Even at seventy, with nearly sixty years behind me of listening and learning about classical music, I'm all in of 'leaning-forward' radio. So many of the new works and new ideas I've taken on during those years were those which came to me from listening to the Third or Radio3. And often it's been a brief remark from a presenter or guest about a piece.
But it does need to be accurate and useful. There's a danger in the 'chatty' style of presentation that misleading remarks will pass, when they're intended to be more entertaining than accurate facts. Calling Schoenberg 'incestuous' because he married his friend's sister may be amusing and exciting , or saying Vaughan Williams was 'conscripted' in the first world war, may result in someone carrying a false view of the music heard, when surely the sole purpose of such information is to enhance the pleasure and satisfaction of listening to that music itself.
But it does need to be accurate and useful. There's a danger in the 'chatty' style of presentation that misleading remarks will pass, when they're intended to be more entertaining than accurate facts. Calling Schoenberg 'incestuous' because he married his friend's sister may be amusing and exciting , or saying Vaughan Williams was 'conscripted' in the first world war, may result in someone carrying a false view of the music heard, when surely the sole purpose of such information is to enhance the pleasure and satisfaction of listening to that music itself.
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