BBC Music Day

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I note that two Hosts have mentioned the BBC Singers....and got away with it.

We're just just doing our civic duty, giving' em a bit o' publicity.

(We'd never have got away with it on The Choir.)

[cloughie]

Not heard or seen any of it so no comment.

Plenty happening down here. Well covered by Radio Cornwall, BBC Spotlight and The One Show, R3 went to Hall for Cornwall for what Cali cynically called R3 becomes R2. Duran Duran (OK I never liked them either), Nile Rodgers and others at Eden, and the Bridge theme celebrated at Saltash.

[french frank]

Plenty happening down here.

Plenty happening here too, I gather, and I'm sure a lot of people enjoyed it - which wholly justifies doing it. But for me the jolly razzmatazz of it all gets in the way of the music, and I slightly resent a 'Music Day' that offers me so little.

[cloughie]

Plenty happening here too, I gather, and I'm sure a lot of people enjoyed it - which wholly justifies doing it. But for me the jolly razzmatazz of it all gets in the way of the music, and I slightly resent a 'Music Day' that offers me so little.

But then it is Music Day which should encompass all music and encourage a wide range of listeners and importantly participants - not just the pick and mix bits we like personally or think of as Radio 3 music.

[ardcarp]

Plenty happening down here. Well covered by Radio Cornwall, BBC Spotlight and The One Show, R3 went to Hall for Cornwall for what Cali cynically called R3 becomes R2. Duran Duran (OK I never liked them either), Nile Rodgers and others at Eden, and the Bridge theme celebrated at Saltash.

So you're well choughed, cloughie?

[Zucchini]

But then it is Music Day which should encompass all music and encourage a wide range of listeners and importantly participants - not just the pick and mix bits we like personally or think of as Radio 3 music.

Absolutely right

[french frank]

But then it is Music Day which should encompass all music and encourage a wide range of listeners and importantly participants - not just the pick and mix bits we like personally or think of as Radio 3 music.

I think my comment about it being 'wholly justifie[d]' covers most of that in spirit. That a Music Day should be 'importantly' about participants is simply one possibility - not a necessity. I would quarrel with your phrase 'the pick and mix bits we like personally or think of as Radio 3 music' since I feel that Radio 3, at least, should come a bit closer to that. I would have liked there to be, for example, a really good 'Radio 3' evening concert, rather than something that was just significantly better than last year's but not really very exciting - I would venture - for a lot of Radio 3 listeners.

But added to that, I think it (tragically) laughable for 'classical music' to be branded as some posh elitist type of music which is unpardonably not 'inclusive', 'excluding the majority', when we see the BBC 95% of the time excluding it from anywhere but Radio 3 which means that your 'wide range of listeners' seldom gets to hear it.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But then it is Music Day which should encompass all music and encourage a wide range of listeners and importantly participants - not just the pick and mix bits we like personally or think of as Radio 3 music.

Doesn't that mean that Musics from the Western Classical Traditions ought to feature on Radios 1, 2, & 6 alongside the "pick & mix bits" that their regular listeners "personally like to think of as Radio 1/2/6 Music"? Does this eclecticism feature on those other BBC Music channels?

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

Doesn't that mean that Musics from the Western Classical Traditions ought to feature on Radios 1, 2, & 6 alongside the "pick & mix bits" that their regular listeners "personally like or think of as Radio 1/2/6 Music"? Does this eclecticism feature on those other BBC Music channels?

Precisely.

[Nick Armstrong]

Doesn't that mean that Musics from the Western Classical Traditions ought to feature on Radios 1, 2, & 6 alongside the "pick & mix bits" that their regular listeners "personally like or think of as Radio 1/2/6 Music"? Does this eclecticism feature on those other BBC Music channels?

That's my question too. Not listening to the other stations, does anyone know if they play Bach... Adès... Debussy on those stations to celebrate Music Day? I suspect not, but I'm open to correction (if I may paraphrase John Whittingdale)...

[greenilex]

Defining our terms, "day" is easy enough but the other one is trickier...those pesky Muses confusing us all again in their witchy way...

[french frank]

That's my question too. Not listening to the other stations, does anyone know if they play Bach... Adès... Debussy on those stations to celebrate Music Day? I suspect not, but I'm open to correction (if I may paraphrase John Whittingdale)...

What we do know, to the contrary, Radio 2 which used to feature the 'Classic FM' end of classical music has now virtually dropped it. Your Hundred Best Tunes and Melodies for You were ditched as no longer being cool; Friday Night Is Music Night with the BBC Concert Orchestra now a hotch potch which is more likely to focus on films and musicals than classical music. Yesterday, obviously, was BBC Music Day so it was Duran Duran headlining Eden; but the week before it was:

March: Raiders of The Lost Ark
Concerning Hobbits
Stars (Les Miserables)
Finale - William Tell Overture
I'm Not That Girl
Huckleberry Fin (Mississippi)
Harry's Wondrous World
The Circle Of Life (The Lion King)
Batman Theme (Batman Suite)
Sinbad And His Ship (Scheherazade)
Superman
I Dreamed A Dream
Overture - Robin Hood Prince Of Thieves
Rey's Theme (The Force Awakens)
Somewhere Over The Rainbow
In The Hall Of The Mountain King
Skyfall
James Bond Medley

'And that concludes the classical music on R2 for this week …………'

[MrGongGong]

What we do know, to the contrary, Radio 2 which used to feature the 'Classic FM' end of classical music has now virtually dropped it. Your Hundred Best Tunes and Melodies for You were ditched as no longer being cool;

I think it might be more that they were a bit cr*p?

[cloughie]

Doesn't that mean that Musics from the Western Classical Traditions ought to feature on Radios 1, 2, & 6 alongside the "pick & mix bits" that their regular listeners "personally like to think of as Radio 1/2/6 Music"? Does this eclecticism feature on those other BBC Music channels?

No but I'm happy to sacrifice an evening on 3 at Hall for Cornwall to welcome small children, their families and those of a nervous disposition to sample a bit of proper music, but after all these years I still want the full works for Breakfast! I knew I'd face trouble on these boards by actually owning up to thinking Music day was a good idea.

[french frank]

I think it might be more that they were a bit cr*p?

No, they were a way into classical music for a lot of people. But the people who had no interest squawked so long (you should have seen the Radio 2 messageboards) they finally won the day when they got a controller who agreed with them because his main interests are sport and popular music. But, in any case, what music on Radio 2 do you like?