Essential Classics - The Continuing Debate

[DracoM]

When I similarly communicated with them in surprised protest, I got the rudest letter from a BBC producer that I have ever seen.
So virulent, I began to detect a team under real pressure and tearing their hair out as to what to do next, and / or manage listener disapproval?
Maybe I mistook it

[LMcD]

Perforce I have had to listen to (In)Essential Classics as I didn't have recourse to any other classical source of music. I swear it has got much worse than the last time I dipped in...so much more 'audience' participation. So much so that in exasperation I texted to 83111 asking them if the programme couldn't be any more banal with its relentless voxpoop.

'Voxpoop' - my word of the week!

[Anastasius]

An interesting reaction, DracoM. It could be that the producer's personal remuneration is tied to increased listeners. It could be the producer has a genuine love of Radio 3 and looking at the demographics sees the number of listeners gradually dying off and so increasing the pressure to justify the existence of the orchestras. The decline in numbers not being compensated by an increase in younger listeners. Maybe the snowflakes are too busy trying to airbrush out any history that upsets them to have the time to listen to Radio 3. Or maybe just too busy with their faces stuck looking at a tiny screen. Thinks...shouldn't Mark Zuckerberg be indicted for crimes aainst humanity ?

[french frank]

When I similarly communicated with them in surprised protest, I got the rudest letter from a BBC producer that I have ever seen.
So virulent, I began to detect a team under real pressure and tearing their hair out as to what to do next, and / or manage listener disapproval?
Maybe I mistook it

If one knew what you said and what they replied it might be easier to judge. Don't forget, the programme has a very large audience, so some people like it.

[peterthekeys]

Don't forget, the programme has a very large audience, so some people like it.

Sad, isn't it?

Fortunately, working full-time in an environment where I can't listen to radio, I tend to miss this programme. This week, I'm on leave, so I've got R3 on. And I definitely have the sense that EC has deteriorated massively since I last listened to it. The worst thing is the "march of the bleeding chunks" - rightly or wrongly, I seem to remember that previously they did tend to broadcast complete works. Now more than ever, it just seems like an extension of the breakfast show (bit o'this, bit o'that, bit o'the other - all embedded in lots and lots of patronising drivel.)

(A few weeks ago, I mentioned elsewhere that I'd spent a Sunday morning listening to Audiophile Classical, the internet radio station - and it was a total revelation: no waffle, no trivia - and best of all, complete works!)

I wonder who's actually driving this apparently inexorable dumbing-down process. Maybe time for a protest to the BBC trustees?

[cloughie]

Sad, isn't it?

Fortunately, working full-time in an environment where I can't listen to radio, I tend to miss this programme. This week, I'm on leave, so I've got R3 on. And I definitely have the sense that EC has deteriorated massively since I last listened to it. The worst thing is the "march of the bleeding chunks" - rightly or wrongly, I seem to remember that previously they did tend to broadcast complete works. Now more than ever, it just seems like an extension of the breakfast show (bit o'this, bit o'that, bit o'the other - all embedded in lots and lots of patronising drivel.)

(A few weeks ago, I mentioned elsewhere that I'd spent a Sunday morning listening to Audiophile Classical, the internet radio station - and it was a total revelation: no waffle, no trivia - and best of all, complete works!)

I wonder who's actually driving this apparently inexorable dumbing-down process. Maybe time for a protest to the BBC trustees?

I fear they may hear the protests but are unlikely to listen to what is said. Who are the trustees and do any of know anything or care about music.

[oddoneout]

Sad, isn't it?

So I suppose that makes me a sad person because I am one of those listeners......
Never mind, I'll cope!

[peterthekeys]

I fear they may hear the protests but are unlikely to listen to what is said. Who are the trustees and do any of know anything or care about music.

Well, I guess that one of their functions is to uphold and police the BBC's commitments as expressed in the charter? (I haven't read it all - but I believe the words "uplifting" and "educating" feature in there somewhere? And "besotment" and "stupefaction" probably don't?)

A few years ago, Deborah Bull was one of the trustees. I've always had the sense that she manages to communicate about her art without compromising the integrity of her practice of the art itself. I suspected that she might be sympathetic to the woes of longstanding R3 listeners, and intended to contact her - but unfortunately I missed the boat, and she's no longer a trustee.

[LMcD]

Sad, isn't it?

Fortunately, working full-time in an environment where I can't listen to radio, I tend to miss this programme. This week, I'm on leave, so I've got R3 on. And I definitely have the sense that EC has deteriorated massively since I last listened to it. The worst thing is the "march of the bleeding chunks" - rightly or wrongly, I seem to remember that previously they did tend to broadcast complete works. Now more than ever, it just seems like an extension of the breakfast show (bit o'this, bit o'that, bit o'the other - all embedded in lots and lots of patronising drivel.)

(A few weeks ago, I mentioned elsewhere that I'd spent a Sunday morning listening to Audiophile Classical, the internet radio station - and it was a total revelation: no waffle, no trivia - and best of all, complete works!)

I wonder who's actually driving this apparently inexorable dumbing-down process. Maybe time for a protest to the BBC trustees?

You're right - they did! The policy seemed to be to lure the listeners in with short pieces, some of them familiar, some less so, then lead them on to a complete substantial work- often 30 or 40 minutes long - after 11.00 a.m. It worked for me, which is more than I can say for the current format.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

So I suppose that makes me a sad person because I am one of those listeners......
Never mind, I'll cope!

Would you be sadder if the tweets etc were removed and if works longer than 15minutes were included in the playlists, odd1? (In other words, is your enjoyment of the programme dependent on the present format of short pieces with lots of presenter/listener "interchange"?)

[french frank]

I wonder who's actually driving this apparently inexorable dumbing-down process. Maybe time for a protest to the BBC trustees?

Sadly, the BBC Trust was abolished by the government last year and ultimate ovesight handed to Ofcom as yet one more of their multifarious responsibilties, which in this case they seem to know nothing about - at least as far as Radio 3 is concerned.

[peterthekeys]

So I suppose that makes me a sad person because I am one of those listeners......
Never mind, I'll cope!

Sorry - I do try to remember that my tastes may not necessarily be the same as those of others, but occasionally I forget.

The problem is that I've been listening to R3 almost to the exclusion of any other radio stations for nearly half a century, and I just regret desperately the passing of what it was. I remember one occasion (must have been 1992) when I was in Glasgow on business and staying at a B&B: I came down to breakfast in the morning, and found to my astonishment that the piped music in the dining room was Radio 3. At that time, the breakfast-time offering consisted of complete works, introduced by presenters who just said what the last work was, and what the next work would be, and then got out of the way. And - I still remember vividly the synthesis of the bright sunny morning, the delicious breakfast, and the classical music on the radio - it was an unadulterated delight which set me up for the day.

I still have the radio on my bedside table tuned to R3 and it wakes me up at 07:00 every morning - but nowadays, nine times out of ten, I manage to tolerate it for about 10 seconds and then reach for the button to switch over to R4.

[Padraig]

So I suppose that makes me a sad person because I am one of those listeners......
Never mind, I'll cope!

Make that oddTWOout oddoneout I get a lot of enjoyment over the week from the programme through those short pieces that are frequently complained about. I don't understand why 'short is bad' - Bach wrote plenty of short pieces, to name but one composer. I won't say 'long is bad', but in the mornings I have not always got time to spend, and I can't imagine that there are many who have. There's nothing sad about my mornings, musically speaking, so enough of this sadness - let's have a(very)short piece of Mahler.

[french frank]

Make that oddTWOout oddoneout I get a lot of enjoyment over the week from the programme through those short pieces that are frequently complained about. I don't understand why 'short is bad' - Bach wrote plenty of short pieces, to name but one composer. I won't say 'long is bad', but in the mornings I have not always got time to spend, and I can't imagine that there are many who have. There's nothing sad about my mornings, musically speaking, so enough of this sadness - let's have a(very)short piece of Mahler.

There seems something illogical about that, Padraig. What's the difference between (choose any similar example if you're not keen on Mozart):

a) Listening to Mozart S 38, consisting of Mvt 1) 14'40'' , Mvt 2) 10'30'' and Mvt 3) 7'

b) Listening to Mozart S 38 Mvt 1) 14'40'' and then going out to do your shopping

c) After doing the hoovering, switching on to Mzt Mvt 2) (part) 3' 30'' followed by Mvt 3) 7'

All of which would allow those who do prefer a complete work to hear it? Or is there something important about hearing a complete movement, but not about a complete symphony? If you're going to be listening to the programme for 30-odd minutes anyway, why not the whole of a symphony (choose any similar example if you're not keen on Mozart).

If people are listening for an hour anyway, I'm genuinely interested to know whether they prefer the music to change totally every 6-10 minutes, rather than listening/having on a complete longer work.

[Serial_Apologist]

Make that oddTWOout oddoneout I get a lot of enjoyment over the week from the programme through those short pieces that are frequently complained about. I don't understand why 'short is bad' - Bach wrote plenty of short pieces, to name but one composer. I won't say 'long is bad', but in the mornings I have not always got time to spend, and I can't imagine that there are many who have. There's nothing sad about my mornings, musically speaking, so enough of this sadness - let's have a(very)short piece of Mahler.

I can't do you a "Symphony of a Thousand" in one minute I'm afraid - sorry!