Ian Skelly says............

[gurnemanz]

Thought I'd catch up, on catch up, with the ghost of Essential Classics past, Mr. Cowan, and listened to his new CFM show on Saturday night.
15 pieces no complete works
2 trailers
3 breaks for adverts comprising in total 19 individual gems
Annoyingly, to me at least, Rob announced and "described" a piece and then we went into the break and the music started without further announcement after the last advert .....
I doubt if I will return ......

Thanks for this noble and selfless piece of research on our behalf. The findings are as might have been predicted.

[Dave2002]

antong

Thanks for the link.

Re IS I used to like the way he did TTN. My guess it that it's not his decision to dumb down EC in the way it gets presented now. The day I commented on - after listening to some of it I was then really surprised to hear the second movement of the Mozart string quartet ....

What happened to the days when we had whole symphonies in the morning, Mozart 29, 25 etc.? Long gone I fear - but a terrible way to let things down. The idea that it's a "treat" to be able to hear the whole of just one work each am - pathetic! Let alone the drivel which gets put in between pieces - though in fairness I've heard worse elsewhere in the past - e.g. Forces Family Favourites - many years ago. Who really cares about "dedicating" the next "song" to X,Y and Z? Some people - obviously - and in time and context I can understand that, but do we really want that on R3?

PS: I like Ed Reardon too - and the one with Andrew McGregor - or was it Petroc - perhaps both - was quite amusing.

[doversoul1]

Ian Skelly says….

‘Yes, the little known The Ride of the Valkyries’

The suggestions to follow this piece sounded like the sort of posts we may see on this forum.

I turned on in the middle of Byrd, Vivaldi followed, and then a very short but rather interesting talk about Punch and Judy Suffragettes version which followed by Dora Pejačević (a new name to me). At this point, I had to leave. I turned the radio back on into Bach.

I don’t think Ian Skelly sounds patronising or flippant, just relaxed or relaxing. Apart from a few non-complete works, I can’t say the programme is as contemptible as it has been described (personal taste, I suppose). Still, pity about the non-complete works.

[Dave2002]

Still, pity about the non-complete works.

That's probably my biggest issue, right now. However, for various reasons I probably won't be doing the "research" to check out the way things are going in the next few months.

Times have changed. I can listen to CDs, listen to downloads, streams etc even backed up BBC programmes, when I want. Hence my previous comment about radio 50 or so years ago does not apply now. I do think there is merit in having whole works, with a modicum of serious explanation between them.

[LMcD]

https://media.info/radio/stations/bb...tening-figures

Thank you. I'd simply googled 'BBC Radio 3 latest listening figures'

[french frank]

https://media.info/radio/stations/bb...tening-figures

These are the RAJAR raw figures. Hope to get back to more detailed comments thissarter …

[Sir Velo]

These are the RAJAR raw figures. Hope to get back to more detailed comments thissarter …

Doubtless the response will be to dumb down programming further - clearly too intellectually challenging currently.

[oddoneout]

I think Mr Skelly is making a pretty good fist of an impossible job.

[doversoul1]

Those listeners who send in the answers to a piece to follow, or for that matter any other ‘quizzes’ don’t strike me as ‘listeners with little knowledge of classical music’. So what is Essential Classics really about?

I think Mr Skelly is making a pretty good fist of an impossible job.

I think so too (I thought so when I listened this morning).

[oddoneout]

So what is Essential Classics really about?

Who knows? Certainly not those responsible for foisting it on us I suspect.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I think Mr Skelly is making a pretty good fist of an impossible job.

The point is, the job doesn't need to be impossible. Clearly the Big Brother Corporation is making it so, but could they not be persuaded to reconsider?

[Rex Bartlett]

I think Mr Skelly is making a pretty good fist of an impossible job.

I was thinking much the same last week, finding myself warming to him and thinking his comments interesting and informative. And then, when to my surprise he played my suggested 'slow moment' (Matthias Goerne's Schubert Litanei) and was most gracious to me personally on air, I fairly glowed with pleasure.

[antongould]

I was thinking much the same last week, finding myself warming to him and thinking his comments interesting and informative. And then, when to my surprise he played my suggested 'slow moment' (Matthias Goerne's Schubert Litanei) and was most gracious to me personally on air, I fairly glowed with pleasure.

Oh well done Rex in my, far from universal, opinion. I find the listener's requests, usually, very interesting and often enjoyable ......

[Rob Cowan]

Cowan's Classics on Classic FM [7-9 tonight and ever Saturday]

Thought I'd catch up, on catch up, with the ghost of Essential Classics past, Mr. Cowan, and listened to his new CFM show on Saturday night.
15 pieces no complete works
2 trailers
3 breaks for adverts comprising in total 19 individual gems
Annoyingly, to me at least, Rob announced and "described" a piece and then we went into the break and the music started without further announcement after the last advert .....
I doubt if I will return ......

Interesting comments. Tonight on Cowan's Classics, a complete and little known concerto [18 mins] - Conus played by Heifetz, that priceless 'speaking' tone, in black-and-white sound, true, but a gem. As to 'movements', there's always a reason - the Beaux Arts Trio fills the 'artist of the week' slot and again, it's a great chance to sample something unusual, ie Beethoven's own trio arrangement of his Second Symphony (alongside Katsaris playing a movement from Liszt's take on the same work) and Arensky's Second Trio (the First is the one we usually hear, but the Second is even better). I try to make Beyond the Hall of Fame as interesting as possible and hopefully anyone who hears Glazunov's troubadour stalking Rimsky's young prince and young princess will agree. There's Khovanstchina in Shostakovich's orchestration (rarely heard) and the end of The Rite with Andsnes and Hamelin - very 'pre-Westside Story'. May I proffer the view that playing movements is perfectly acceptable where people want to dip a toe in, in other words if that's what they're used to doing. I'm loving this new CFM programme and the opportunities that it is offering me to come up with interesting sequences. Ian is really great - a real hoot and an easy listen - and an appropriate host for the 'new' EC. Anyway just thought I'd bring you up to speed and please drop by tonight, or any Saturday night, or via listen again to classicfm.com (though wait for the ads to finish first - you'll then see a list of programmes to choose from). Very best to you all and do write to me at classicfm.com Rob

[french frank]

Rob

I do hope a lot of people are listening to and enjoying your programmes. Alas, for many, it will be a miscellany like Essential Classics which doesn't go into anything with enough depth - but is fine if, at least for much of the time, the listener is less than fully engaged.

Essential Classics presents us with a blank sheet with no indication in advance as to what's coming up. It's pot luck with a less than 50% chance Listener X will find it interesting