BBC Radio 3 Carol Competition

[Ein Heldenleben]

A couple of the 'tunes' are passable, and sought of serve the purpose, but the harmonisations are totally bland and cringeworthy, and give the impression of being compiled from the Mission Praise school of harmony. The piano parts I find crude & silly and totally superfluous.

The mistake is to have the same arranger doing the harmonisation ( unless they are Bach for example )

[Andrew Slater]

This rather sub-standard effort was found in a BBC bin.

[Suffolkcoastal]

Just spent the day setting the poem myself simply for SATB as a little task. Not one of Rosetti's best, too sweet for my taste, probably not one of my best efforts either.

[oddoneout]

What you've all been waiting for - not

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012qt5

[cloughie]

What you've all been waiting for - not
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0012qt5

I’m all agog with indifference!

In my head is a Merritt style treatment with a repeated line or two in it - arranged for TTBB!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Just spent the day setting the poem myself simply for SATB as a little task. Not one of Rosetti's best, too sweet for my taste, probably not one of my best efforts either.

As a matter of interest have you written a falling or rising phrase for the opening words ?

[Suffolkcoastal]

As a matter of interest have you written a falling or rising phrase for the opening words ?

More undulating, plus the whole piece moves through a few keys.

[Ein Heldenleben]

More undulating, plus the whole piece moves through a few keys.

It’s just Ive noticed that consciously or unconsciously most of the entries start with a falling phrase or just note “love came down” . I was wondering whether any one was prepared to be counter intuitive …

[NatBalance]

Oh no, the blues one won. I like blues but I just did not think that carol did the blues right. It sounded like forced blues. The blues notes did not fall into place in a natural way.

[edashtav]

I think I've heard all of them, but they all seemed much of a muchness so perhaps not. I agree about the relocation, especially since R2 already hosts the Young Chorister competition.

I concur: let it sink, or swim, in the more temperate waters of R2.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I concur: let it sink, or swim, in the more temperate waters of R2.

This competition has ruined things in Radio 3 over the last days. Every programme seems to feature them and musically they are so trite and unsatisfying. It’s extraordinary that Radio 3 that must employ some highly trained musicians can’t see this . Why can’t they commission some young (or indeed old ! ) composers to write something worthwhile - say £1,000 a Carol ? God knows they could do with the money as things have been unbelievably tough these last two years for performers and composers .

[DracoM]

Oh, yes, yes, YES!!
Unlistenable to...............deeply unworthy of R3.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

This competition has ruined things in Radio 3 over the last days. Every programme seems to feature them and musically they are so trite and unsatisfying. It’s extraordinary that Radio 3 that must employ some highly trained musicians can’t see this . Why can’t they commission some young (or indeed old ! ) composers to write something worthwhile - say £1,000 a Carol ? God knows they could do with the money as things have been unbelievably tough these last two years for performers and composers .

Of the BBC's radio stations, only R4 maintains good overall ethos. I suspect this is because it has no obvious competition, so there's no need to dumb down. Radio 1 was formed to compete with pirate radio, so dumbed down to their standards. Radio 2 has effectively shed its classical music (and other) programmes to Radio 3. Radio 3 was fine until CFM and Scala Radio came along, resulting in the feeble BBC management desperately emulating them, with the consequences we now suffer.

[hmvman]

This competition has ruined things in Radio 3 over the last days. Every programme seems to feature them and musically they are so trite and unsatisfying. It’s extraordinary that Radio 3 that must employ some highly trained musicians can’t see this . Why can’t they commission some young (or indeed old ! ) composers to write something worthwhile - say £1,000 a Carol ? God knows they could do with the money as things have been unbelievably tough these last two years for performers and composers .

A good idea. But this competition isn't really anything to do with music or encouraging musical talent is it? Isn't it just a BBC tick-box exercise to show 'accessibility' and 'audience interactivity'?

[Frances_iom]

.... It’s extraordinary that Radio 3 that must employ some highly trained musicians can’t see this .....

They do and I suspect those highly trained can recognise the musically poor quality - BUT that is no longer important to what R3 has morphed into - the BBC sees itself (probably because of politically driven appointments) as a mass entertainment channel that fulfils the same basic function as the Roman 'bread and circuses' ie as supporting a form of mass culture (in widest sense) that supports the existing power structure and keeps the population docile enough - maybe in same way Stalin disliked the avant garde in music as innovation and questioning in one field could lead to questioning in another. The Third Programme accepted its role was to 'broadcast' to an educated minority who otherwise would have little recourse to such material 'out in the sticks' - rather like the old Anglican tradition of sending educated clergy to minister in rural areas.