Private Passions

[Barbirollians]

I have always had similar issues with her on radio but I would recommend listening to Kirsty Young’s podcast Young Again with her in which in discussing her recent illness the mask drops somewhat .

[oddoneout]

I am another who likes this programme and particularly enjoyed Paul Collier.

An antidote to the fatuous Miranda Hart the other day, who smugly told us that she couldn't enjoy Bach because she associates him with posh drinks parties, then that she has no interest in opera because they are sung in a foreign language so that to her, they might as well be singing the praises of a delicious ham sandwich. The latter foolish remark quoted some days later, in admiration, by a presenter who will remain nameless.

Listening to Miranda, one remembered Mark Twain and "If I wuz as ignorant as you, Huck Finn, I'd keep mighty quiet"...

My issue with the Miranda Hart episode was that I have never been able to find her brand of humour funny,(not because it isn't necessarily but because to me it says other things that I find difficult to deal with, related to my life experiences) and to me it seemed as if her responses were all 'in character' rather than as one person talking to another. Perhaps that is the way she is, but constantly portraying oneself as inept, ignorant etc, regardless of the situation, I don't find easy to take.
In terms of the Bach/opera comments, two things she said suggest that her initial responses were the 'brand' response to something uncomfortable - deflect/make someone laugh. She mentioned that she doesn't think that there is emotion in Bach's works, and that she doesn't know where to start with opera - not uncommon views. MB has undertaken to rectify both those with a listening list for Bach and suggestions as to operas to go to - hence her remark about homework at the end. I wonder if she'll go through with it.
But yes, it wasn't one of the better PP episodes as far as I'm concerned - but others who are Hart fans may have enjoyed it.

[Saint-Loup]

I am another who likes this programme and particularly enjoyed Paul Collier.

An antidote to the fatuous Miranda Hart the other day, who smugly told us that she couldn't enjoy Bach because she associates him with posh drinks parties, then that she has no interest in opera because they are sung in a foreign language so that to her, they might as well be singing the praises of a delicious ham sandwich. The latter foolish remark quoted some days later, in admiration, by a presenter who will remain nameless.

Listening to Miranda, one remembered Mark Twain and "If I wuz as ignorant as you, Huck Finn, I'd keep mighty quiet"...

[gurnemanz]

I also enjoyed Paul Collier on PP. One tiny and inexplicable aberration from Michael Berkeley struck me: He referred back to Schubert's Serenade, English pronunciation, followed by Serenade with German pronunciation. Surely no reason to do that, since the original German title is Ständchen.

[Keraulophone]

Excellent episode today. An intelligent and interesting guest (the economist Sir Paul Collier) with a genuine passion for (and therefore some knowledge of) classical music. More like this please!

I only intended to listen for a few minutes, but Sir Paul and his musical choices were so engaging that I couldn't turn it off.

[Ex Listener]

Excellent episode today. An intelligent and interesting guest (the economist Sir Paul Collier) with a genuine passion for (and therefore some knowledge of) classical music. More like this please!

[french frank]

[smittims]

She's also my favourite character in La Prise de Troie.

[LMcD]

Even I would agree that it has some way to go before it becomes a no-go zone for classical music and the new presenter is Jools Holland. But (Cassandra? moi?) it's the R3 direction of travel

Cassandra was one of my favourite characters in Only Fools And Horses.

[french frank]

Absolutely! I shall follow ff;'s advice, i.e. shrug and move on. I have more important things to worry about, but PP will remain one of the few Radio 3 programmes that I never miss (but would certainly miss were it to be dropped).

Even I would agree that it has some way to go before it becomes a no-go zone for classical music and the new presenter is Jools Holland. But (Cassandra? moi?) it's the R3 direction of travel

[LMcD]

Some editions of PP don't appeal to me and I switch off but like you I continue mostly to enjoy it. You don't listen to it for the music as such but for what it is says about the guest and what the guest says about it. Someone else's reasons for relishing a particular piece can offer new a insight or sidelight which enhances one's own appreciation of it. I always remember a chap years ago on the programme's predecessor, Man of Action, talking about the erotic experience he derived from Franck's Violin Sonata, which was one of the few records the chaps had in a German POW camp. You can, of course, also discover among the guest's choices music which is new to you which you might come to like.

Absolutely! I shall follow ff;'s advice, i.e. shrug and move on. I have more important things to worry about, but PP will remain one of the few Radio 3 programmes that I never miss (but would certainly miss were it to be dropped). Perhaps my decidedly middle-brow musical tastes owe something to the peculiar weather patterns we get here - or perhaps it's a side-effect of 3 years at a decidedly average redbrick university....

[oddoneout]

Some editions of PP don't appeal to me and I switch off but like you I continue mostly to enjoy it. You don't listen to it for the music as such but for what it is says about the guest and what the guest says about it. Someone else's reasons for relishing a particular piece can offer new a insight or sidelight which enhances one's own appreciation of it. I always remember a chap years ago on the programme's predecessor, Man of Action, talking about the erotic experience he derived from Franck's Violin Sonata, which was one of the few records the chaps had in a German POW camp. You can, of course, also discover among the guest's choices music which is new to you which you might come to like.

As can MB's input, as a composer himself, as to how a sound is achieved or what a composer/song writer has done to achieve a particular effect.

[gurnemanz]

I wasn't aware that that was what I was doing, but I'm quite happy to plead guilty and continue to enjoy, and sometimes learn from, the programme.

Some editions of PP don't appeal to me and I switch off but like you I continue mostly to enjoy it. You don't listen to it for the music as such but for what it is says about the guest and what the guest says about it. Someone else's reasons for relishing a particular piece can offer new a insight or sidelight which enhances one's own appreciation of it. I always remember a chap years ago on the programme's predecessor, Man of Action, talking about the erotic experience he derived from Franck's Violin Sonata, which was one of the few records the chaps had in a German POW camp. You can, of course, also discover among the guest's choices music which is new to you which you might come to like.

[LMcD]

[QUOTE=oddoneout;n1323396]

But then, as is evident, I am a deeply shallow person(had to google that Greek quotation) so what do I know?/QUOTE]

About as much (or as little) as I do, apparently!

[french frank]

As such I will, like you, continue to listen to such low-brow content as a composer and his space scientist guest, not least as time(the host is 76) and the apparently unstoppable 'modernisation' of R3 will combine to remove it from the airwaves before too long anyway I imagine, with or without our "help".

You're making my point: 30 years ago PPs was introduced as an 'entry level' programme and now you're foreseeing a time when it will be considered too highbrow for R3. The mills of the gods grind slow but small. One can shrug and go along with it - and most people do. Do something or do nothing