Essential Classics - The Continuing Debate

[hmvman]

Now my memory may be playing the tricks but I think it was the Symphonic Dance Op64/2 - and a beautiful piece of music. I hadn’t read #4079 which confirms it!

Yes, that's it, thanks.

Thanks, too, to Call me Al_an for the YouTube link. I remembered that Gordon Gostelow played Perks but I'd forgotten that Jenny Agutter was in the TV series as well the film.

[antongould]

Tony was live on EC just now. It goes without saying that it was very good. .
There, I’ve said it .

And that probably concludes todays good news stories........

Just heard it .... it was indeed, IMVVHO, most excellent ......

[Bryn]

Just heard it .... it was indeed, IMVVHO, most excellent ......

'twas enough to prompt me to order the CD.

[oddoneout]

I've mentioned this before but make no apologies for repeating. Came back into the room just in time to hear Vivaldi 'Nisi Dominus' sung by Andreas Scholl. As before it stopped me in my tracks and has made my world a better place, even if only temporarily.

[vinteuil]

I've mentioned this before but make no apologies for repeating. Came back into the room just in time to hear Vivaldi 'Nisi Dominus' sung by Andreas Scholl. As before it stopped me in my tracks and has made my world a better place, even if only temporarily.

... but wouldn't it have been good if they had really played Vivaldi's Nisi Dominus - and not just Cum dederit ?

.

[oddoneout]

... but wouldn't it have been good if they had really played Vivaldi's Nisi Dominus - and not just Cum dederit ?

.

Yes, and I apologise for not having searched out the name of the movement played before posting...

[LezLee]

Yes, and I apologise for not having searched out the name of the movement played before posting...

It was the gorgeous 'Cum Dederit'.

Sorry, missed previous post.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I switch on Radio 3 this morning, just before the start of Dvorak's 3rd Symphony (first movement only of course, but this is a Radio 3 morning programme )
On its conclusion, Suzie Klein said it was "haunted" by Wagner's Parsifal. I know the second movement has clear Wagnerian traits, but the first movement isn't without RW's influence either. The problem with Suzie's words of wisdom was the chronology of the two works. As Parsifal was composed ten years after the symphony in question, Dvorak would have needed either a tardis or a Ministry of Magic time turner. It's rather like saying Bruch's Violin Concerto was influenced by Strauss's Alpine Symphony.

By 1872, Wagner had progressed no further than Siegried, and that hadn't even been performed.

[cloughie]

I switch on Radio 3 this morning, just before the start of Dvorak's 3rd Symphony (first movement only of course, but this is a Radio 3 morning programme )
On its conclusion, Suzie Klein said it was "haunted" by Wagner's Parsifal. I know the second movement has clear Wagnerian traits, but the first movement isn't without RW's influence either. The problem with Suzie's words of wisdom was the chronology of the two works. As Parsifal was composed ten years after the symphony in question, Dvorak would have needed either a tardis or a Ministry of Magic time turner. It's rather like saying Bruch's Violin Concerto was influenced by Strauss's Alpine Symphony.

By 1872, Wagner had progressed no further than Siegried, and that hadn't even been performed.

Maybe things are not what we thought and Wagner was influenced by the young Dvorak. Maybe not - I have always thought that Sym 4 was influenced by Wagner but Sym 3 more by Brahms!

[Pulcinella]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but I see that the R3 schedule website now describes Essential Classics thus:

Refresh your morning with a great selection of classical music.

I find that a nice cup of coffee usually does the trick for me.

[french frank]

Apologies if this has already been mentioned, but I see that the R3 schedule website now describes Essential Classics thus:

Refresh your morning with a great selection of classical music.

I find that a nice cup of coffee usually does the trick for me.

R3 is a cut above Classic FM, though, which just wants you to relaaaax. R3 is holistically concerned with Mind, Body and Soul. Don't you think? Quite different.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

R3 is a cut above Classic FM, though, which just wants you to relaaaax. R3 is holistically concerned with Mind, Body and Soul. Don't you think? Quite different.

It's impossible to relax when listening to CFM. The crass adverts are only the beginning.

They play the following just about every day:
Shostakovitch: Jazz Waltz no. 2
Mendelssohn: Italian Symphony movement
Schubert: 5th symphony movement
Morricone: Gabriel's Oboe
Rachmaninov: PC2 movement
Giazotto: Adagio (always claiming Albinoni wrote it)
Haydn: Trumpet Concerto movement
Bruch: Violin Concerto movement
Beethoven: 7th Symphony movement
Verdi: Force of Destiny Overture
Mascagni: Cavalleria Rusticana - Intermezzo
Rossini: Barber of Seville aria (the usual one)
Grieg: Piano Concerto movement
Purcell/Britten: Young Person's Guide opening
Etc...

Nowadays, the listener has to put the great Catherine Bott (who we used to love on this form) effectively mimicking Katie Derham's flirtatious style.

In defence of Radio 3, some people use the argument that it is better than Classic FM. That reminds me of the ineffective and incompetent headteacher I used to work under. When people complained that the school was going downhill, his answer was: "It's a lot better than it was was at my last school".

[french frank]

In defence of Radio 3, some people use the argument that it is better than Classic FM. That reminds me of the ineffective and incompetent headteacher I used to work under. When people complained that the school was going downhill, his answer was: "It's a lot better than it was was at my last school".

Yes, I have to admit that I only once listened to CFM. It was to the, whatever it's called, Full Works or something, in the evening. Even there my intention to settle down to a critical investigation didn't last more than a matter of minutes. But Radio 3's awfulness is sui generis. I think this - is it Mind, Body and Spirit (not Soul as I said)? stuff - is an innovation, an obsession even, of the present controller. Slow Radio, listen to the birds singing, prepare yourself for rest at the end of your busy day … Just play the damn music and tell me something interesting about it! And just use the 6-minute snippets to fill in the odd gap, not as the main 'offer'. Gone are the days when …

To each his own, of course, but I cannot rejoice because 'some people' enjoy the ******

[french frank]

Have moved two posts to the IS thread to swell the number of voices there

[ardcarp]

...and I'm moving this one here, as I put it mistakenly on the IS thread!

The excellent Mr Skelly played Byrd's Lullaby to start off his mini-mix of listener's suggestions.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000t5w4

...about 1hr 35 mins from start.

It was in response to a 'madrigal' by Bennett, sung and whistled (!) by Andreas Scholl. If anyone is confused, a 'madrigal' whilst usually a part song, is sometimes offered as a solo with a lute or viols supplying the lower voice parts. I rather wish they had done this with the Byrd Lullaby, which is one of my absolutely heart-wrenching favourite pieces. Sadly it was sung here by the Gesualdo 6 (an otherwise excellent group) rather heartlessly I thought, and the somewhat prominent bass would hardly have lulled any infant to sleep. Of course there is far more to the piece than we heard. It has several verses during which we realise the infant in question may well be in line for Herod's slaughter of the Innocents. It does make a beautiful solo+lute song. I'm not suggesting rubato or uber-Romantic scoops. It just needs to unfold in an undemonstratively expressive way, if that makes sense.

I was listening in the car...but remained dry-eyed throughout.


Bennett's best known piece is the fine madrigal. "All Creatures Now are Merry Minded" which is the very essence of joy.