End in sight for Classical Collection?

[amateur51]

I took it to be a reference to Gracilinanus agilis, the agile gracile mouse opossum

http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/site/index.html

"This particular species is occasionally found as stowaways in banana shipments"

YAY! Sounds a winner!

[Norfolk Born]

This morning we were apprised of the following gems: that "my composers (sic) this morning are Beethoven and Mozart." Sorry, but when were they "yours"? When were you Beethoven's patron?

Tomorrow, "I will play for you" (what, you will play?) Beethoven's Op.54 sonata "in two movements - but none the worse for that!" WTFDTM?????

But best (or worst) of all was the moment when she told us that "I am your host for this morning".

Sorry, but I don't find these particular examples nearly as irritating as you appear to. Would you care to offer us your suggestions for conveying the same information, thereby offering us the opportunity to offer our opinions on your efforts?

[salymap]

I feel sorry for all R3 presenters [or whatever they call themselves]. I should never be able to watch every word and even every intonation. At least one senior presenter confessed that he/she found the constant heckling self-demeaning, or some such expression. They are not news-readers working from an autocue, they are multi tasking human beings, for goodness sake.

[french frank]

I feel sorry for all R3 presenters [or whatever they call themselves]. I should never be able to watch every word and even every intonation. At least one senior presenter confessed that he/she found the constant heckling self-demeaning, or some such expression. They are not news-readers working from an autocue, they are multi tasking human beings, for goodness sake.

Isn't it perhaps the fact that radio presentation in general has become more egocentric? 'This is my show. My choice today. The next piece that I'd like to play for you. This is one of my favourite pieces.' And so on. It's cultivated by the media, though (cf, getting back to the initial topic, the presenter as 'key' to the appeal to the target audience).

The thing is that presenters are now part of showbiz for that reason (and are well paid for doing the job): heckling, booing entertainers, throwing rotten eggs at comedians &c have been part of the audience tradition (partly real, partly apocryphal) since goodness knows when, and the cruelty of popular journalists now outdoes anything written here. Is it the case that the less obtrusive/effusive or self-consciously 'welcoming' or proprietorial the presenter's manner, the less annoyance they cause?

[salymap]

Morning ff, so you can't please all the people all the time! I imagine they are following orders to some extent, friendly to some people, over effusive to others. Back to the Third Programme perhaps?

[Bax-of-Delights]

Donald MacLeod, Jonathan Swain, Geoffrey Smith:

Three presenters who do the job perfectly, not intruding themselves between me and the music but indefinably add to the experience.

[amateur51]

Donald MacLeod, Jonathan Swain, Geoffrey Smith:

Three presenters who do the job perfectly, not intruding themselves between me and the music but indefinably add to the experience.

Agree BoD

And I'd add Martin Handley, Ian Skelly & Catherine Bott - but I realise that it's all a matter of personal taste

[DracoM]

And John Shea.

[amateur51]

And John Shea.

You're right there, Draco

[french frank]

Back to the Third Programme perhaps?

Probably not (as for accents, people seem to forget that all BBC announcers spoke with so-called 'cut-glass accents', even with the arrival of television; there wasn't anything particularly 'Third Programme' about it).

But there is a point to be debated: should Radio 3 strive to become a 'Classics for All' station? I do slightly resent the idea that talking about opus or Köchel numbers or movements is off-putting to a certain kind of audience and therefore should be avoided. But that is the point. Is it better to encourage a shallow interest in the music rather than no interest at all? Or should one say that there is a huge amount of information (and help) available so a 'beginner' doesn't have to remain in ignorance for long. Should Radio 3 be trying to attract the 'widest possible' new audience or new listeners who have the initial interest to profit further, become concert-goers, knowledgeable record buyers, and who can tap into a more exacting schedule?

Is there any value in teaching the person who 'would like to be able to play the piano' but who doesn't feel inclined to do anything but go to a weekly lesson? (Other than the financial value to the teacher who gets the £18 per half hour). Is it right - or realistic - for Radio 3 to assume when producing programmes that people want something more than background listening?

[DracoM]

< Should Radio 3 be trying to attract the 'widest possible' new audience or new listeners who have the initial interest to profit further, become concert-goers, knowledgeable record buyers, and who can tap into a more exacting schedule? >

And that is precisely the quandary R3 were / are in, and with the announcement of the brief for the CC replacement, they maybe seem to have decided - 'widest possible'. It's a ratings war, and adieu original remit, or, better, get the Trust to re-write the remit to help them justify what they are about to do. Which is what they have done as recorded upthread. Effectively they are about to ghetto-ise the hungry as peripheral to R3's morning demographic, and one begins to suspect, travel ever more determinedly down the 'safe classics' route for much of the rest of the day as well.

Not necessarly holding them up as a shining examples, but it is instructive to wonder how far we have come since Glock and Drummond? And indeed whither now?

[salymap]

It's simplistic to say so but one has to have the curiousity and desire to learn first. If you don't care a button what WoO or K or any of the other things mean you won't profit from it. Some must fall on stoney ground but some will awaken an interest and the BBC must keep up the education side of R3 imho.

[Sydney Grew]

I do slightly resent the idea that talking about opus or Köchel numbers or movements is off-putting to a certain kind of audience and therefore should be avoided.

Quite. Remember what happened to Microsoft Bob. Or to Microsoft Vista for that matter. The point is that they - and the new Radio Three - are all the creations of people who do not themselves know very much.

[doversoul1]

ff

should Radio 3 strive to become a 'Classics for All' station? I do slightly resent the idea that talking about opus or Köchel numbers or movements is off-putting to a certain kind of audience and therefore should be avoided. But that is the point. Is it better to encourage a shallow interest in the music rather than no interest at all?

CFM is doing this very job. Why sould Radio3 feel obliged?

Or should one say that there is a huge amount of information (and help) available so a 'beginner' doesn't have to remain in ignorance for long. Should Radio 3 be trying to attract the 'widest possible' new audience or new listeners who have the initial interest to profit further, become concert-goers, knowledgeable record buyers, and who can tap into a more exacting schedule?

Yes, one should most certainly say that.

Is there any value in teaching the person who 'would like to be able to play the piano' but who doesn't feel inclined to do anything but go to a weekly lesson? (Other than the financial value to the teacher who gets the £18 per half hour).

If this affects no one else, that’s fine. But in the case of Radio3, it affects US enormously.

Is it right - or realistic - for Radio 3 to assume when producing programmes that people want something more than background listening?

It is realistic. WE are all REAL. As has been said umpteenth time, Radio3 should be concerned with quality and not quantity. That is its identity. Pretending to be something else has never been a good idea.

[mercia]

I can just about remember the Third Programme and my overriding memory is of things going wrong. The wrong record being sent from the library, side A put on the turntable instead of side B, the stylus put down on the wrong track or catching the end of the previous track, scratches on records, links to live performances disappearing unexpectedly. Perhaps I'm picking out the worst. But it was all handled in a very genteel and humourous way.