Tearjerker, Downtown Symphony, Piano Flow, Happy Harmonies and other Saturday padding

[french frank]

i caught the end of Feedback today on R4, and it was announced that next Thursday Alan Davey would be interviewed about the R3 podcasts.

Let me guess: they've been a tremendous success …

[Cockney Sparrow]

Just listened (again) and it was:

"..... we'll be hearing how he plans to keep classical purists happy, whilst attracting new listeners"

I suggest there is still time to give your "feedback" to, er, Feedback

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/1WbP92b6YbpP9j4mwwbtc9Q/contact-us

[AuntDaisy]

Just listened (again) and it was:

"..... we'll be hearing how he plans to keep classical purists happy, whilst attracting new listeners"

I suggest there is still time to give your "feedback" to, er, Feedback

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/art...c9Q/contact-us

Good idea - but I suspect it will be yet more water off a duck's back.
Thanks Cockney Sparrow & french frank.

[AuntDaisy]

Here's what we missed today - available to our European friends via EBU Notturno, e.g. Swedish radio

https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/1925024

01:01 César Franck; Quintet for piano and strings (M.7) in F minor; Cristina Ortiz (piano), Fine Arts Quartet
01:38 Joseph Haydn; Concerto for Trumpet & Orchestra in E flat major (H.7e.1); Ole Edvard Antonsen (trumpet), Nicolae Moldoveanu (conductor), Norwegian Radio Orchestra
01:55 Edvard Grieg; Ballade for piano in G minor, Op.24; Göran W. Nilson (piano)
02:13 Barbara Strozzi; "Begl'occhi, bel seno" Costumo de grandi for soprano, 2 violins and continuo; Susanne Ryden (soprano), Musica Fiorita, Daniela Dolci (director)
02:18 Wawrzyniec Zulawski; Suite in the Old Style; National Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Miroslaw Blaszczyk (conductor)
02:30 Flor Alpaerts; Avondmuziek for wind octet (1915); I Soloisti del Vento, Ivo Hadermann (conductor)
02:39 William Walton; Johannesburg Festival Overture; Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, David Atherton (conductor)
02:48 Georg Philipp Telemann; Trio no 1 for recorder, oboe & basso continuo - from Essercizii Musici; Camerata Köln
Info from https://www.ebu.ch/files/live/sites/...May%202022.pdf

[AuntDaisy]

Alan Davey about TTN on Twitter this morning.
"…but you can listen during the day on @BBCSounds - it’s thrillingly nice to do sometimes. Turn day into night or vice versa…"

No mention of TTN replacement by drivel &/or programmes that don't need to be on R3.

While I'm in grumble mode, what does "thrillingly nice" mean? Sugar & spice, and everything thrillingly nice, that's what R3 is made of?



I agree that "Though The Night on @BBCRadio3 is one of the most underrated programmes it broadcasts."

[Serial_Apologist]

Alan Davey about TTN on Twitter this morning.
"…but you can listen during the day on @BBCSounds - it’s thrillingly nice to do sometimes. Turn day into night or vice versa…"

No mention of TTN replacement by drivel &/or programmes that don't need to be on R3.

While I'm in grumble mode, what does "thrillingly nice" mean? Sugar & spice, and everything thrillingly nice, that's what R3 is made of?



I agree that "Though The Night on @BBCRadio3 is one of the most underrated programmes it broadcasts."

Perhaps he meant "nicely thrilling"... or even "thrillingly underrated"!

[AuntDaisy]

Perhaps he meant "nicely thrilling"... or even "thrillingly underrated"!

Possibly.
I suspect that "BBC Sounds" is the important and "thrillingly nice" thing the Grand Pooh-bah is pushing.

[AuntDaisy]

Here's what we missed this morning - available to our European friends via EBU Notturno, e.g. https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/1929210

04:01 Fryderyk Chopin; Piano concerto No 1 in E minor, Op 11; Havard Gimse (piano), Stavanger Symphony Orchestra, Matthias Foremny (conductor)
04:42 Marko Tajčević; 4 duhovna stiha (4 Spiritual Verses): Hvalite imja Gospodnje; Glas Gospodenj na vodah; Skaži mi Gospodi; Vospojte (Psalm 95.1) (1927); Obilic Chorus, Darinka Matic-Marovic (director)
05:09 Josep Ferran Sorts i Muntades; Introduction, Theme and Variations on Marlborough s'en va-t-en guerre, Op 28; Xavier Díaz-Latorre (guitar)
05:20 Ruth Watson Henderson; Magnificat; Kimberley Briggs (soprano), Elmer Iseler Singers, Matthew Larkin (organ), Lydia Adams (conductor)
05:27 George Gershwin; Lullaby for string quartet; New Stenhammar String Quartet
05:36 Giuseppe Martucci; Notturno Op 70 no 1; Oslo Philharmonic Orchestra, Nello Santi (conductor)
05:43 Toivo Kuula; Suru (Sorrow), Op 22 no 2 for cello and piano (orig. cello and orchestra); Arto Noras (cello), Tapani Valsta (piano)
05:50 Ludwig van Beethoven; Coriolan - overture, Op 62; New Zealand Symphony Orchestra, Mark Taddei (conductor)
Info from https://www.ebu.ch/files/live/sites/...May%202022.pdf

[AuntDaisy]

Here's what we missed today - available to our European friends via EBU Notturno, e.g. Swedish radio https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/1933581

01:01 Felix Mendelssohn; Symphony No 3 in A minor, Op 56 'Scottish'; Polish Radio Symphony Orchestra, Marcin Nalecz-Niesiolowski (conductor)
01:39 Johann Sebastian Bach; Cantata: 'Ich hatte viel Bekummernis' BWV.21; Antonella Balducci (soprano), Frieder Lang (tenor), Fulvio Bettini (baritone), Chorus of Swiss-Italian Radio, Ensemble Vanitas Lugano, Diego Fasolis (conductor)
02:14 Sergey Rachmaninov; Romance and Waltz; Dutch Pianists Quartet
02:20 Antonin Dvorak; Two Waltzes, Op.54; Sebastian String Quartet
02:28 Alfonso Ferrabosco; Pavan and Fantasie for lute; Nigel North (lute)
02:35 Primož Ramovš; Pihalni kvintet (Wind Quintet) in 7 parts; Ariart Woodwind Quintet
02:44 Franz Liszt; Hungarian Royal Song; Zóltan Kocsis (piano), György Oravecz (piano)
02:50 Carl Friedrich Abel; Symphony in D major, Op 10 No 5; La Stagione Frankfurt, Michael Schneider (conductor)
info from https://www.ebu.ch/files/live/sites/...May%202022.pdf

[muzzer]

Possibly.
I suspect that "BBC Sounds" is the important and "thrillingly nice" thing the Grand Pooh-bah is pushing.

The availability of TTN via Sonos has made my May. Now I need not bother with daytime R3 at all! Moreover, in the aim of (BBC) Balance, and prompted via Iain MacMillan on Twitter I gave EA’s Unclassified a quick listen, only to realise that what I really wanted to listen to was Delius. And now I am. So, thank you again to our public broadcaster! E&OE.

[gurnemanz]

Now I need not bother with daytime R3 at all!

I know there's good stuff on TTN but a random playlist is not all I want all day long. This week I'd have missed ongoing Vaughan Williams on CotW, the excellent Catriona Morison in a live recital from Wigmore on Monday and the Lunchtime chamber music from the Cheltenham Festival, Ian Skelly's Spanish-themed afternoon concerts, Choral Evensong live from St Martin-in-the-Fields. Also some interesting guests on In Tune including Marc-André Hamelin on Tuesday.

[french frank]

I know there's good stuff on TTN but a random playlist is not all I want all day long.

Nor me. But what I really miss is the analysis, the insight, the intelligent discussion which used to be at least half of what R3 was about.

Also some interesting guests on In Tune including Marc-André Hamelin on Tuesday.

I'd prefer an 'Artist of the Week' in depth focus (an hour each morning with the same performer) as used to form part of R3's morning output - not a 10/15 (how long?)-minute interview with Sean Rafferty.

As for performances, this from "Reforming Radio:

"From its inception in 1922 the BBC employed music directors at the ten urban stations, who were usually conductors adept at the piano. They were hired to locate, play and develop classical and light music suitable for live broadcast. When it became a public body in 1927 the corporation developed ambitious plans for classical music, firstly by taking over the Queen’s Hall summer Promenade Concerts (now the BBC Proms) then in 1930 creating the London-based BBC Symphony Orchestra, comprising 114 salaried players. In 1935 the corporation developed a regional orchestra scheme employing 160 musicians. In total, 428 musicians were employed across the country in 12 ensembles. World War Two created a change in pattern, with reductions enforced by the Ministry of Labour, but also the introduction of new ensembles specialising in light and popular music which, post-war, became the property of the Variety department (1933-63), the Light Music department (1952–80) and the Popular Music department (1963–80). The Music department retained use of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Northern, Welsh and Scottish Orchestras. That one department devoted to classical music could retain the title “Music” while the others took conditional titles, is an indication of how far management valued its production of that genre."

I'm sure the BBC still has "ambitious plans", but classical music is now just an area where savings can be made.

[AuntDaisy]

Here's what we missed today - available to our European friends via EBU Notturno, e.g. Swedish radio

https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/1937065

01:01 Ludwig van Beethoven; Quartet for strings (Op.130) in B flat major vers. standard; Vertavo String Quartet
01:43 Karol Szymanowski; Stabat mater Op.53 for soloists, chorus and orchestra; Ewa Vesin (soprano), Edyta Kulczak (mezzo soprano), Jarosław Bręk (baritone), National Forum of Music Chorus, Polish National Youth Chorus, National Forum of Music Symphony Orchestra, Benjamin Schwartz (conductor)
02:06 Johann Sebastian Bach; Sarabande from Suite for solo cello in C (BWV.1009); Miklós Perényi (cello)
02:11 Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Divertimento in B flat major for wind ensemble, K 186; Bratislavska Komorna Harmonia
02:24 Antonio Vivaldi; Concerto in D minor (Op.3 No.11) from 'L'Estro Armonico'; Tafelmusik Baroque Orchestra, Jeanne Lamon (conductor)
02:33 Fanny Mendelssohn; Allegro moderato for piano, Op 8 no 1; Sylviane Deferne (piano)
02:39 Genevieve Calame; Sur la margelle du monde; Bienne Symphony Orchestra, Franco Trinca (conductor)
02:50 César Franck; Pastorale in E major Op 19 (1863); Joris Verdin (organ)
Info from https://www.ebu.ch/files/live/sites/...May%202022.pdf

[AuntDaisy]

I'd prefer an 'Artist of the Week' in depth focus (an hour each morning with the same performer) as used to form part of R3's morning output - not a 10/15 (how long?)-minute interview with Sean Rafferty.

... and in the late evening. I remember the 2007 Andreas Scholl interviews well; 4x ~25mins.

[french frank]

... and in the late evening. I remember the 2007 Andreas Scholl interviews well; 4x ~25mins.

My mistake: Artist of the Week was 30 mins, not an hour. Looking at what RW inherited from Nicholas Kenyon - the Kenyon-style was "my" Radio 3. Eg May 1999.

But, but, but … I'm sure there are those who much prefer what's on offer now. As the BBC knows - devise a schedule and an audience will beat a path to your door. Just as another audience will depart and close the door behind them. It's not a question of who likes what. It's a question of comparing and contrasting.

PS I have suggested Vi turbate be omitted from the list of contributors