The 2018 Survey of 'Classical' Music on Radio 3

[Edgy 2]

The total for George Lloyd in 2018 was 4.

Great job as always sc.
I'm pleased that Dora Pejacevic just made it.
Our friend Weinberg ?

[Suffolkcoastal]

Great job as always sc.
I'm pleased that Dora Pejacevic just made it.
Our friend Weinberg ?

Weinberg's total was 11 (92 in total since 2009). As this year is is birth centenary let's hope R3 does something right for a change & gives the recognition he deserves.

[Lat-Literal]

That's no problem at all, I can easily supply the figures for any composer by year since 2009 so you can see the trends for those who regularly fall below the 50 threshold. I'm looking at the best way to show these in graph format as well, please ask away.

Thank you.

Perhaps as markers, something along the lines of :

Broadly Thematic:

1. Babbitt, Feldman, La Monte Young, Tower, Zwilich, Andriessen, L
2. Ginastera, Guarnieri, Chavez, Ponce, Revueltas, Golijov
3. Lutyens, Smyth, Tailleferre, Williams, G, Ustvolskaya, Seeger
4. Still, Coleridge-Taylor, Boulogne, Kendall, Cameron White, Tokemitsu
5. Alberga, Wallen, Tabakova, Panufnik, R, Frances-Hoad, Higdon

I am mainly opting for diversity here in the cultural/identity/geographical sense although the bulk of diversity is more about the numbers of composers irrespective of their "location". But I'm guessing here that if there was no significant shift in this decade in these cultural areas, which they flag up regularly with fanfare, there probably aren't shifts in much else.

A Random Six:

6. Magnard, Busoni, Wolf-Ferrari, Gliere, Taverner, Tavener

…...however many or as few of these as you feel that you would like to do, if any!

[Suffolkcoastal]

There you go!

BABBITT 0 0 1 2 0 0 2 8 3 0
FELDMAN M 5 9 4 7 9 9 7 19 4 4
LA MONTE YOUNG 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 1 1
TOWER J 1 0 0 3 2 0 1 2 2 4
ZWILICH 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 1
GINASTERA 15 18 14 7 10 15 21 47 21 34
GUARNIERI 0 1 0 2 2 9 2 4 4 1
CHAVEZ 2 4 0 1 2 1 1 3 3 2
GOLIJOV 8 8 3 1 6 2 7 7 7 6
PONCE M 7 10 4 10 11 6 6 32 8 8
ALBERGA E 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 6 3
LUTYENS 1 0 1 0 3 0 1 5 5 0
SMYTH 1 4 6 6 30 6 42 24 29 35
TAILLEFERRE 6 6 6 9 12 5 48 24 16 26
WALLEN E 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 8 18 20

[Lat-Literal]

There you go!

BABBITT 0 0 1 2 0 0 2 8 3 0
FELDMAN M 5 9 4 7 9 9 7 19 4 4
LA MONTE YOUNG 1 0 0 1 0 0 2 1 1 1
TOWER J 1 0 0 3 2 0 1 2 2 4
ZWILICH 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 2 0 1
GINASTERA 15 18 14 7 10 15 21 47 21 34
GUARNIERI 0 1 0 2 2 9 2 4 4 1
CHAVEZ 2 4 0 1 2 1 1 3 3 2
GOLIJOV 8 8 3 1 6 2 7 7 7 6
PONCE M 7 10 4 10 11 6 6 32 8 8
ALBERGA E 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 1 6 3
LUTYENS 1 0 1 0 3 0 1 5 5 0
SMYTH 1 4 6 6 30 6 42 24 29 35
TAILLEFERRE 6 6 6 9 12 5 48 24 16 26
WALLEN E 0 0 1 0 0 1 2 8 18 20

Stunningly quick - and detailed.

Babbitt and Feldman had a spike in the same year as each other. That might have been linked to a specific radio project. Overall, the avant-garde and somewhat wider, for want of a better description, does not on those figures appear to have made any headway. The South Americans were always going to be a long shot. Golijov - modish and sellable as Gorecki and Whitacre, among others, have at times been modish and sellable - is not favoured. That surprises me. Only Ginastera stands out with much higher figures than the rest and as a trend is noticeably increasing. I would suggest that his standing is such that he would naturally start from a higher base - not quite in the Villa-Lobos and Piazzolla league but not so far off - and that the recent increases can be put down to the inclusion of Estancia by Dudamel at a past Proms which popularised it and him. The women's figures have, without question, increased in the last six years. What you have produced there is very informative. Furthermore with Alberga and Wallen - black, living - there has been an added push in the past 3-4 years.

[edashtav]

Many thanks for some of the decade's "played on occasion" list. It does show many women composers to be, latterly, 'on the upgrade', but there are a couple including Joan Towers who languish, maybe they have yet to 'come out'.

[Richard Barrett]

Thanks Suffolkcoastal for putting this together.

My first instinct was to see how far it's necessary to go down the list before finding a living composer. Answer: P Glass at no.95, one of only four living composers in the list unless I'm missing something.

[Suffolkcoastal]

Stunningly quick - and detailed.

Babbitt and Feldman had a spike in the same year as each other. That might have been linked to a specific radio project. Overall, the avant-garde and somewhat wider, for want of a better description, does not on those figures appear to have made any headway. The South Americans were always going to be a long shot. Golijov - modish and sellable as Gorecki and Whitacre, among others, have at times been modish and sellable - is not favoured. That surprises me. Only Ginastera stands out with much higher figures than the rest and as a trend is noticeably increasing. I would suggest that his standing is such that he would naturally start from a higher base - not quite in the Villa-Lobos and Piazzolla league but not so far off - and that the recent increases can be put down to the inclusion of Estancia by Dudamel at a past Proms which popularised it and him. The women's figures have, without question, increased in the last six years. What you have produced there is very informative. Furthermore with Alberga and Wallen - black, living - there has been an added push in the past 3-4 years.

Here are your other additions:

ANDRIESSEN L 16 9 4 3 3 1 2 17 7 4
REVEULTAS 7 18 2 3 3 6 2 5 5 5
USTVOLSKAYA 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 11 4 2
WILLIAMS GRACE 11 2 3 6 11 3 12 24 19 20
CRAWFORD SEEGER 1 2 0 0 0 1 7 6 8 10
SAINT-GEORGES 12 10 9 7 5 6 11 17 50 20
STILL W G 3 1 2 0 6 5 2 7 15 22
COLERIDGE-TAYLOR 6 4 3 34 20 7 12 35 35 42
WHITE Cameron 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3
TAKEMITSU 19 18 17 16 30 25 19 20 30 59
KENDALL H 0 1 0 0 1 0 6 1 8 4
TABAKOVA 2 1 1 1 6 6 9 5 18 16
PANUFNIK R 0 3 0 6 4 12 8 22 18 28
FRANCES-HOAD 2 2 0 4 1 0 12 6 10 21
HIGDON 1 1 2 0 0 2 4 8 6 17
MAGNARD 0 0 0 2 1 6 2 0 2 0
BUSONI 46 30 25 35 26 35 23 34 33 24
WOLF-FERRARI 21 4 10 9 14 15 13 10 7 22
GLIERE 35 8 10 8 5 3 8 6 15 10
TAVENER 45 28 29 21 52 93 42 36 34 28
TAVERNER 24 23 12 13 20 24 11 26 13 13

[Lat-Literal]

Here are your other additions:

ANDRIESSEN L 16 9 4 3 3 1 2 17 7 4
REVEULTAS 7 18 2 3 3 6 2 5 5 5
USTVOLSKAYA 0 0 0 1 0 0 2 11 4 2
WILLIAMS GRACE 11 2 3 6 11 3 12 24 19 20
CRAWFORD SEEGER 1 2 0 0 0 1 7 6 8 10
SAINT-GEORGES 12 10 9 7 5 6 11 17 50 20
STILL W G 3 1 2 0 6 5 2 7 15 22
COLERIDGE-TAYLOR 6 4 3 34 20 7 12 35 35 42
WHITE Cameron 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 3
TAKEMITSU 19 18 17 16 30 25 19 20 30 59
KENDALL H 0 1 0 0 1 0 6 1 8 4
TABAKOVA 2 1 1 1 6 6 9 5 18 16
PANUFNIK R 0 3 0 6 4 12 8 22 18 28
FRANCES-HOAD 2 2 0 4 1 0 12 6 10 21
HIGDON 1 1 2 0 0 2 4 8 6 17
MAGNARD 0 0 0 2 1 6 2 0 2 0
BUSONI 46 30 25 35 26 35 23 34 33 24
WOLF-FERRARI 21 4 10 9 14 15 13 10 7 22
GLIERE 35 8 10 8 5 3 8 6 15 10
TAVENER 45 28 29 21 52 93 42 36 34 28
TAVERNER 24 23 12 13 20 24 11 26 13 13

Again, many thanks, Suffy.

And here the figures for the additional women fully support the previously observed trend.

You have also now provided the figures for the group which might be termed "ethnicity". These too broadly support the tentative conclusions made with previous reference only to Alberga and Wallen. In contrast, there are no directional trends in the random group, a base sample group of sorts.

One thing I think I have noticed is that there might appear from these small samples to have been an especial emphasis on the less played composers two years ago. That is to say the peak figure for several composers in your data is not in the last column or the one before it but the one before that. In some but not all cases it marks the start of an upturn. It could be a coincidence or there might have been some renewed effort during 2016.

And - I'm guessing - it may have been around the time when there was anticipated or actual change at the top of R3 and indeed on this forum too. Was it, I wonder, a thank you in some way to French Frank for all of her efforts? We will probably never know.

Where I would be going next with this is to have five or six names outside those on 50 plus representing early music to the extent that any five or six could do. This would give some sort of indication of any upward trend there. Also, there could be five or six names from the mid to late 19th Century to see to what extent if any those have been falling away. Two other categories might be "British" and "All of a sudden quite commercial" - but give me some time on these to ponder!

*Wider range here doesn't necessarily mean a wider range of composers but a wider range of composers with increasing and/or substantial numbers.

[edashtav]

Thanks Suffolkcoastal for putting this together.

My first instinct was to see how far it's necessary to go down the list before finding a living composer. Answer: P Glass at no.95, one of only four living composers in the list unless I'm missing something.

Oh dear, that's distressing, Richard: music as Aunty Beeb's comfort blanket

[Lat-Literal]

Suffy:

These would be my suggestions for the other categories:

de Machaut, Dunstable, Dufay, Praetorius, Frescobaldi, Scarlatti, A
Alkan, Gade, Raff, Reinecke, Goldmark, Balakirev,
Ireland, Birtwistle, Rubbra, Moeran, Stainer, Maxwell Davies
Todd, W, Bates, M, Rutter, Einaudi, Richter, Lauridsen

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Oh dear, that distressing, Richard: music as Aunty Beeb's comfort blanket

There's Part (apologies for the spelling) at #63 - though I would consider that to be more of a "comfort blanket" than any of the top eight.

[edashtav]

There's Part (apologies for the spelling) at #63 - though I would consider that to be more of a "comfort blanket" than any of the top eight.

Gentle put-down accepted, Ferney, with no thought of a 2nd Cowpat War.

[edashtav]

Here's a quote from the Ancient which shows why we must keep contemporary composers in sight and sound:

"Musical innovation is full of danger to the State, for when modes of music change, the fundamental laws of the State always change with them.” ― Plato

"And now for the World Premiere of a ground-breaking and constitution-testing new Musical Theatre Piece co-commissioned by the BBC and the EU: "The Brexit Game : Nothing Has Changed" composed by XY."

[Stanfordian]

Weinberg's total was 11 (92 in total since 2009). As this year is is birth centenary let's hope R3 does something right for a change & gives the recognition he deserves.

I'm disappointed too that Weinberg's music hasn't made more of an impression on the chart. Of course it might take some time but the centenary year will surely help.