Welcome to my 10th 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 first introduced in 2016 to the way the information is presented:
Summary below:
• The raw data with the actual number of pieces/chunks.
• As this is the 10th year that I’ve been presenting the survey, I will be uploading total figures for all composers who’ve had at least 100 pieces/chunks broadcast between 2009 & 2018, this will follow shortly.
• I’ve kept the composer list to those with 50 or more pieces/chunks broadcast.
If you would like the figures for 2018 for other composers, let me know and I will be happy to supply them for you.
As usual 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.
Summary
The most noticeable feature was a significant increase in the amount of non-classical works included within normally ‘classical’ programmes/slots, in fact more than ever was the case under RW! The overall amount of pieces/chunks broadcast was also at its highest ever rate, aided by more playlist programmes than ever. Many R3 ‘warhorses’ were grossly overplayed, is there really a need to have over 130 Hungarian Dances broadcast, 31 lots of Rhapsody in Blue, over 40 Prelude de l’apres… broadcast even in a composer’s anniversary year?
Anniversary Composers
As usual a mixed bag, notably as there were quite a number this year. Debussy was overdone IMHO. Bernstein looked to have done well, however if you take West Side Story, Candide, On the Town & Wonderful Town out of the equation, the rest of his output was largely rather poorly represented. It seems to sum up the present state of R3 in massively overplaying the ‘warhorses’ and paying considerably less attention to less well-known works. Surely an anniversary year is the perfect opportunity to explore the full range of a composer’s output?? Gounod didn’t do well, again the main concentration was on the familiar. Parry did reasonably OK, as did Rossini & F Couperin, Berwald however was largely kept to a minimum with the majority of the works played seemingly conveniently ‘hidden away’ on TTN.
Winners and losers
The usual overplaying of Ravel & record figures for Beethoven, Dvorak, Gershwin & Schubert (excluding the ‘fest’). R Strauss having a good year as did Britten. Vaughan Williams, in terms of overall pieces/chunks had his best year since 2008, however the overall figure is somewhat misleading, as the overall figure largely consist of short works & light pieces, & very few large-scale works were broadcast complete. In fact the number of his complete symphonies broadcast was as low as I can remember & without the Proms would have been negligible. It was encouraging to see a little more Bliss & Lutoslawski. So as usual R3 continues to be a mere shadow of what it once was despite some occasional ‘glimmers’ of hope.
Figures for symphonies in 2018 will follow later (hopefully).
Composer Figures - 2018
Key is as follows: Position in 2018 - Composer - 2018 Total
1 BACH J S 1543
2 MOZART W A 1478
3 SCHUBERT 1146
4 BEETHOVEN 1099
5 DEBUSSY 825
6 BRAHMS 806
7 HANDEL 729
8 HAYDN F J 715
9 CHOPIN 709
10 DVORAK 598
11 RAVEL 573
12 MENDELSSOHN FELIX 550
13 TCHAIKOVSKY P I 516
14 SCHUMANN R 496
15 VIVALDI 476
16 STRAUSS R 436
17 BRITTEN 407
18 SIBELIUS 390
19 RACHMANINOV 380
20 GRIEG 369
21 ELGAR 365
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS 365
23 LISZT 350
24 SAINT-SAENS 319
25 SHOSTAKOVICH 313
26 STRAVINSKY 293
27 PURCELL H 292
28 TELEMANN 278
29 BERNSTEIN L 263
30 FAURE 257
31 GERSHWIN 248
32 PROKOFIEV S 247
33 WAGNER R 233
34 ROSSINI 225
VERDI 225
36 POULENC 214
37 MAHLER G 201
38 BERLIOZ 192
39 BARTOK 190
40 COPLAND 189
41 DOWLAND 181
42 MONTEVERDI 180
43 RAMEAU 175
44 COUPERIN F 170
HOLST G 170
46 BYRD 168
47 SCARLATTI D 163
48 JANACEK 152
49 GRAINGER 144
50 RIMSKY KORSAKOV 141
51 WALTON 140
52 BRUCKNER 139
WEBER C M VON 139
54 BIZET 130
55 BACH C P E 128
56 GABRIELI G 123
57 PARRY H 120
58 NIELSEN C 116
PUCCINI 116
60 STRAUSS J II 112
61 RESPIGHI 110
62 BOULANGER L 106
63 GESUALDO 104
PART 104
PIAZZOLLA 104
66 TALLIS 103
67 CORELLI 102
68 GLAZUNOV 100
SMETANA 100
70 KODALY 98
71 SCHUMANN C 97
72 MESSIAEN 93
73 SCHUTZ 91
74 PAGANINI 90
75 GOUNOD 89
76 LIGETI G 88
77 MENDELSSOHN FANNY 87
78 ALBENIZ 86
79 FALLA 85
80 ARNOLD M 82
STANFORD 82
82 JOSQUIN 80
83 BARBER S 79
BORODIN 79
MUSSORGSKY 79
86 FRANCK C 78
PALESTRINA 78
SULLIVAN 78
WOLF H 78
90 FINZI 76
SATIE 76
92 BRIDGE 75
93 BRUCH 74
KORNGOLD 74
95 GLASS P 73
96 DELIUS 72
97 SCRIABIN 70
98 SCHOENBERG 69
99 BUXTEHUDE 68
TIPPETT 68
101 BEACH 65
ENESCU 65
HOWELLS 65
VILLA LOBOS 65
105 STROZZI B 64
106 BINGEN HILDEGARD OF 63
MACMILLAN J 63
108 CHAUSSON 62
LASSUS 62
110 LUTOSLAWSKI 61
111 MASSENET 60
112 CHAMINADE 59
SUK 59
TAKEMITSU 59
115 KREISLER F 58
MARTINU 58
117 BERIO L 57
HAHN R 57
119 SZYMANOWSKI 56
120 CHABRIER 55
GLINKA 55
122 ADAMS J 53
STENHAMMAR 53
124 PACHELBEL 52
125 BUTTERWORTH G 51
IVES C 51
LULLY 51
SOLER P 51
129 CACCINI F 50
DELIBES 50
MUSGRAVE 50
PEJACEVIC 50
RODRIGO 50
Summary below:
• The raw data with the actual number of pieces/chunks.
• As this is the 10th year that I’ve been presenting the survey, I will be uploading total figures for all composers who’ve had at least 100 pieces/chunks broadcast between 2009 & 2018, this will follow shortly.
• I’ve kept the composer list to those with 50 or more pieces/chunks broadcast.
If you would like the figures for 2018 for other composers, let me know and I will be happy to supply them for you.
As usual 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.
Summary
The most noticeable feature was a significant increase in the amount of non-classical works included within normally ‘classical’ programmes/slots, in fact more than ever was the case under RW! The overall amount of pieces/chunks broadcast was also at its highest ever rate, aided by more playlist programmes than ever. Many R3 ‘warhorses’ were grossly overplayed, is there really a need to have over 130 Hungarian Dances broadcast, 31 lots of Rhapsody in Blue, over 40 Prelude de l’apres… broadcast even in a composer’s anniversary year?
Anniversary Composers
As usual a mixed bag, notably as there were quite a number this year. Debussy was overdone IMHO. Bernstein looked to have done well, however if you take West Side Story, Candide, On the Town & Wonderful Town out of the equation, the rest of his output was largely rather poorly represented. It seems to sum up the present state of R3 in massively overplaying the ‘warhorses’ and paying considerably less attention to less well-known works. Surely an anniversary year is the perfect opportunity to explore the full range of a composer’s output?? Gounod didn’t do well, again the main concentration was on the familiar. Parry did reasonably OK, as did Rossini & F Couperin, Berwald however was largely kept to a minimum with the majority of the works played seemingly conveniently ‘hidden away’ on TTN.
Winners and losers
The usual overplaying of Ravel & record figures for Beethoven, Dvorak, Gershwin & Schubert (excluding the ‘fest’). R Strauss having a good year as did Britten. Vaughan Williams, in terms of overall pieces/chunks had his best year since 2008, however the overall figure is somewhat misleading, as the overall figure largely consist of short works & light pieces, & very few large-scale works were broadcast complete. In fact the number of his complete symphonies broadcast was as low as I can remember & without the Proms would have been negligible. It was encouraging to see a little more Bliss & Lutoslawski. So as usual R3 continues to be a mere shadow of what it once was despite some occasional ‘glimmers’ of hope.
Figures for symphonies in 2018 will follow later (hopefully).
Composer Figures - 2018
Key is as follows: Position in 2018 - Composer - 2018 Total
1 BACH J S 1543
2 MOZART W A 1478
3 SCHUBERT 1146
4 BEETHOVEN 1099
5 DEBUSSY 825
6 BRAHMS 806
7 HANDEL 729
8 HAYDN F J 715
9 CHOPIN 709
10 DVORAK 598
11 RAVEL 573
12 MENDELSSOHN FELIX 550
13 TCHAIKOVSKY P I 516
14 SCHUMANN R 496
15 VIVALDI 476
16 STRAUSS R 436
17 BRITTEN 407
18 SIBELIUS 390
19 RACHMANINOV 380
20 GRIEG 369
21 ELGAR 365
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS 365
23 LISZT 350
24 SAINT-SAENS 319
25 SHOSTAKOVICH 313
26 STRAVINSKY 293
27 PURCELL H 292
28 TELEMANN 278
29 BERNSTEIN L 263
30 FAURE 257
31 GERSHWIN 248
32 PROKOFIEV S 247
33 WAGNER R 233
34 ROSSINI 225
VERDI 225
36 POULENC 214
37 MAHLER G 201
38 BERLIOZ 192
39 BARTOK 190
40 COPLAND 189
41 DOWLAND 181
42 MONTEVERDI 180
43 RAMEAU 175
44 COUPERIN F 170
HOLST G 170
46 BYRD 168
47 SCARLATTI D 163
48 JANACEK 152
49 GRAINGER 144
50 RIMSKY KORSAKOV 141
51 WALTON 140
52 BRUCKNER 139
WEBER C M VON 139
54 BIZET 130
55 BACH C P E 128
56 GABRIELI G 123
57 PARRY H 120
58 NIELSEN C 116
PUCCINI 116
60 STRAUSS J II 112
61 RESPIGHI 110
62 BOULANGER L 106
63 GESUALDO 104
PART 104
PIAZZOLLA 104
66 TALLIS 103
67 CORELLI 102
68 GLAZUNOV 100
SMETANA 100
70 KODALY 98
71 SCHUMANN C 97
72 MESSIAEN 93
73 SCHUTZ 91
74 PAGANINI 90
75 GOUNOD 89
76 LIGETI G 88
77 MENDELSSOHN FANNY 87
78 ALBENIZ 86
79 FALLA 85
80 ARNOLD M 82
STANFORD 82
82 JOSQUIN 80
83 BARBER S 79
BORODIN 79
MUSSORGSKY 79
86 FRANCK C 78
PALESTRINA 78
SULLIVAN 78
WOLF H 78
90 FINZI 76
SATIE 76
92 BRIDGE 75
93 BRUCH 74
KORNGOLD 74
95 GLASS P 73
96 DELIUS 72
97 SCRIABIN 70
98 SCHOENBERG 69
99 BUXTEHUDE 68
TIPPETT 68
101 BEACH 65
ENESCU 65
HOWELLS 65
VILLA LOBOS 65
105 STROZZI B 64
106 BINGEN HILDEGARD OF 63
MACMILLAN J 63
108 CHAUSSON 62
LASSUS 62
110 LUTOSLAWSKI 61
111 MASSENET 60
112 CHAMINADE 59
SUK 59
TAKEMITSU 59
115 KREISLER F 58
MARTINU 58
117 BERIO L 57
HAHN R 57
119 SZYMANOWSKI 56
120 CHABRIER 55
GLINKA 55
122 ADAMS J 53
STENHAMMAR 53
124 PACHELBEL 52
125 BUTTERWORTH G 51
IVES C 51
LULLY 51
SOLER P 51
129 CACCINI F 50
DELIBES 50
MUSGRAVE 50
PEJACEVIC 50
RODRIGO 50
Very many thanks, Suffy.
(Don't blame the messenger!)
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