In Tune

[Flosshilde]

The Weather Girls as Snow White?

[cloughie]

Nobody has mentioned Suzi Klein, does she not present the programme anymore - I don't often tune in but when I've heard her on the programme she appeared very good.

[Lateralthinking1]

Nobody has mentioned Suzi Klein, does she not present the programme anymore - I don't often tune in but when I've heard her on the programme she appeared very good.

Thanks for that Cloughie. I don't particularly take to Suzi Klein but perhaps I should give her more of a chance. Thank you too to everyone else who has commented so far. I think the thread is going well. I agree completely with Flosshilde that it would be good if people want to flag up items here on future programmes that they particularly like.

Inevitably, I am going to suggest on the basis of these comments about "In Tune" that some mixing of music styles on some programmes is not the main irritation of many. The regular news bulletins, telephone calls, random celebrities, the classical music charts, the very few live performances, the truncating of works and repetitive playing of Bolero etc are often disliked far more.

There was that moment in Paul Gambaccini's recent programme on the history of music radio when he reached the early 1960s. Alan Freeman had taken over the Top 20 from David Jacobs and, as Jacobs admits, it was immediately clear that he himself had not been the man for it. Freeman's style - "greetings pop pickers" - was groundbreaking and he was one of the best of all time.

However, it would not have worked at all on Radio 3, nor should it have done. That is not to say that a Jacobs approach to pop music in the 1950s works well on Radio 3 either. The classical music chart on "Breakfast" reminds me very much of that Jacobs "pop charts" era. It is wholly a mismatch and the only sensible answer is not to have a music chart on the programme at all.

[french frank]

Rather than going through well-rearsed arguments about the format & presenter (which get rather repetitive & a tad boring), perhaps it might be more interesting to make the thread a discussion about content - ie when someone hears something they think is particularly interesting they can flag it up here.

My suspicion is that the less in sympathy you are with the comments, the more the repetitiveness and boringness become irksome. If you only want to hear good things, I'd recommend Radio 3's Twitter page (or Facebook, but you do get the occasional interruption to the flow of news of the amazing stuff R3 is currently broadcasting).

it sounds as if everyone is having a jolly good time

I remember, I think it was Start the Week on R4: everyone having such a good time, enjoying each other's company, laughing at each other's jokes.

[Frances_iom]

Flosshilde is I suspect one of R3's new type of desired audience as judging from comments here and in other threads they are happy to accept the considerable speech component and bits of music they are not too keen on in the hope that something better will come along soon - maybe an undifferentiated magazine programme that can switch from pre-baroque to jazz or world music pop seperated only by an advert for a bbc1 tv series is some people's ideal music programme but it certainly is not mine - catch is that such programs now occupy most of daylight hours and also the late evening slot.

[Lateralthinking1]

Just to clarify Frances_iom, my own position is that I would fully support morning programmes that are solely about classical music, are sufficiently imaginative to accentuate what would not normally be on the CFM playlist, include many works of 30-45 minutes in their entirety, and have little or no news content and also no gimmickry. Breakfast would refer back more to the previous night's performances. The mid-morning programme would cover a different category of classical music on different days. For example, there is no programme in the schedule on romantic classicism or English composers or 20th Century classical music in the round.

I am not convinced from the comments about "In Tune" that broader music in the schedule is very widely unacceptable. I am a strong supporter of World Music and Jazz on Radio 3 and my preferences are much in line with the programmes as they are now. However, that is not to say that there aren't issues for supporters of those genres too. Often they are very similar to the ones concerning classical music. "We don't just want world music and jazz music - we want good world music and jazz music etc". And just as on the classical side, those issues are both to a greater and a far lesser degree addressed by the powers-that-be.

Some have a problem with time shifts to accommodate other programmes. I am not sure that I do. They were fundamental to the concept of the Third Programme. My only complaint would be if, at the end of the year, time for one thing had been "pinched" from another. Overall, I think that supporters of each style of music are in the best position to say what they would prefer for that style and that they should be heard. "In Tune" is fascinating though because in some ways it is a counterweight to "Late Junction". It cross-cuts mildly in terms of genre whereas LJ does so extensively. It is a programme from which lessons can be learned.

None of this mentions speech programmes. I feel with some pain that I know mainly where we are with "The Verb". Some of the plays aren't too bad but many don't grab or seem particularly appropriate. Perhaps the recent one on Rachmaninoff should have been on R3 and the one from the last season by Alice Nutter on R4. Overall, it seems to me that there is an absence of vision with the drama. The seasons don't seem cohesive. "The Essay" varies but there have been signs recently that it is heading in the right direction. I can feel a "Night Waves" thread coming on but, if and when it happens, that will be for the Arts boards.

[Old Grumpy]

Yes, IGI, I should probably have been more precise:



because I agree that from the artists' viewpoint he's probably very good at getting the right mood. Not sure about his interviewing style, though. I love it when some of the non-English visitors query his more insane verbal hyperbole with a 'what?' or 'sorry I don't understand'...

Easily the best example of this in recent memory was the interview with Sandrine Piau where SR mentioned in an introduction that she had travelled to the UK via Paris en-route - to which she suddenly exclaimed "En rut?".

[Anna]

I admit to enjoying In Tune. I like the varied mix of music and hearing something I normally wouldn't. I enjoy SR's gaffes and his mangled vocab. It's a drivetime programme, not to be taken seriously is it? However, if something serious is going (like Leveson) then I switch to R4.

[Suffolkcoastal]

Well its finally happened, the desperation to pinch some of CFM's audience has sunk to new depths:

On this Friday's edition of the Rafferty Show.
'Sean Rafferty's guests in Salford include Classical Chart hit composer/pianist Ludovico Einaudi. He'll be playing live in the studio in the midst of his UK tour.'

[Nick Armstrong]

Well its finally happened, the desperation to pinch some of CFM's audience has sunk to new depths:

On this Friday's edition of the Rafferty Show.
'Sean Rafferty's guests in Salford include Classical Chart hit composer/pianist Ludovico Einaudi. He'll be playing live in the studio in the midst of his UK tour.'

[teamsaint]

in Tune is just a huge wasted opportunity.
sorry if that is a bit negative.
There is no excuse for poor research either.

[LeMartinPecheur]

I admit to enjoying In Tune. I like the varied mix of music and hearing something I normally wouldn't. I enjoy SR's gaffes and his mangled vocab. It's a drivetime programme, not to be taken seriously is it? However, if something serious is going (like Leveson) then I switch to R4.

Spelling Anna: the word is driveltime Though I still listen as I drive home cos even Rafferty is preferable to CFM. At his absolute worst I retune to R4

[Anna]

That quote you have quoted from me is dated 29.11.12. I have grown up since then. It I am ever at home at that time I prefer to watch Pointless on BBC1 these days!
I have also discovered, yet again, Late Junction, which is very good (I have it on now) I think LJ should replace In Tune.

[Old Grumpy]

In Tune yesterday:

SR chats up CB down the line to Poole
Some delightful singing from Julia Lezhneva
JEG coos over Julia Lezhneva and rails against a "virulent" Salisbury priestess

Today's In Tune:

A splendid set from fadista Ana Moura, including a rendition of Joni Mitchell's "A Case of You" (from 1 hour 25 minutes, and again after the news)


What's not to like?


OG

[Padraig]

[URL="http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?8110-A-delightful-exchange"]

What's not to like?

OG

I didn't like the Minstrel Boy today. I'm sorry Mary, it's the BB arrangement I did not like. I like my Irish songs simple and with feeling, but with a bit of taste! No, I won't define 'taste', but here is - well, judge for yourself.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LgwQcUhKceg

It would not surprise me if this tune was heard in the near future in Boston. It's a favourite with police and firemen, I think especially in Boston. Condolences to Marthe, whose posts I have read.