Skelly replaces Cowan

[DracoM]

Sorry, do you honestly think that what we get of his 'guiding' on Sunday evenings through the huge amount of material gleaned from European etc broadcasting is HIS work? I think not.

He's a voice.

Now if it had been Donald Macleod, or Jonathan Swain, or Catherine Bott..............

[Bryn]

Sorry, do you honestly think that what we get of his 'guiding' on Sunday evenings through the huge amount of material gleaned from European etc broadcasting is HIS work? I think not.

He's a voice.

Now if it had been Donald Macleod, or Jonathan Swain, or Catherine Bott..............

My understanding, based on discussions with those presenters of my personal acquaintance, is that all Radio 3 presenters write their own scripts.

[french frank]

Now if it had been Donald Macleod,

"The breadth and depth of his scripts are enjoyed equally by amateurs and experts, but he’s quick to share the credit. “I’m one of the world’s great bluffers. I’ve always felt at a huge disadvantage relative to pretty well all of my colleagues in that I have no musical training at all."

http://www.radiotimes.com/news/2013-07-29/composer-of-the-week-host-donald-macleod-im-one-of-the-worlds-great-bluffers/

[jonfan]

Thank goodness these programmes are scripted. It shows some thought has gone into introducing the music. Do we think Patricia Hughes expressed her own thoughts when she introduced programmes in her impeccable English? I think not. ClassicFM is sounding very dated IMO with the same formats it’s used for years, eg Hall of Fame . Should it be ClassicDAB or ClassicStreaming, ClassicFreeview, or some such, anyway by now. From Radio Times you get no idea what a programme contains, just names ‘Aled Jones’ Bill Turnbull’ ‘Alexander Armstrong’. It might vary with with ‘Smooth Classics at Seven’ always wanting to lull you to sleep because the offering is not worth staying awake for. It can be dangerous listening to CFM as I nearly lost control of the car on the M1 south of Leeds some years ago when I heard the announcer introduce ‘excepts from Carmen by Georges Bidet.’
Thank goodness R3 hasn’t gone down that way yet, putting music above celebrity;but there are dangers in the nonsense on Ess Cla of ‘still moments in the morning’ (if I wanted that I’d turn the wireless off), ‘what goes with this piece?’. I wonder if this approach is because Ess Cla is outsourced to a commercial company and not ‘In house’ like the afternoons and evenings which has been said here are v good.

[french frank]

My understanding, based on discussions with those presenters of my personal acquaintance, is that all Radio 3 presenters write their own scripts.

Yes, and I don't believe that anyone, however expert, relies totally on the knowledge that they already have to present music from the entire repertoire of classical music from c 1000 to 2017. Even if one has a field of expertise, one's knowledge won't be exhaustive. Putting together a script based on one's own or other people's researches is the journeyman's bit of the job.

[Bryn]

Yes, and I don't believe that anyone, however expert, relies totally on the knowledge that they already have to present music from the entire repertoire of classical music from c 1000 to 2017. Even if one has a field of expertise, one's knowledge won't be exhaustive. Putting together a script based on one's own or other people's researches is the journeyman's bit of the job.

Indeed, even if some, no names, no packdrill, appear to rely on Wikipedia rather than more academically reliable sources.

[french frank]

Indeed, even if some, no names, no packdrill, appear to rely on Wikipedia rather than more academically reliable sources.

I wonder whether R3 subscribes to the online Grove? I have to rely on my old 1980(?) hard copy - sold off cheaply when the work went online. Our library no longer subscribes. But in any case there are Wikipedia articles that are very good and 'presenter needs' which don't involve much deep research. What is required is a presenter who a) can come up with informed comment when it's needed and b) can tell a duff Wiki article when encountered. What is not good is a presenter who uses Wikipedia as a single vade mecum, and who quotes the 'critical comments' as if they are their own. Happens.

[BBMmk2]

I wonder whether R3 subscribes to the online Grove? I have to rely on my old 1980(?) hard copy - sold off cheaply when the work went online. Our library no longer subscribes. But in any case there are Wikipedia articles that are very good and 'presenter needs' which don't involve much deep research. What is required is a presenter who a) can come up with informed comment when it's needed and b) can tell a duff Wiki article when encountered. What is not good is a presenter who uses Wikipedia as a single vade mecum, and who quotes the 'critical comments' as if they are their own. Happens.

I find Wiki quite accurate in the articles that I have looked at, when I compare them to others I have seen.

[Cockney Sparrow]

I wonder whether R3 subscribes to the online Grove? I have to rely on my old 1980(?) hard copy - sold off cheaply when the work went online. Our library no longer subscribes. But in any case there are Wikipedia articles that are very good and 'presenter needs' which don't involve much deep research. What is required is a presenter who a) can come up with informed comment when it's needed and b) can tell a duff Wiki article when encountered. What is not good is a presenter who uses Wikipedia as a single vade mecum, and who quotes the 'critical comments' as if they are their own. Happens.

Grove has been subsumed in Oxford Music Online. Per the Barbican Library "Oxford Music Online - contains all of the Oxford and Grove Music titles."

Perhaps Oxford Music Online shows up in your library service online resources?

http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/

I keep promoting the Barbican Library as a great resource for anyone who can present themselves there with the ID requirements - then the online resources are yours, wherever you live, including the wonderful Naxos Music Library http://www.for3.org/forums/showthrea...-music-library

[french frank]

Perhaps Oxford Music Online shows up in your library service online resources?

Unfortunately not. I wrote to the library a few years back asking why I couldn't access Grove for some reason and they said they had discontinued their subscription as it wasn't used enough

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

This is simply untrue.
Some people have continued make criticisms, ( actually read the thread for confirmation)and plenty of us have always had good things to say about him.

Anyway, there isn't actually anything bad about being polite.

Agreed!

[Rob Cowan]

Agreed!

Just so you know, I have the brown Grove here, Barker's Dictionary, Slonimsky's Music since 1900 - as well as the Dictionary of National Biography (from the beginning to around 1990), the complete Oxford Dictionary (all 20 volume, purchased from my local library for £30!!!) and scores of music books and music scores. So I tend to check Wiki thoroughly. Sometimes they even improve on the knowledge garnered from my front room. Trouble is, what with the CDs (and a long row of vinyl), there's a severe lack of space http://www.for3.org/forums/images/smilies/f_horror.gif but I have a wonderfully supportive wife, who fully understands the concept of care in the communityhttp://www.for3.org/forums/images/smilies/f_winkeye.gif Best Rob

[french frank]

Advise you get a ticket from your local library, Rob. Grove, ODNB and OED certainly all available in their up-to-date versions as long as your library subscribes (don't go by Bristol - if the mayor gets his way, we're closing all ours down. And moving the Central Library to the in-town shopping mall).

Just so you know, I have the brown Grove here, Barker's Dictionary, Slonimsky's Music since 1900 - as well as the Dictionary of National Biography (from the beginning to around 1990), the complete Oxford Dictionary (all 20 volume, purchased from my local library for £30!!!) and scores of music books and music scores. So I tend to check Wiki thoroughly. Sometimes they even improve on the knowledge garnered from my front room. Trouble is, what with the CDs (and a long row of vinyl), there's a severe lack of space http://www.for3.org/forums/images/smilies/f_horror.gif but I have a wonderfully supportive wife, who fully understands the concept of care in the communityhttp://www.for3.org/forums/images/smilies/f_winkeye.gif Best Rob

[french frank]

And Rob, if you're still there: is there some reason for reading out suggestions if you aren't choosing to play them? Or reading out the name if you aren't going to reveal what they suggested anyway? Like reading out the names of people who got the brainteaser answer wrong?

So … why? Actually, why do it? Is it to fill in the allotted amount of speech v music time?

[DracoM]

The exegesis of the Ess Class charade beautifully set out by FF!!! The Unanswered Question......or something...!!