BaL 10.03.18 - Britten: Piano Concerto Op. 13

[DracoM]

And it would be even more interesting if AMcG was NOT hectoring the woman!..................

She keeps fluffing, stuttering etc, and he prompts and so it goes on...................

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Is Erica Jeal fluffing her words because she's intimidated by the interruptions of AMcG, or is it due to the anxiety factor of it being a live broadcast from freethinkingatsagegatehead?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

You beat me to it, DracoM.

[BBMmk2]

And it would be even more interesting if AMcG was NOT hectoring the woman!..................

She keeps fluffing, stuttering etc, and he prompts and so it goes on...................

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Yes, simply awful BaL. AM, shut up!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Yes, simply awful BaL. AM, shut up!

I've never know him as bad as this. He even talks over her.

If he really wants to do a BaL, he should do it himself.

[Cockney Sparrow]

And it would be even more interesting if AMcG was NOT hectoring the woman!..................

She keeps fluffing, stuttering etc, and he prompts and so it goes on...................

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!!

Poor Erica. And a shame for us listeners. Amongst reviewers, who would we nominate to take on AM in the robust way this situation deserves? (as I listen she's just getting more of a chance to utter a sentence). For goodness sake semi-script it beforehand - "let's sort out the start of the BAL" - who makes what point, in what order..... and with a bit of respect to the reviewer.

Its a major failure of the programme producer/R3 director to allow this style of interaction - let it be confined to the Today programme on R4 where interviewees have to battle to make their point......

[Barbirollians]

I've never know him as bad as this. He even talks over her.

If he really wants to do a BaL, he should do it himself.

This is a tortured twofer . I assume he is trying to prompt her but just seems to be making her hesitancy worse. I should really like to know who apart from Andrew McGregor enjoys these twofers?

[greenilex]

Funnily enough, I am enjoying what I have heard.

The question of whether Britten was writing about the Anschluss in the waltz movement is an important one.

[DracoM]

He has systematically and piecemeal destroyed her confidence, talked over, through, past her: he is running it and the fiction of a 'conversation' has come apart.
This is a very tricky piece to analyse anyway, with all manner of cross-currents and references, and so to diminish it by this review format is simply poor editorial choice and is turning into a total disaster.

We keep on telling R3 to stop this 'two-fer' style, and they keep on doing it and thus ruining the programme's integrity. Have they got a death wish?

[kuligin]

Oh dear this dreadful, one of the worst if not the worst "two fer" I have heard. It gets so much better every time Erica is allowed 2 minutes on her own. I am turning off!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

A John Humphries "interview" springs to mind.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I was almost expecting him to override her final decision.

[Bergonzi]

I loved the Richter and Howard Shelley. They were joint No 1's for me. Agree about the awful way it was presented and so many people screaming in the background. They will be doing it in Oxford Circus underground station in the rush hour next.

[BBMmk2]

I'll have it in my home!

[Stanfordian]

I've always been an admirer of Britten's early works. For me I've always preferred the early single movement 'Young Apollo' for piano, string quartet and string orchestra from 1939 over his contemporaneous Piano Concerto.