Radio Times letter…

[french frank]

For me a main problem of many concert programmes is incompatible stylistic juxtapositionings.

I haven't been to a live concert for some years, but what would make me choose a particular concert would be three meaty works with breathing space between them and a proper interval. I would also expect any encore to be 'in keeping' (tbd) with what had gone before. After that, I'd have had enough of listening to music, and would want time to think about it. I don't want to have to pick out what the "concert" is between the interval pieces, encores and fillers. One look at this and I'd rather pick up a book or choose a CD of my own.

In Tune Mixtape followed by:

Antonín Dvořák Cello Concerto in B minor, Op.104
Performer: Steven Isserlis. Orchestra: Royal Northern Sinfonia. Conductor: Dinis Sousa.
Traditional Catalan Song of the Birds
Performer: Steven Isserlis. Music Arranger: Sally Beamish
Amy Beach From Grandmother's Garden, Op.97 for piano
Performer: Kirsten Johnson. GUILD.
Kristine Tjogersen Between trees Orchestra: Royal Northern Sinfonia. Conductor: Dinis Sousa.
Robert Schumann Symphony no.1 in B flat major, Op.38 (Spring)Orchestra: Royal Northern Sinfonia. Conductor: Dinis Sousa
Ludwig van Beethoven Piano Sonata in C sharp minor, Op.27 No.2, 'Moonlight'
Performer: Daniel Barenboim. 111 Years Of Deutsche Grammophon The Collector's Edition Vol.2. Deutsche Grammophon.

I'd be looking for alternative listening.

[eighthobstruction]

....countdown to First Night at Proms becoming a bit like the countdown to Euro Cup Football....only 8 minutes to go till first note....

[LMcD]

....countdown to First Night at Proms becoming a bit like the countdown to Euro Cup Football....only 8 minutes to go till first note....

Anybody proposing to watch it on BBC2 has an extra 30 minutes to bolt their supper, do the washing up and check whether the milk in the fridge has gone off.

[oddoneout]

....countdown to First Night at Proms becoming a bit like the countdown to Euro Cup Football....only 8 minutes to go till first note....

They've spent all day promoting(other terms available) it, so I didn't bother putting the radio during the day. It will go on shortly, but be muted for the interval to avoid upsetting my digestion while I have a light repast...

[LMcD]

Here’s a letter in the new Radio Times…

’Im really pleased to see that there are plenty of BBC Proms celebrating disco, jazz, folk and pop music. It is high time that the Proms moved away from evening after evening of long, tedious symphonies by composers such as Mahler, Bruckner and Brahms.

Hopefully, the “intellectual” classical music content of the Proms will continue to diminish year on year so that more people can actually enjoy them.’

Simon Smith.

Discuss…

I've heard each of the Brahms symphonies countless times over the years and clearly not being paying sufficient attention, as I've absolutely no idea which are the long, tedious ones.

[smittims]

Yes, it all depends on how you listen , doesn't it?

[LMcD]

Yes, it all depends on how you listen , doesn't it?

I like to think that if I give them the degree of concentration and respect that they deserve, the resulting pleasure will not be undeserved. I've never taken a single note of a Brahms symphony for granted.

[smittims]

I used to know a chap who played them on the piano in 2-hand arrangements. He must have known them at a depth I couldn't imagine.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I used to know a chap who played them on the piano in 2-hand arrangements. He must have known them at a depth I couldn't imagine.

I’ve stumbled through those . Those arrangements (in that Schirmer edition) take some playing. One thing you quickly pick up is how often Brahms changes key which makes things even trickier. The finale of the first works really well on the piano.
They are much harder than a lot of piano opera vocal scores (Strauss excepted).

[eighthobstruction]

....I see 2 people have replied to Simon Smith's letter in Radio Times ; taking it seriously it seems. Also there is a 3rd letter concerning In Tune changes...." we listen less"....

[Old Grumpy]

Interesting...

...years ago I used to buy Radio Times weekly.

Not any more since it became (as they say on Radio 4) Fuller-Carp.

[eighthobstruction]

....52 x £4.50

[french frank]

...years ago I used to buy Radio Times weekly.

Not any more since it became (as they say on Radio 4) Fuller-Carp.

When I gave up television I bought (the then BBC) Radio Times as my financial contribution to the Beeb. But so little was given over to R3 and so much to uninteresting irrelevance I stopped buying it. I had about 10 years of RTs archived, stored up in the roof space, but I thought, Blow that, and fed them gradually out for recycling each week.

[Old Grumpy]

....52 x £4.50

Exactement monsieur.

At ~ £234 (even allowing for a two-week [but more expensive]) Christmas issue that (as they say on Radio 4 [or is it now 4 Extra]) is a lot of carp!

[hmvman]

Interesting...

...years ago I used to buy Radio Times weekly.

Not any more since it became (as they say on Radio 4) Fuller-Carp.

A friend of mine had a huge collection of RT going back, I think, almost to its inception. He sold it a couple of years ago to an American collector for a princely sum. My mother, who is 96, still likes to have RT on subscription which I organise for her. I'm horrified at the cost of it in proportion to what's in it and the proportion of it my mother reads!