Essential Classics - The Continuing Debate

[Bryn]

My wife, sister-in-law, and stepfather-in-law all told me that this morning Skellers chose to spin one of my Mozart concerto hand-horn recordings (with the late lamented Chris Hogwood and the AAM), and furthermore he said some very nice, perceptive things about the nature of the intractible beast, embouchure control etc.
Many thanks, I.S.
I missed it because I was playing in a morning concert battling through the very tricky piano part of the sublime, bewitching Viola Sonata by Rebecca Clarke .
Incidentally it was played on R3 almost exactly a week ago by Lars Anders Tomter. I was quite surprised that this majestic piece elicited no comments at all by any of our boarders...

It certainly has done in the past, Tony. Perhaps those who posted previously felt they had done their duty. It's still very much there on iPlayer and well worth seeking out.

[Serial_Apologist]

But that doesn't necessarily make him a bad interviewer, does it? Winston Churchill - said by some to have been a pretty good Prime Minister at least on occasions - was known to change his political allegiance, was he not?

He wasn't a TV interviewer. And he never gave up smoking.

[antongould]

My wife, sister-in-law, and stepfather-in-law all told me that this morning Skellers chose to spin one of my Mozart concerto hand-horn recordings (with the late lamented Chris Hogwood and the AAM), and furthermore he said some very nice, perceptive things about the nature of the intractible beast, embouchure control etc.
Many thanks, I.S.
I missed it because I was playing in a morning concert battling through the very tricky piano part of the sublime, bewitching Viola Sonata by Rebecca Clarke , played beautifully by the young lady violist Alexandra Wakeling.
Incidentally it was played on R3 almost exactly a week ago by Lars Anders Tomter. I was quite surprised that this majestic piece elicited no comments at all by any of our boarders...

The Mozart was wonderful Tony IMVVHO ........

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

... the sublime, bewitching Viola Sonata by Rebecca Clarke , played beautifully by the young lady violist Alexandra Wakeling.
Incidentally it was played on R3 almost exactly a week ago by Lars Anders Tomter. I was quite surprised that this majestic piece elicited no comments at all by any of our boarders...

Guilty as charged. The problem is that many of us are listening to Radio 3 less and less.
Two-thirds of Radio 3's output is drivel. Finding the good bits is like wading through molasses.

[DracoM]

1. Antony Hopkins's programmes educated me as a teenager and later, and I followed them pretty religiously. Latterly, Stephen Johnson's were / are in much the same mould, but now.......?
2. CD Masters showed me a lot about the subtleties of interpretation and how much difference a different conductor / orchestra could make. Erm...Rob Cowan, Jonathan Swain etc??
3. Pied Piper introduced me to details of instruments and background of Medieval etc etc music....I now play in a medieval music band
4...........eventually leading me to Clerkes of Oxenford / Wulstan etc, which we all know has in its turn educated and informed a LOT of ensembles / conductors in singing styles / scholarship etc in a number of ways.

'Essential Classics' - erm....note the title? - and its juddering and meandering and what lies behind its policy rationale raises IMO the very heart of issues in any discussion as to what the BBC's role in the current crisis in on radio / in schools by extension, and the profile of classical music in our culture might / should be.

Now, it seems to me, the BBC has very, very specifically jettisoned this strand of musical planning and production.

I do not understand why there is apparently seen to be no market for this kind of programming on today's R3 schedules. Such a series of progs educated me, and I totally fail to see why such a series of programmes, maybe re-packaged, re-thought yes, mounted today would not / could not excite and educate a new generation. The plain fact is that the BBC has simply ceased to see that ON RADIO it has any role to play in enthusing the young in terms of classical music. A very conscious policy decision seem to have been taken, and we are all the poorer for that, our children and grandchildren the more so.

[Barbirollians]

This morning Radio 3 was still tuned in on my radio after last night's Chailly concert.

I had the serious misfortune to catch ten minutes or so of this programme. It was like the worst sort of dumbed down schmaltz on Classic FM.

Rob Cowan whilst highly knowledgeable comes across as oily and irritating and there was an absurd " Who am I " segment - with Stephen Johnson doing his impression of the Mystery Voice from I Am sorry i have't a clue and then all manner of gooey e-mails read out about Rossini .

What is this trash doing on radio 3 ?

Nearly seven years on I still think my original title was the better one - A programme surely on the wrong station ! Or maybe not any more as the dumbling down proceeds across the schedule.

[french frank]

Nearly seven years on I still think my original title was the better one

Could be because it reflected your opinion very well . It tended to attract others who had the same point of view, I feel, rather than encouraging those who disagreed to enter into a less loaded debate. [And someone had said on another thread that it was 'patronising'] …

[Barbirollians]

Could be because it reflected your opinion very well . It tended to attract others who had the same point of view, I feel, rather than encouraging those who disagreed to enter into a less loaded debate. [And someone had said on another thread that it was 'patronising'] …

As I recall it was cast as a question ? Hardly patronising.

[french frank]

As I recall it was cast as a question ? Hardly patronising.

Well, true, but that was the word used, if I recall. And it did tend to have the consequence that I outlined, I feel. The current title is neutral: I believe the legal profession would refer to your title as a 'leading question': someone objected

[vinteuil]

As I recall it was cast as a question ? Hardly patronising.

... can those not up to excavating the penetralia of these Boards be told what Barbirollians had initially proposed?

I am finding this teasing irritating.


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[antongould]

... can those not up to excavating the penetralia of these Boards be told what Barbirollians had initially proposed?

I am finding this teasing irritating.


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Well said .......

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

... can those not up to excavating the penetralia of these Boards be told what Barbirollians had initially proposed?

I am finding this teasing irritating.


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It was referred to in Barb's #2826: A programme surely on the wrong station?

[vinteuil]

It was referred to in Barb's #2826: A programme surely on the wrong station?

... thanks : sorry, should have got it. ( ... tho' quotes / italics / bold might have made it more evident... )

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[french frank]

... can those not up to excavating the penetralia of these Boards be told what Barbirollians had initially proposed?

I am finding this teasing irritating.

More a case of memory lapse than teasing: you were contributing to the thread under the old title for enough years

[vinteuil]

More a case of memory lapse than teasing: you were contributing to the thread under the old title for enough years

.. et alors? Ze old 'memory lapse', among ze over soixante-cinq, c'est pas permis???

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