The New Schedule

[french frank]

Boy, he can say that again!

Or perhaps 'the triumph of hope over experience ...'

After Marcus du Sautoy ....?

The aspect which strikes most fear is the concept of [quote] 'guiding listeners to essential music'. Very necessary for people with [quote] 'little knowledge of classical music'. But this is 3 hours every morning: what about people already familiar with the 'essential classics' (btw, definition appreciated)? Some people are.

[vinteuil]

I'm in the 'let's wait and hear before leaping to judgement' camp.

my dear Calipash (or is it Calipee?)*

I wonder if this is because you are, (ahem), a - lawyer... In other words, you can not, must not "decide" until you have overwhelming evidence in front of you. Now me, much of my trade in the foreign service was quite the reverse - I was paid to make decisions on often inevitably uncertain and tenuous evidence... and it is with this background that I say - on the "evidence" of next week's RT - "it stinks"...

*calipash
1.A food of the greenish material found underneath the upper half of a turtle's carapace (shell).
1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, Book I, chapter 1
"The tortoise—as the alderman of Bristol, well learned in eating, knows by much experience—besides the delicious calipash and calipee, contains many different kinds of food."
1847 Thackeray Vanity Fair chapter XXVI
"Dobbin helped him to it; for the lady of the house, before whom the tureen was placed, was so ignorant of the contents that she was going to help Mr. Sedley without bestowing upon him either calipash or calipee."

[french frank]

vinteuil/Caliban: one of my favourite Shakespearean quotations:

CALIBAN: I must eat my dinner.


Indeed you must! Or even Breakfast.

[mercia]

I thought Caliban was a mooncalf not a turtle

Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears

[vinteuil]

I thought Caliban was a mooncalf

... indeed, a calvaluna -

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caliban_(character)

[Nick Armstrong]

Do not torment me:— O!

[Anna]

Looking at the schedule for next week's Essentials, from 1100-12.00 the whole hour is taken up by just one piece, in full, (no bleeding chunks it seems) so that's got to be good hasn't it? Even though what is to be played will be pretty familiar.

And what I said before, about Marcus du Sautoy explaining why the square root of 2 is so essential to life, love and the universe, well I, for one, would welcome a talk/explanation/guidance about things like that and don't see why it cannot happen rather than a Private Passions DID type of filler (which quite honestly would just be Dull) Anyone know who future guest hosts will be?

[barber olly]

Looking at the schedule for next week's Essentials, from 1100-12.00 the whole hour is taken up by just one piece, in full, (no bleeding chunks it seems) so that's got to be good hasn't it? Even though what is to be played will be pretty familiar.

And what I said before, about Marcus du Sautoy explaining why the square root of 2 is so essential to life, love and the universe, well I, for one, would welcome a talk/explanation/guidance about things like that and don't see why it cannot happen rather than a Private Passions DID type of filler (which quite honestly would just be Dull) Anyone know who future guest hosts will be?

And LSO Markevitch is not a bad version to pick. But what 'bleeding chunks' will be played in the other 2 hours 15 mins (Tchaik 4 is 45mins not an hour and Rob won't talk about it for 15 mins)

[Al R Gando]

And LSO Markevitch is not a bad version to pick. But what 'bleeding chunks' will be played in the other 2 hours 15 mins (Tchaik 4 is 45mins not an hour and Rob won't talk about it for 15 mins)

Tchaikovsky 4 is an astonishing work. It would be very easy to illustrate a discussion about it with examples of different recordings, to justify the choice of Markevitch - 15 mins is really the least time you'd need, and Rob Cowan would be an ideal person to do that.

[french frank]

Tchaikovsky 4 is an astonishing work. It would be very easy to illustrate a discussion about it with examples of different recordings, to justify the choice of Markevitch - 15 mins is really the least time you'd need, and Rob Cowan would be an ideal person to do that.

Indeed so. Maybe this will be taken as a hint, in case there were other plans ...

[french frank]

It would be very easy to illustrate a discussion about it with examples of different recordings, to justify the choice of Markevitch

Don't forget, though, that the commissioning brief for the programme said it must avoid 'in-depth musicology' in light of its intended audience.

[aeolium]

Looking at the schedule for next week's Essentials, from 1100-12.00 the whole hour is taken up by just one piece, in full, (no bleeding chunks it seems) so that's got to be good hasn't it? Even though what is to be played will be pretty familiar.

It's no good to me, precisely because the works are too frequently played and broadcast (as Suffolkcoastal could demonstrate with his R3 statistics). Not only have some of them been recently played in the Proms, but they come up again and again in concerts and programmes like Afternoon on 3. I just don't want another vehicle for them to be played. What about all the works that are not heard?

And what I said before, about Marcus du Sautoy explaining why the square root of 2 is so essential to life, love and the universe, well I, for one, would welcome a talk/explanation/guidance about things like that and don't see why it cannot happen rather than a Private Passions DID type of filler (which quite honestly would just be Dull)

But looking at the format of the programme, it looks very much as though he is just talking about the music that interests him - "the music he first heard and music he plays himself". It is just like Private Passions, in fact (although that should strictly be Public Passions, as they are no longer private). Why should a piece of music simply be validated by the preferences of someone who knows no more about it than the averagely well-informed listener? du Sautoy has had a number of his own programmes about mathematics on TV and radio, most recently a 3-part series on TV called The Code, so if one wants to find out more about mathematics from him there are plenty of opportunities.

[french frank]

And here is the Essential Classics questionnaire which the Essential Classics guest will answer. It doesn't look as if Marcus du Sautoy will have a lot of time to talk about the Fibonacci numbers and mathematics of music.

You can email in your own answers to the questionnaire if you like, and suggestions for music to share ...

[Serial_Apologist]

And here is the Essential Classics questionnaire which the Essential Classics guest will answer.

[BBMmk2]

Well, looks to me asif Radio 3 is dumbing down even more! it's fast approaching Classic FM!! (Dare I say?)