Music on BBC4. Don't die of shock.....

[cloughie]

Did he need to say it was aimed at the young?

It may have an educational purpose, but I've never listened to it to 'learn things' (and it's been a long time since the narration was used).

What do you suggest to get young people listening to good classical orchestral music?

[Conchis]

What do you suggest to get young people listening to good classical orchestral music?

Don't try and steer them towards it. They'll make their own minds up.

Anyone who is seriously into music will move beyond rock/pop eventually, though it took me until I was (about) 23 to do so.

[cloughie]

Don't try and steer them towards it. They'll make their own minds up.

Anyone who is seriously into music will move beyond rock/pop eventually, though it took me until I was (about) 23 to do so.

Yes but that was then - now, there is so little exposure to classical music that with more people in the past it will never happen!

[Bryn]

Don't try and steer them towards it. They'll make their own minds up.

Anyone who is seriously into music will move beyond rock/pop eventually, though it took me until I was (about) 23 to do so.

t'other way round with me. I still baulk at the vast majority of rock/pop, only going for the more experimental fringes, and even then, not often.

[Conchis]

Yes but that was then - now, there is so little exposure to classical music that with more people in the past it will never happen!

I have - of all people - the late Nicholas Ridley to thank, albeit indirectly, for giving me the 'steer'.

It was 1990 and Mr. Ridley had made some disparaging comments about the Germans running the E.U. When I tend in to Nicky Campbell's late night radio programme on R1 (yes, hard to believe I used to listen to R), he played Ride Of The Valkyries as a sort of 'present' apropos Ridley's comments. Although I'd heard it before and knew what it was, it immediately struck me as being a million times better than anything else I'd heard that day. The next day, I purchased highlights from the Karajan Ring on cassette (no CD player yet!) and 'started at the top' as far as serious music goes. It took me a while, and a fair bit of immersion, but after a couple of months, I'd 'got it'.

I think the point may be that if you're forced or 'directed' toward something by someone else, you'll either resist it or give up. But if you just follow your own natural curiosity, you'll make more of an effort.

That said, I still struggle with the later Coltrane.....

[ardcarp]

I think that Britten wrote far better examples of "Variations" Form, ardy (the Frank Bridges and A Boy Was Born for starters) and of his individual handling of the orchestra. "Absolute best" is standard BBC mush that really undervalues Britten's considerable achivements elsewhere - BUT, given the nature of the commission, I think that the Vars & Fugue on a Theme by Purcell does show an extraordinarily imaginative way of demonstrating to new listeners the timbres of the individual instruments and of the choirs to which they belong. (And, yes - I love that concluding Fugue, too.)

I agree entirely about A Boy was Born. Incredible.

I agree also that modern day kids don't want to be 'spoken down to' in a way that past outings of YPGTTO were presented. But we have to see things in the context of their time. Kids in the 1950s/60s/70s did not see anything unusual in being 'informed' by an 'expert' using the 'didactic method'.

But Variations and Fugue on a Theme of Purcell is a much-to-be-preferred title.

[Conchis]

I have a recording of Sean Connery doing the narration for the Purcell Fugue and Variations: he's a strange, but rather effective, choice.

It's coupled, inevitably, with Peter and the Wolf: Connery gives the most viscerally violent account of the narration I've ever heard. Maybe that should have been expected!

[Bryn]

I have a recording of Sean Connery doing the narration for the Purcell Fugue and Variations: he's a strange, but rather effective, choice.

It's coupled, inevitably, with Peter and the Wolf: Connery gives the most viscerally violent account of the narration I've ever heard. Maybe that should have been expected!

I'll raise an eyebrow to that.

[Serial_Apologist]

I'll raise an eyebrow to that.

And I'll raise you a Roger Moore on that.

[Bryn]

And I'll raise you a Roger Moore on that.

There must be some sort of Bond between them.

[Nick Armstrong]

And I'll raise you a Roger Moore on that.

As in...



(Look at those eyebrows! Was on Talking Pictures the other day. Absolute rubbish )

Naughty host: ... back on topic....

I enjoyed (in a not particularly informative but quite entertaining way) the programme with James O'Donnell and William Sitwell talking about and performing Walton. Only saw part - will have to catch up

[Serial_Apologist]

There must be some sort of Bond between them.

Only lovers of eyebrow music would appreciate this.

[LMcD]

Only lovers of eyebrow music would appreciate this.

Is it my imagination, or are the jokes here getting cornier?

[Serial_Apologist]

Is it my imagination, or are the jokes here getting cornier?

Definitely your imagination, LMcD.

[LMcD]

Definitely your imagination, LMcD.

I'll try to keep a lid on it.