Classic FM attacks Radio 3!

[Old Grumpy]

Are electric cars with inherently less noise from engines, transmissions etc better listening environments than their mechanical counterparts? I wouldn't know as I'm still burning fossil fuel.

Still get tyre noise, so probably not.

[pastoralguy]

I think that depends upon where you live. In Scarborough, the car radio is dreadful in picking up CFM, but BBC stations are fine.

I’m thinking mainly of the Scottish Borders but driving down the M6 can be patchy.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

This morning, I switched on the car radio towards the end of Essential Classics, and very soon, I'd had enough, so I switched to CFM, which isn't always a wise choice.

This time, I didn't reset doing so. OK, it was one of those chart programmes: 100 Great British Classics - an all day affair, but it was far better than the usual unimaginative list that repeat the same things more or less daily: Nimrod, movements from Mendelssohn 4, movements from Schubert 5, Water Music Hornpipe, Shostakovich Jazz Waltz no. 2, Morse theme, Rach PC2 slow movement, Beethoven 7 2nd movement, etc.

I never expected to hear VW's Pastoral Symphony on this channel, and some of the works (OK chunks) played were new to me. Far better than the totally predictable Hall of Fame.

[hmvman]

This morning, I switched on the car radio towards the end of Essential Classics, and very soon, I'd had enough, so I switched to CFM, which isn't always a wise choice.

This time, I didn't reset doing so. OK, it was one of those chart programmes: 100 Great British Classics - an all day affair, but it was far better than the usual unimaginative list that repeat the same things more or less daily: Nimrod, movements from Mendelssohn 4, movements from Schubert 5, Water Music Hornpipe, Shostakovich Jazz Waltz no. 2, Morse theme, Rach PC2 slow movement, Beethoven 7 2nd movement, etc.

I never expected to hear VW's Pastoral Symphony on this channel, and some of the works (OK chunks) played were new to me. Far better than the totally predictable Hall of Fame.

Funny enough, I switched to CFM from EC earlier this morning and they were playing Coleridge Taylor's Symphonic Variations on an African Air. That made me do a double-take!

[french frank]

Heh, heh. Well, Classic FM was credited with spotting the gap in the market in 1992 - and provided more popular fare with less elevated pretensions. Perhaps it will spot the gap in the market again and morph into Classic Radio 3

This morning, I switched on the car radio towards the end of Essential Classics, and very soon, I'd had enough, so I switched to CFM, which isn't always a wise choice.

This time, I didn't reset doing so. OK, it was one of those chart programmes: 100 Great British Classics - an all day affair, but it was far better than the usual unimaginative list that repeat the same things more or less daily: Nimrod, movements from Mendelssohn 4, movements from Schubert 5, Water Music Hornpipe, Shostakovich Jazz Waltz no. 2, Morse theme, Rach PC2 slow movement, Beethoven 7 2nd movement, etc.

I never expected to hear VW's Pastoral Symphony on this channel, and some of the works (OK chunks) played were new to me. Far better than the totally predictable Hall of Fame.

[jonfan]

To get me to even think of listening to CFM they must ditch Dynamic Range Compression; then they might be taken seriously as a resource for classical music. Carmen was written by Georges Bidet the last time I listened many years ago.
.

[mikealdren]

To get me to even think of listening to CFM they must ditch Dynamic Range Compression; then they might be taken seriously as a resource for classical music. Carmen was written by Georges Bidet the last time I listened many years ago.
.

That's why I listen to CFM in the car but never at home. R3's dynamic range simple doesn't work with the the high level of background noise in the car (and mine's quite quiet) but it's marvellous at home.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

The thing that riles with CFM is their deliberate misinformation, continuing to promote the idea that a 20th century luscious late romantic work in true Hollywood style, is a baroque work by Albinoni. They know it's not true, but never say so on air. However, on their website, they do appear to have a conscience.

In 1945, the Italian academic Remo Giazotto published a book on Albinoni entitled The Violin Music of the Venetian Dilettante. Albinoni was just one area of expertise for Giazotto. Others included the composers Vivaldi and Busoni, as well as the music of the Baroque and Classical periods in Giazotto’s native Genoa.

The academic’s expertise on the life and music of the stationer’s son led him to complete an Albinoni fragment, which he said he had discovered in the Saxon State Library in Dresden, while he was trying to salvage manuscripts after it was bombed in the second World War. This produced what is known as the ‘Albinoni Adagio’, but should surely, at the very least, be called the ‘Albinoni–Giazotto Adagio’. Late on in life, Giazotto changed his story, denying that the piece was based on a fragment of Albinoni’s original composition at all. Instead, he wanted the world to know that he, Giazotto, had written the whole thing himself and Albinoni hadn’t played any part in it. Nevertheless – and whatever the truth – the name ‘Albinoni’s Adagio’ sticks.