Through the Night

[Ein Heldenleben]

Another TTN piano gem from early Saturday. 58 minutes in

03:58 AM Fryderyk Chopin (1810-1849) 12 Studies Op 25 for piano Lukas Geniusas

Listened to it half volume while watching the Cup Final and kept turning it up.

You can tell just from the opening A Flat “harp” etude Lukas is a superb player.

[DracoM]

I'm still a little surprised that few seem to listen to Night Tracks.

[oddoneout]

I'm still a little surprised that few seem to listen to Night Tracks.

Perhaps its longevity is against it? Before listening again became easy and standard it would have been off the radar for general purposes due to its broadcast time, but it hasn't come to the fore since that has ceased to be a bar to listening?

Oops, just realised you were commenting on Night tracks not TTN. Not concentrating enough.

[french frank]

I'm still a little surprised that few seem to listen to Night Tracks.

I listened twice when it was new (my usual test) and decided it was beyond help Same old, same old sequence of 4-min+ tracks probably with the calming nightime Horlicks voice presenting. Just my opinion But looking at the latest selection of music, that collection will never be to my taste.

[Bryn]

I listened twice when it was new (my usual test) and decided it was beyond help Same old, same old sequence of 4-min+ tracks probably with the calming nightime Horlicks voice presenting. Just my opinion But looking at the latest selection of music, that collection will never be to my taste.

Quite! I have come to avoid all these bitty 'sampler-CD + commentary' style programmes on Radio 3.

[DracoM]

Woops! Sorry I spoke!

[french frank]

Woops! Sorry I spoke!

Don't apologise. You expressed surprise so I tried to explain my own point of view. Other opinions available.

Quite! I have come to avoid all these bitty 'sampler-CD + commentary' style programmes on Radio 3.

When it boils down to it, that's my main - possibly only - important gripe. But so many R3 programmes now follow that format - variations on a theme.

[Serial_Apologist]

Don't apologise. You expressed surprise so I tried to explain my own point of view. Other opinions available.



When it boils down to it, that's my main - possibly only - important gripe. But so many R3 programmes now follow that format - variations on a theme.

It's quite an enigma to me.

[gurnemanz]

I listened twice when it was new (my usual test) and decided it was beyond help Same old, same old sequence of 4-min+ tracks probably with the calming nightime Horlicks voice presenting. Just my opinion But looking at the latest selection of music, that collection will never be to my taste.

I listen to Night Tracks occasionally and briefly before going to sleep so only ever get a random track or two. It can be something familiar like a Schubert Lied or other song of 4mins + (it is surely the quality of the music rather than its length or indeed what the presenter's voice sounds like which is the key element). Many of the tracks and artists involved are quite new to me. I might or might not like what I hear but the net seems to be cast so wide that it would be quite futile for me to predict that the selection "will never be to my taste".

[french frank]

(it is surely the quality of the music rather than its length or indeed what the presenter's voice sounds like which is the key element).

That must be the case for many people or there wouldn't be so many programmes on R3 and the pop music stations that follow that formula. But a 4-min quality track of Schubert, followed by a 4-min track of Shostakovich, followed by a 4-min track of Scott Joplin, followed by a 6-min (ooh!) track of Palestrina, followed by a 7-min track (ooer!) of Scriabin &c for an hour or two is not my idea of an enjoyable programme. The quality should be a given (why play awful music?). Just my opinion and taste, just as I don't want a lively voice first thing in the morning to get me going and a special calm voice in the evening to send me to sleep. I'm a grown-up: I can handle the demands of my daily routine myself.

[kernelbogey]

...with the calming nightime Horlicks voice presenting...

FF: "You're not the intended audience"...!

[AuntDaisy]

... with the calming nightime Horlicks voice presenting...

FF: "You're not the intended audience"...!

... and I always imagined you as an Ovaltiney.

[french frank]

FF: "You're not the intended audience"...!

Ay thengyu, kernel. It is conceivable that you're right. In which case

... and I always imagined you as an Ovaltiney.

Horlicks with a tot of malt whisky used to be my nightcap. Now more likely to be a mug of herb tea.

But AD, getting back on topic, you're the TTN Mastermind: I have a feeling there used to be longer pieces on TTN too - even an occasional entire opera. Not a complaint about the current TTN, just a vague feeling.

[kernelbogey]

I have a feeling there used to be longer pieces on TTN too - even an occasional entire opera. Not a complaint about the current TTN, just a vague feeling.

Last night we had LvB 6; not long ago Mahler 5. I haven't noticed an opera lately - but yes. I think they're quite ingenious at getting it to fit in 119.5 minutes or whatever the constraint is...!

[smittims]

One sometimes gets longer works on at the start of the programme, and particularly on Saturday and Sundays. I still think some items are repeated too often: I'm sure even Angela Hewitt would be embarassed to see how often her Bach F minor concerto is trotted out around 0430. It reminds me of the days on 'Morning on 3' when we had to have 'Zadok the Priest' and Liszt's 'Rigoletto' paraphrase about once a week.