Building a Library - General Discussion

[LMcD]

It is for me,I don’t listen nowadays

Same here!

[gurnemanz]

I agree that BaL is frequently unsatisfactory but it is probably worth retaining because it does sometimes offer excellent insights, eg last year's Dichterliebe by Schumann specialist, Prof Laura Tunbridge. I responded thus.

[kernelbogey]

The I wish BAL was like it used to be thread

I don't see how it is possible to do justice to 50+ recordings of a two and a half hour opera in 50 minutes. The reviewer can only fail better or fail worse. FWIW I enjoyed the programme, learned a bit and wondered about buying another version. I think of the programme as more or less entertainment.

[visualnickmos]

The I wish BAL was like it used to be thread

Not a particularly good BaL. So, so, much timewasting dialogue. It sounds so much like a "Dummies guide to Mahler" Out of interest, does anyone on have a reliable source as to why Radio 3 changed the BaL format to this travesty?

[Ein Heldenleben]

Not a particularly good BaL. So, so, much timewasting dialogue. It sounds so much like a "Dummies guide to Mahler" Out of interest, does anyone on have a reliable source as to why Radio 3 changed the BaL format to this travesty?

My guess is that the twofer is thought to be more punter-friendly . A 45 minute straight read would sound too much like a lecture which is thought to be too much for the modern listener . In the 60’s A.J.P Taylor the Oxford Historian would regularly do an unscripted 30 minute piece to camera for transmission on peak time ITV . In those days fewer than 10 percent of the Uk went to University- now it must be over 40 percent . Hmmmm....

[Edgy 2]

Glad I didn’t listen then!

I gave up on the programme a long time ago,judging by the comments every week I'm surprised so many still do.

[kuligin]

Well it’s still about the best programme on R3. Today was OK, taking into account the vast number of recordings. Yes the chat today was pretty banal, and as mentioned above inaccurate in relation to the Budapest premier, but a sensible selection was chosen and played, and a excellent older version chosen. Some like the Cunning Little Vixen review can still be very informative and most interesting and Andrews interventions are not always as disruptive as today. I enjoyed the recent Franck review too perhaps because I did not know the work.

It’s hit and miss but better than 6 months ago, and better than anything R3 offers in the morning, on other days I listen to BR Klassik Konzert am Vormittag, the joys of internet radio.

[visualnickmos]

Since living in France for nearly 20 years, I find enormous pleasure in listening to France Musique. Why the hell is it, that everything in UK has to be so diluted, that all you get something that a only anyone under 8, would find absorbing?

[cloughie]

Since living in France for nearly 20 years, I find enormous pleasure in listening to France Musique. Why the hell is it, that everything in UK has to be so diluted, that all you get something that a only anyone under 8, would find absorbing?

Because they’re trying to attract the under 8s!

[Ein Heldenleben]

Since living in France for nearly 20 years, I find enormous pleasure in listening to France Musique. Why the hell is it, that everything in UK has to be so diluted, that all you get something that a only anyone under 8, would find absorbing?

I suspect it’s because in France there is much more respect for intellectual matters . Prominent philosophers feature regularly on French TV and radio .They used to feature here in the 50’s to mid 80’s but that’s gone really. I once met a French TV executive who astounded me by his detailed knowledge on The Fairy Queen quoting huge tranches of it. When I said that most Brits - even the highly literate ones - would probably never have read Balzac, Zola or Proust he was literally dumbstruck. The dumbing down so evident was predicted by so many cultural commentators and it’s happened almost imperceptibly slowly .Paradoxically there has never been more high quality information available from Wiki to Jstor and there have never been so many graduates. I think a significant factor is the Americanisation of our culture - I mean the Disney side not its outstanding academic institutions - and a general dislike of “elitism” whatever that means. I used to work in the mass media and I’ve seen a lot of it happen from the inside . That Barenboim series made by Granada in the 70’s is a good example . The Bernstein’s who owned the company were committed to ‘high’ as well as pop culture . Denis Forman who ran it , amongst many other things , wrote a book of Mozart Piano Concertos.

[verismissimo]

BAL shutdown in lockdown again?

Will they shut down BAL again, as they did before? Or have they learned enough about how to use technology to do it by now?

(Bet the BBC staffers all got paid last time.)

[oddoneout]

Will they shut down BAL again, as they did before? Or have they learned enough about how to use technology to do it by now?

(Bet the BBC staffers all got paid last time.)

They should all have been made redundant?

[Wolfram]

Will they shut down BAL again, as they did before? Or have they learned enough about how to use technology to do it by now?

(Bet the BBC staffers all got paid last time.)

It was my impression that all the BALs are now being conducted as semi-scripted telephone conversations. If that's true I can see no reason why they shouldn't continue. Should make no difference.

[cloughie]

It was my impression that all the BALs are now being conducted as semi-scripted telephone conversations. If that's true I can see no reason why they shouldn't continue. Should make no difference.

If they’re stuck they should ring Jayne - which Bruckner Symphony is due for a BAL?

[LHC]

If they’re stuck they should ring Jayne - which Bruckner Symphony is due for a BAL?

And we can all wait for the fireworks when AMcG interrupts her to say that Bruckner's a bit repetitive?