I just couldn't believe my ears a few minutes ago. I was just trawling through New Years Eve's Breakfast programme on the iplayer to finish off my R3 survey for 2010 and heard SMP announce as a tribute to Philip Langridge who died in 2010 she was going to play Bredon Hill from 'On Wenlock Edge' by wait for it BRITTEN!!! To make matters worse at the end of the song she calmly announced that Langridge was seen by many as a successor to Peter Pears and that you'd just heard him performing from On Wenlock Edge by Britten again! This was forunately corrected by some listeners who called in after the following piece. To get it wrong at the start of the piece well though not good, mistakes happen, but to get it wrong at the end too and then require some listeners to correct it, I'm sorry this simply isn't good enough for a station of Radio 3's calibre and is yet another example of the general sloppiness into which Radio 3 has fallen. I see also that a picture of the 60's pop star Englebert Humperdinck appeared instead of the composer on the Breakfast playlists a couple of weeks ago yet again and we had the wrong Strauss (Richard!) as composer of the Radetzky March a few weeks ago too. I totally despair!
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It is very poor that presentation on Radio 3 is beginning to resemble the crass continuity announcers on ITV2 (etc), but it hasn't sunk that far just yet. I just hope that this embarrassment will encourage the BBC to get their act together. Of course, it might all be part of a Cunning Plan to cajole listeners into "texting in".
However, don't say it can't get worse; when people say that, it generally does. -
That is truly extraordinary. Did SMP sound embarrassed when she corrected it?Comment
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Surprising really, because S M-P is no musical dimwit. But that was such a blunder...Comment
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I pulled up SMP before on Breakfast a couple of years back when she announced that a work was by Copland twice when its was actually by Barber. She did however on that occasion have the decency to apologise on the R3 Messageboards for which I thanked her for posting. She blamed the mistake on her cold this time.Comment
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Well, let's first say that we all have absolutely extraordinary gaps in our knowledge (Sherlock Holmes said he was unaware that the earth revolves round the sun
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But the business about the playlist errors really is getting to the level of early laughable Classic FM (no idea what CFM's like now). And this is presumably a service for people who don't know very much about classical music ... They would do far better just to give the straightforward information and not bother about the Wikipedia links. At least if people are left to look the references up themselves they're likely to find the right information
It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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I don't know...that's really unfortunate--but don't you feel a little bad to make such a fuss over it? I'd feel awfully petty.
Any time I feel the urge to come down hard on someone for trivialities, I try to think what what it is about the situation that's pushing my buttons and making me react so violently. In this case, perhaps we're finding it so galling because she's got a truly enviable, plum job but is being shockingly careless and disrespectfully cavalier about it; i.e. not treating it with the degree of respect we feel we surely would if only we were in her place. But the thing is, we're not. And once you stop reacting out of envy, it's easier to accept that mistakes happen.
In any event, she's not going to lose her job over it, so what's the point of getting so bent out of shape? What's going to be accomplished aside from patting each other on the back and feeling smug? I suppose if you wanted to be constructive about it, you might recommend that all presenters be required to have a playlist in front of them so they can stop embarrassing the station with these easily-preventable idiotic factual errors. Oh well!
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<gulp> That seems about as hard as anything anyone's said! I don't know that you're right to suggest envy has anything to do with it. Irritation, perhaps?Originally posted by Eudaimonia View Postthat all presenters be required to have a playlist in front of them so they can stop embarrassing the station with these easily-preventable idiotic factual errors. Oh well!It isn't given us to know those rare moments when people are wide open and the lightest touch can wither or heal. A moment too late and we can never reach them any more in this world.Comment
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[QUOTE=Suffolkcoastal;19586]I just couldn't believe my ears a few minutes ago. I was just trawling through New Years Eve's Breakfast programme on the iplayer to finish off my R3 survey for 2010 and heard SMP announce as a tribute to Philip Langridge who died in 2010 she was going to play Bredon Hill from 'On Wenlock Edge' by wait for it BRITTEN!!!
I agree it's a terrible reflection on Radio 3. What kind of musical twit would confuse Britten with Holst...?
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>>What kind of musical twit would confuse Britten with Holst
Or indeed Engelbert H, with the 'world music' performer, Arnold Dorsey.
Are they on another planet ?
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I can't quite remember the exact details, but I do recall Bernard Levin once wrongly identifying a well-known piano piece on "Face the Music". He was fairly mortified once he had heard the obvious right answer - I remember laughing my head off as the man was always so unbearably smug!Comment
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This must be the ultimate.
This is from today’s schedule, reported by French frank on the Mozart schedule thread on Performance Board.
Last broadcast on Mon, 4 Jan 2010, 07:00 on BBC Radio 3.
or 
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<gulp> That seems about as hard as anything anyone's said!
Ha! Well, at least it's constructive. Think about it, it's the perfect solution: it would only take about five minutes' worth of work from some spotty underpaid intern to solve the problem for everyone all day long. Download, print, distribute, glance at as needed. Seriously, how difficult could it be.
I don't know that you're right to suggest envy has anything to do with it. Irritation, perhaps?
Well, in my case, it's almost always true that envy and irritation go hand in hand: the happier I am with everything I've got going on in my life, the more generous and tolerant I am of the flaws of others. However, when I'm feeling particularly hard on myself? Watch out! Everything rankles.
Or perhaps you could just chalk this one up to my inner obsessive-compulsive ninny peeking out: when I had my own university radio show on obscure late-19th/early-20th century works, I'd spend hours researching my subjects to get my presentation just right. Hearing about the greatest radio station in the world featuring an excerpts show where the breezy host is all "oh Johann, Richard--whatevs"...it just doesn't go down too well, to put it mildly.
But then, once I realise I'm just jealous that she got the job at the Proms (and I didn't!) and she got the sweet radio gig (and I didn't!) &c. I'm forced to conclude that the more I nitpick and harp about insignificant errors, the more I make myself look ridiculous and downright pathetic. Freaking out about minor mistakes isn't very noble-minded...it's best not to go there in public, especially when my motivations for doing so are so laughable and transparent. I don't have to like it, but complaining serves no purpose other than making me look bad.
Here, there, and everywhere, it's best to just be the bigger person about it, get over it, and move on.Comment
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Apart from the fact that this is Radio 3 and not some backstreet hospital radio station.Originally posted by Eudaimonia View PostI don't know...that's really unfortunate--but don't you feel a little bad to make such a fuss over it? I'd feel awfully petty.
Any time I feel the urge to come down hard on someone for trivialities, I try to think what what it is about the situation that's pushing my buttons and making me react so violently. In this case, perhaps we're finding it so galling because she's got a truly enviable, plum job but is being shockingly careless and disrespectfully cavalier about it; i.e. not treating it with the degree of respect we feel we surely would if only we were in her place. But the thing is, we're not. And once you stop reacting out of envy, it's easier to accept that mistakes happen.
In any event, she's not going to lose her job over it, so what's the point of getting so bent out of shape? What's going to be accomplished aside from patting each other on the back and feeling smug? I suppose if you wanted to be constructive about it, you might recommend that all presenters be required to have a playlist in front of them so they can stop embarrassing the station with these easily-preventable idiotic factual errors. Oh well!
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