Welcome to my 9th annual review of ‘Classical Music’ on Radio 3. For details of how this is done/calculated please see the earlier reviews. I have kept to the changes I introduced last year to the way the information is presented:
Summary below:
• The raw data with the actual number of pieces/chunks instead of rounding to the nearest 5.
• I thought it would be more useful to show the total average per composer over the previous 8 years in comparison, instead of the percentage difference from the previous 2 years’ figures.
• I’ve kept the composer list to those with 50 or more pieces/chunks broadcast, however
If you would like the figures for 2017 for other composers, as well as their average from the previous 8 years let me know and I will be happy to supply them for you.
Though I cannot guarantee that the figures for each composer are 100% accurate as I’m not perfect and can miss the odd piece/chunk, I would say that it’s around 99% accurate and I use the same method each year to try and maintain consistency of approach.
After a promising start the year drifted back towards the bad old days of RW. There was a 1.7% increase in pieces/chunks from 2016, mostly due to the revamped Inessential Classics and the post Intune mix. The same old warhorses are as prominent as ever, with a Hungarian Dance & Debussy Prelude approximately on average every 4 days, a chunk from Mendelssohn’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream on average once a week. The Tchaikovsky Ballets accounting for over 20% of the Tchaikovsky played. The Planets accounting for 34% of the Holst played, the Debussy Prelude de l’apres midi.. being played 36 times.
Anniversary Composers
This was all over the place. Monteverdi & Telemann doing reasonably well, but a bit less than I expected. Adams & Glass on a par with what I’d expect. Kodaly however had one of his poorest years since my survey started, what happened? Was his 50th death anniversary overlooked? Granados with the luck of a 100th death anniversary in 2016 followed by a 150th Birth Anniversary in 2017 had a good year. Gade did get some welcome attention as did Koechlin & Beach. But Arnell, Mehul, Peterson-Berger, Johan Stamitz & Robert Ward hardly featured at all.
Winners and losers
The Anniversary of the 1917 revolution obviously benefitted Russian composers, but better known composers tended to dominate, and the representation of lesser known ones was patchy, with some notable ones such as Shebalin not having a single piece broadcast all year. The infatuation with Debussy & Ravel shows no sign of abating & with another Debussy anniversary this year I expect we’ll get swamped again. Domenico Scarlatti had a very good year with comfortably his highest total since I began in 2009, I wonder what the reason for this was? Mahler was as usual over played but composers such as Berlioz, Liszt, Mendelssohn & Verdi had relatively poor years. With British music it was the usual mixed bag but with a marked tendency to play short works & chunks rather than larger scale pieces. Largely it was much along the same lines as recent years, with R3 remaining a shadow of what it once was.
Figures for symphonies in 2017 will follow later (hopefully).
Continued below:
Key is as follows: Position in 2017 - Composer - 2017 Total - 2009-16 Average
1 BACH J S • 1746 • 1439
2 MOZART W A • 1353 • 1369
3 BEETHOVEN • 1001 • 1013
4 SCHUBERT • 926 • 992
5 BRAHMS • 731 • 742
6 HANDEL • 708 • 756
7 CHOPIN • 697 • 702
8 HAYDN F J • 656 • 699
9 DEBUSSY • 546 • 526
10 TCHAIKOVSKY • 532 • 498
11 DVORAK • 492 • 504
11 SCHUMANN R • 492 • 543
13 RAVEL • 472 • 435
14 MENDELSSOHN FELIX • 455 • 537
15 VIVALDI • 410 • 459
16 RACHMANINOV • 388 • 322
16 SIBELIUS • 388 • 337
18 BRITTEN • 386 • 377
19 ELGAR • 372 • 345
20 PURCELL H • 364 • 341
21 SHOSTAKOVICH • 347 • 259
21 STRAUSS R • 347 • 360
23 LISZT • 316 • 395
24 GRIEG • 307 • 313
25 TELEMANN • 299 • 218
26 VAUGHAN WILLIAMS • 297 • 281
27 MONTEVERDI • 275 • 165
28 PROKOFIEV S • 270 • 264
29 MAHLER G • 258 • 199
30 WAGNER R • 255 • 254
31 SAINT-SAENS • 250 • 232
31 STRAVINSKY • 250 • 254
33 FAURE • 237 • 247
34 SCARLATTI D • 217 • 151
35 VERDI • 195 • 253
36 ROSSINI • 193 • 193
37 BARTOK • 183 • 171
38 POULENC • 182 • 173
39 BYRD • 174 • 150
40 GERSHWIN • 165 • 178
41 BERLIOZ • 156 • 193
42 BACH C P E • 154 • 142
43 STRAUSS J II • 150 • 155
44 SCHOENBERG • 143 • 68
45 HOLST G • 138 • 138
46 RAMEAU • 135 • 155
46 WALTON • 135 • 136
48 PUCCINI • 134 • 122
49 RIMSKY KORSAKOV • 131 • 111
50 BRUCKNER • 127 • 112
51 COPLAND • 125 • 100
52 BIZET • 121 • 105
53 WEBER C M VON • 117 • 142
54 JANACEK • 112 • 132
54 MUSSORGSKY • 112 • 86
56 NIELSEN C • 111 • 136
57 TALLIS • 110 • 87
58 BERNSTEIN L • 100 • 91
59 ADAMS J • 94 • 52
59 GLASS P • 94 • 49
61 GRAINGER • 93 • 123
62 DOWLAND • 92 • 89
62 GRANADOS • 92 • 47
62 PART • 92 • 87
65 LIGETI • 88 • 56
65 MESSIAEN • 88 • 60
67 SMETANA • 86 • 105
68 CORELLI • 84 • 80
69 KREISLER F • 81 • 72
70 FINZI • 80 • 55
71 GLAZUNOV • 79 • 75
72 DELIUS • 78 • 96
72 SCRIABIN • 78 • 73
74 COUPERIN F • 77 • 70
74 PALESTRINA • 77 • 72
76 GLINKA • 75 • 62
76 KODALY • 75 • 82
78 BRUCH • 74 • 58
78 DAVIES P MAXWELL • 74 • 42
78 FALLA • 74 • 74
81 MACMILLAN J • 73 • 49
82 SULLIVAN • 72 • 75
83 GABRIELI G • 71 • 62
83 PAGANINI • 71 • 68
83 STANFORD • 71 • 58
86 FRANCK C • 70 • 75
86 SCHUMANN C • 70 • 40
88 RESPIGHI • 69 • 85
89 WILLIAMS J • 68 • 30
90 ARNOLD • 67 • 73
90 PRAETORIUS M • 67 • 29
92 ALBENIZ • 65 • 66
92 BORODIN • 65 • 68
92 HOWELLS • 65 • 52
95 BRIDGE • 64 • 69
96 VILLA LOBOS • 63 • 69
97 MENDELSSOHN FANNY • 62 • 25
98 BARBER S • 61 • 79
98 KORNGOLD • 61 • 62
98 TIPPETT • 61 • 48
101 BELLINI • 60 • 34
102 BAX • 59 • 39
103 GOUNOD • 58 • 57
103 LULLY • 58 • 50
105 BUXTEHUDE • 57 • 65
105 IVES C • 57 • 37
105 PIAZZOLLA • 57 • 61
105 WEIR J • 57 • 25
109 HAHN R • 56 • 31
110 SATIE • 55 • 83
111 CHABRIER • 54 • 68
111 CLARKE R • 54 • 10
111 SCHUTZ • 54 • 53
111 SUK • 54 • 58
115 BIBER • 53 • 54
115 WEBERN • 53 • 30
115 WOLF H • 53 • 72
118 GLUCK • 52 • 65
119 MARTINU • 51 • 69
120 BERG ALBAN • 50 • 32
120 SAINT-GEORGES • 50 • 10
120 SZYMANOWSKI • 50 • 55
- it will take some time to absorb.
Comment