Through the Night

[PatrickMurtha]

I check the Through the Night opening concert every morning here in Mexico to see if there’s anything I want to hear. This morning I was rewarded with an orchestral piece, Due letture del tempo, by a composer unfamiliar to me, Ivan Fedele (1953- ), conducted by Riccardo Chailly. A 10-minute composition is not enough to form a stylistic impression with, but I see that Fedele has his own YouTube channel, good for him!

I used to scan the entire Through the Night listing, but I think I have heard 98% of what they play - the rotation is VERY repetitive.

[oddoneout]

Yet another insulting erosion of TTN.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p0gfm7xm

Daily Walk - at 2-00am - really? Why?
Last night was one of my bad sleepless ones and so I came downstairs to set up for my TTN and sofa solution. Initially I was puzzled by the quick succession of random "bits" but then came a cheerful voice telling me I was listening to the EC mix on BBC Sounds. No I wasn't, I was trying to listen to TTN on the radio - not set up for Sounds. Off switch and plan B. I don't use TTN to go to sleep but the sequence of longer music items and appropriate verbals resets my knotted brain processes, to make sleep more likely once back in bed.
It's the attitude that removing another hour of TTN time is an acceptable way to proceed that rankles. Wouldn't be quite so bad if the music content of the removed hours (which often includes lesser known/unknown composers and performers) appeared in the daytime/evening schedules to leaven the same old same old lump of repertoire, but it doesn't.

[kernelbogey]

Yet another insulting erosion of TTN.[....] Daily Walk - at 2-00am - really? Why? Last night was one of my bad sleepless ones and so I came downstairs to set up for my TTN and sofa solution. Initially I was puzzled by the quick succession of random "bits" but then came a cheerful voice telling me I was listening to the EC mix on BBC Sounds. No I wasn't, I was trying to listen to TTN on the radio - not set up for Sounds. Off switch and plan B. I don't use TTN to go to sleep but the sequence of longer music items and appropriate verbals resets my knotted brain processes, to make sleep more likely once back in bed.
It's the attitude that removing another hour of TTN time is an acceptable way to proceed that rankles. Wouldn't be quite so bad if the music content of the removed hours (which often includes lesser known/unknown composers and performers) appeared in the daytime/evening schedules to leaven the same old same old lump of repertoire, but it doesn't.

I had the same experience. But this is new only in the sense that (I think) the EC Mix at that time is new. Earlier this morning I looked in vain for the thread about the two hours on Saturday morning (0100 - 0300) that for some time (years?) have been devoted to 'immersive' and 'mindful' mixes, with jaunty Gen Z presenters, aimed at that particular sector: and this is where this EC Mix has landed.

Listening to 45 minutes of it, waiting for John Shea's erudite commentary, and the music, on the TTN broadcast, I was struck by the somewhat violent shifts in the mood of the EC Mix music - with zero space between items - and it struck me that it was the aural equivalent of sitting with a large tin of those chocolates (mini Twix, Mars et al) and eating them non-stop for 45 minutes: over-sugary and mildly emetic.

[oddoneout]

I had the same experience. But this is new only in the sense that (I think) the EC Mix at that time is new. Earlier this morning I looked in vain for the thread about the two hours on Saturday morning (0100 - 0300) that for some time (years?) have been devoted to 'immersive' and 'mindful' mixes, with jaunty Gen Z presenters, aimed at that particular sector: and this is where this EC Mix has landed.

Listening to 45 minutes of it, waiting for John Shea's erudite commentary, and the music, on the TTN broadcast, I was struck by the somewhat violent shifts in the mood of the EC Mix music - with zero space between items - and it struck me that it was the aural equivalent of sitting with a large tin of those chocolates (mini Twix, Mars et al) and eating them non-stop for 45 minutes: over-sugary and mildly emetic.

I agree that it it isn't a further erosion timewise, but the idea that having run out of even repeated Dumbtime slots means that the space has to be filled with something - but anything rather than TTN content - is what I find annoying. As you say it was all a bit hyperactive - a calmer, more considered approach would have possibly kept me listening. I thought small children rather than binge chocs.
I well remember the Hometime sequences which I used to make a point of listening to, as the music selection(not just well known), and paced/spaced presentation worked so well. Listening "blind" gave the option of just listening and if wanted finding out at the end what had been played, or exercising brain cells to identify pieces before the reveal.

[smittims]

TTN usually starts at 0030, but at weekends one does get the Dumbtime programmes , sometimes until 0300 which can be an unpleasant jolt if you wake at 0200 and , still semi-conscious , switch on in the hope of hearing a little mild Vivaldi. On the other hand, Saturday is one day when one does get longer works played complete. This morning was a good example, when I heard Schubert's big B flat sonata (D960) complete between 0400 and 0500, a time when , during the week, one can get short bursts of ragtime, Gershwin or Hildegard of Bingen.

[AuntDaisy]

I just hope this erosion of TTN doesn't become a death-spiral.
There do seem to be fewer countries broadcasting Notturno (it was broadcast in Denmark when we lived there, & Norway stopped in 2016).


Here's what we missed this morning - available to listen to via EBU Notturno's more inclusive broadcasters, e.g. Swedish Radio's P2 https://sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/2264400

01:01 Dame Ethel Mary Smyth; Concerto for violin and horn in A major; Agata Raatz (violin), Zora Slokar (horn), Bern Chamber Orchestra, Graziella Contratto (conductor)
01:29 Ludwig van Beethoven; Trio in B flat major, Op 11, for clarinet, cello and piano; Martin Frost (clarinet), Torleif Thedeen (cello), Roland Pontinen (piano)
01:51 Augusta Holmes; La vision de la reine; BBC Singers Women's Voices, Morwenna Del Mar (cello), Alison Martin (harp), Annabel Thwaite (piano), Hilary Campbell (conductor)
02:09 Jacob Wilhelm Lustig; Overture in C minor for organ; Erwin Wiersinga (organ)
02:15 Franz Anton Hoffmeister; Duo concertante no.3 for flute and viola in F major;
Joanna G'froerer (flute), Pinchas Zukerman (viola)
02:30 Karol Szymanowski; Penthesilea, for soprano and orchestra; Elzbieta Szmytka (soprano), National Orchestra of France, Hans Graf (conductor)
02:36 Giovanni Picchi; Ballo alla polacha for harpsichord 'Intavolatura di balli d'arpicordo', 1621; Ton Koopman (harpsichord)
02:39 Vache Sharafyan; Waterfall Music; Hover State Chamber Chorus of Armenia, Sona Hovhannisyan (conductor)
02:44 Hans Gal; Serenade for string orchestra, Op.46; Symphony Nova Scotia, Georg Tintner (conductor)
Info from https://www.ebu.ch/files/live/sites/...ber%202023.pdf
(Note: To add to the fun, Auntie usually reorders the 2 hour sections & puts the longer pieces at the start of "Through the Night" - which seems a good idea.)

I particularly enjoyed the Beethoven, Lustig, Hoffmeister, Picchi & Gal.

[smittims]

To be fair, I think pretty well all those recordings have been played on TTN at least once over the last few years. But I'd deplore any further shortening. With its mix of familiar and unfamiliar classical music, interspersed only by short, friendly and informative introductions, and no trailers or guest comedians, TTN is a model of what Radio 3 should be like 'Through the Day'.

[AuntDaisy]

To be fair, I think pretty well all those recordings have been played on TTN at least once over the last few years. But I'd deplore any further shortening. With its mix of familiar and unfamiliar classical music, interspersed only by short, friendly and informative introductions, and no trailers or guest comedians, TTN is a model of what Radio 3 should be like 'Through the Day'.

Yes, this segment was also on TTN 27/4/2023, starting ~2:31am.

[AuntDaisy]

Has Catriona Young been pensioned off?

In this current 2 week block (starting today, ending 25th Nov.), Danielle Jalowiecka has 13 TTNs, Catriona Young has one (and it's a repeat from Sept 2022).
Although, to be fair, DJ has the odd repeat as well, e.g. today's TTB is from April.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/profiles/4gQTZhLGDyzgngswFrGMwpj/catriona-young

[kernelbogey]

Has Catriona Young been pensioned off?

Could she - just possibly - have decided she wants to stop?

[AuntDaisy]

Could she - just possibly - have decided she wants to stop?

Please, don't even think that!!
What next? Donald Macleod wanting to retire? He's not allowed to.

[smittims]

I was glad (as they say) to hear Danielle at 04.14 today while putting my coffee on, but it would be nice to be told that Xavier Scharwenka's delightful rendering of op.90 was from a piano roll, as it was clearly a modern recording and he didn't make any gramophone discs as far as I now . An innocent listener,taking it for a contemporary performance, might have wondered why he kept playing the left hand before the right (ca-lump, ca-lump).

[AuntDaisy]

I was glad (as they say) to hear Danielle at 04.14 today while putting my coffee on, but it would be nice to be told that Xavier Scharwenka's delightful rendering of op.90 was from a piano roll, as it was clearly a modern recording and he didn't make any gramophone discs as far as I now . An innocent listener,taking it for a contemporary performance, might have wondered why he kept playing the left hand before the right (ca-lump, ca-lump).

An old Norwegian EBU Notturno broadcast (11/10/2014) had the following additional details... I think you might well be right about it being a piano roll.

Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924) (piano) (recorded 07 March 1905) - Piano Sonata in E minor (Op.90) (Mit Lebhaftigkeit; Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorzutragen*)

The 28/12/2015 Notturno had similar details. Sadly, the Norwegians stopped taking Notturno a few days later.

Ludwig van Beethoven: Piano Sonata in E minor (Op.90) (Mit Lebhaftigkeit; Nicht zu geschwind und sehr singbar vorzutragen) - Xaver Scharwenka (1850-1924) (piano) (recorded 07 March 1905)

Update: For the 11/10/2014 TTN, John Shea does mention it's a piano roll and the 1905 recording date.
"Xaver Scharwenka was one of the most popular pianists of the late 19th century, thanks to an exhaustive, not to say exhausting, schedule of tours. Which probably explains the market for piano rolls - such as this one, in which he plays Beethovens sonata in E minor, op 90, recorded in 1905. It has just two movements."

[smittims]

Thanks, Auntie. The sound alone tells us it could not be a pre-1925 gramophone recording.

[AuntDaisy]

Thanks, Auntie. The sound alone tells us it could not be a pre-1925 gramophone recording.

... and it hadn't occured to me until you pointed it out, so thank you.