - only to find it wasn't listed at all - I maintain that most (?) R3 listeners want to know in advance what's on, and the approximate time. The Radio Times was also very sparse on detail for this programme, which sometimes makes me wonder why I subscribe to it! So different to how it used to be when the music and the performers were always listed.

The Egdon Heath performance was fascinating as it was by Britten and the LSO at the Aldeburgh Festival in 1961, so I've recorded it to compare with a Naxos CD I already have. I also enjoyed the Ginastera pieces at the end; at least one of these was listed!

[doversoul1]

Only just past 10.00 am but I find the programme very enjoyable and interesting. A more substantial version of Through the Night (the best compliment I can think of ).

I very much appreciate the way in which JS announces what is to come every so often.

[DracoM]

Totally agree. Feels as if it's coherent and measured.