Sacred River: Six hours of continuous sacred music Sunday 26 November

[doversoul1]

Neil MacGregor introduces a special presenter-less celebration of the spiritual side of life that so many encounter through music, no matter what their faith or tradition. Linked to Neil's 'Living with the Gods' (Radio 4) this is a seamless "slow radio" flow, the music - spanning all periods - leads listeners through major themes of religion and belief, encompassing the whole gamut of human experience of the divine to take a broad view of what it is to believe.
[…]

And:
Whether you're listening on radio, online or on the move, we want to hear from you.
Send us your photos, comments and questions – we'll respond to as many as possible and repost the best messages on the Sacred River live blog.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09gffgr

A river or wallpaper….?

[Bryn]

When I saw the headline I thought it might be a rebroadcast of Feldman's SQ2, though the actual performance only lasted around five and a half hours.

[LMcD]

Perhaps we'll be invited to suggest a suitable 'follow-up' to 'Sacred River'.....

[vinteuil]

Perhaps we'll be invited to suggest a suitable 'follow-up' to 'Sacred River'.....

... only one response -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thalatta!_Thalatta!

or, of course -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_mer_(Debussy)

.

[Stanfordian]

Perhaps we'll be invited to suggest a suitable 'follow-up' to 'Sacred River'.....

Hiya LMcD,

Like the 'Bleeding-Chunks' River!

Oops! Many a true word is spoken in jest!

[subcontrabass]

I see that this comes from the Religion and Ethics department (looking at the producers), rather than from Radio 3 directly.

[jean]

This is a companion piece to Neil MacGregor's Radio 4 series Living with the Gods, I suppose.

I'm reasonably impressed by his knowledge of objects; I don't know what qualifications he has for understanding music, though.

[vinteuil]

... Neil MacGregor ...

I'm reasonably impressed by his knowledge of objects...

... Lordy, what wd it require to make our jean really impressed!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neil_MacGregor

.

[doversoul1]

This is a companion piece to Neil MacGregor's Radio 4 series Living with the Gods, I suppose.

I'm reasonably impressed by his knowledge of objects; I don't know what qualifications he has for understanding music, though.

As this is publicised as presenter-less, I guess Neil MacGregor will just say something in a way of how music has been associated with religions and rituals since the dawn of time etc., and let the music do the job. It would have been a fascinating programme if this had been ‘curated’ specifically for Radio 3 and its listeners, i.e. with experts' comments and explanations.

Re: Neil MacGregor’d programme
I thought the later programmes sounded more like culture tourism in that he told us what (funny things) people did rather than what the objects or the rituals were really meant to mean.

[oddoneout]

It would have been a fascinating programme if this had been ‘curated’ specifically for Radio 3 and its listeners, i.e. with experts' comments and explanations.

On current showings(listenings) I'm not sure that's a given.
Just to be perverse I'm working on the basis that as it has only partially passed through the R3 factory might be worth listening to....

[Stanfordian]

This is a companion piece to Neil MacGregor's Radio 4 series Living with the Gods, I suppose.

I'm reasonably impressed by his knowledge of objects; I don't know what qualifications he has for understanding music, though.

Hello Jean,

I'm wondering what qualifications you think he needs?

[jean]

He needs to share my tastes.

[Pulcinella]

Just to be perverse I'm working on the basis that as it has only partially passed through the R3 factory might be worth listening to....

But would it not be better if we had an idea of what was being played when, or am I missing something?
Are we just supposed to go with the flow for six hours and find out later what we were subjected to?
What's the betting that Zadok the Priest will feature?

[oddoneout]

But would it not be better if we had an idea of what was being played when, or am I missing something?
Are we just supposed to go with the flow for six hours and find out later what we were subjected to?
What's the betting that Zadok the Priest will feature?

When the River of Sound or whatever it was called was broadcast it led to some fairly heated exchanges on this subject. Perhaps look back at that thread?
Zadok might feature, but in 6 hours of random listening I'm sure the odds of hearing it should be low if it's a problem. However my reservation would be that it could turn into more of a 'Your 100 favourite Songs of Praise' than a genuine attempt to air music of other faiths.

[vinteuil]

What's the betting that Zadok the Priest will feature?

... I'm also putting money on : Hildegard of Bingley, Arvo Pärt, some Bulgarian nuns, Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, some Negro Spirituals, Palestrina, Bach, and some goddawful 19th cent English dirging...

... and some Shaker simple songs....
.