The Classic FM-isation of R3 is almost complete

[Thropplenoggin]

Listed under the 'next issue' section (September) of the BBC MM website:

Film music
As Radio 3 gears up to celebrate music of the silver screen, we ask ten great film composers about the music scores they most admire

Another month, another gimmick to get the plebs to listen, following on from the total immersion Schubertiad, Wagner Week, Baroque Spring, British Composer month.

Forewarned is forearmed.

[teamsaint]

would it help if I point out that R3 doesn't yet have adverts for Hernia repair surgeries every 10 minutes?

[teamsaint]

not with you in mind specifically, @noggo, obviously.

[Sir Velo]

You can see the way they're thinking, Throps: "what are the most popular Proms? Oh yes, Dr Who and that guy who did the Bond movies. I know, let's run a feature on film composers' favourite pieces. That's the hook to up our sales!"

[teamsaint]

you see?
Doctor? hernia? Sir Velo has spotted the direction of travel.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

you see?
Doctor? hernia? Sir Velo has spotted the direction of travel.

The next thing you know, there'll be a programme - sorry, "show" - presented by Lynne Truss.

[gurnemanz]

However low-grade R3 sometimes gets, it is nowhere near as insufferable as Classic FM, which I simply can't listen to.

[Beef Oven]

would it help if I point out that R3 doesn't yet have adverts for Hernia repair surgeries every 10 minutes?

Adverts are a pain, but I must say that I am pleased that R3 is learning from Classic FM. I understand that R3's audience has gone up a tad since the tweaks.

I must also say that I think that while Gramophone magazine has gone down the tubes as a direct result of its change in approach, R3 seems more accessible and might even turn itself around in the coming years.

Plus, there's that worrying phenomenon of the ever-shrinking, then disappearing classical section in the HMV. That's the sort of thing we're up against, and modernising is essential.

[EnemyoftheStoat]

As Radio 3 gears up to celebrate music of the silver screen

Well, if this is now R3's job, surely the BBC can save money by closing down R2?

[DavidP]

You can see the way they're thinking, Throps: "what are the most popular Proms? Oh yes, Dr Who and that guy who did the Bond movies. I know, let's run a feature on film composers' favourite pieces. That's the hook to up our sales!"

I fail to see how this makes R3 anything remotely resembling Classic FM. And what is wrong with film music - if it is of high quality - being presented on R3, anyway?

[Sir Velo]

I fail to see how this makes R3 anything remotely resembling Classic FM. And what is wrong with film music - if it is of high quality - being presented on R3, anyway?

Do Smash Hits and Melody Maker have a leader on the Proms?

I suppose it suggests a lack of confidence in the (what we must call these days) "core product" of radio 3, which is straightforward, no nonsense, serious classical music Rightly (or wrongly) film music is perceived as a poor relation; the genre which composers turned to when times got rough, and a few quid (or bucks) were needed to pay the bills, with a bit of "jobbery" (see VW et al for their take on film scores). For BBC Music Magazine (which is not an in house Radio 3 publication, incidentally) to feature film composers as the lead article of the month suggests that they believe the only way to get the punters interested is through a populistic sub genre. BTW, I admire Hermann, Korngold and Walton inter alia but deprecate this kind of development in the flagship serious music publication.

[DavidP]

Do Smash Hits and Melody Maker have a leader on the Proms?

I suppose it suggests a lack of confidence in the (what we must call these days) "core product" of radio 3, which is straightforward, no nonsense, serious classical music Rightly (or wrongly) film music is perceived as a poor relation; the genre which composers turned to when times got rough, and a few quid (or bucks) were needed to pay the bills, with a bit of "jobbery" (see VW et al for their take on film scores). For BBC Music Magazine (which is not an in house Radio 3 publication, incidentally) to feature film composers as the lead article of the month suggests that they believe the only way to get the punters interested is through a populistic sub genre. BTW, I admire Hermann, Korngold and Walton inter alia but deprecate this kind of development in the flagship serious music publication.

Who appointed you gate-keeper? I suspect you appointed yourself.

Ah, yes that old money-making hack Vaughan-Williams: "Film contains potentialities for the combination of all the arts such as Wagner never dreamt of."

By the way, your first sentence is risable. The last time I checked Smash Hits and Melody Maker were publications dedicated to pop music not film music.

[Sir Velo]

Who appointed you gate-keeper? I suspect you appointed yourself.

This is a forum for the expression of opinion. You expressed yours; I likewise.

By the way, your first sentence is risable (sic). The last time I checked Smash Hits and Melody Maker were publications dedicated to pop music.

Er, that's my point.

[DavidP]

This is a forum for the expression of opinion. You expressed yours; I likewise.




Er, that's my point.

There is a difference between expressing an opinion and giving vent to a prejudice. Besides, not all opinions are created equal.

And, no, your point was to pretend there is some equivalence between pop music and symphonic film music where there isn't.

Film music - if it is of high quality - has as much right to be considered part of the classical tradition as music written for ballet or incidental music for the stage. The fact that some people such as yourself have a prejudice against it doesn't make such attitudes justifiable. When I was growing up it was just as common to hear Rachmaninov and Tchaikovsky dismissed as cheap or hack composers.

[french frank]

And what is wrong with film music - if it is of high quality - being presented on R3, anyway?

But it isn't included in Radio 3's service licence remit (unlike e.g. jazz and world music). It is, in contrast, a staple of Classic FM.

I used to take a softer line on this, but now we also have regular Doctor Who, Urban 'classic' &c. And whereas the light music Proms used to be on BBC Two, they've now been moved to BBC Four, with BBC Two limiting itself to 'highlights'. If the phrase 'dumbing down' means anything, this is it: not because 'film music' itself is dumbing down, but because whole concerts are now restricted to the ghettoes of Radio 3 and BBC Four and popular entertainment is presented in 'dumbed down' form.