Apologies for the wait, but here is the 2019 survey of classical music on R3. The one disturbing standout statistic was the huge unprecedented 33% increase in non-classical works being played in the usual classical music slots, now more than double what it was even 5 years ago & accounts for around 8% of the chunks/pieces in classical programmes! This has been aided by the proliferation in playlist programmes (which makes the task of doing the survey very time consuming), certain Presenters non-classical interests have also had an impact. The total number of pieces/chunks has also increased by about 5% on 5 years ago. The playlists remain a nightmare with many instances of duplications between programmes, mis-attributations. It is also notable how some composers/pieces appear in ‘clusters’ within a few weeks then are much less noticeable for a while.
Anniversary composers had the usual mixture of high & low numbers of broadcasts depending if a particular composer is in or out of favour with the R3 programmers. There’s the continuing promotion of women composers, well certain favoured ones, which isn’t in some cases entirely justified IMO. Another noticeable trait this year is how many of the favourite ‘war horses’ have appeared, indeed many of them had record years, The Nutcracker, Ravel’s G Major Concerto, Vltava, Rodeo, Barber’s Adagio, The Planets, Adagio from Spartacus, that ghastly little Tarantelle by Saint-Saens, Finlandia, Short Ride in a Fast Machine & Carnival of the Animals (particularly The Swan & Aquarium), just for starters.
The list of all composers with 50 or more pieces/chunks is in the thread below if there are any composers not in this category that you would like to know the figures for these please let me know.
The *against a composer indicates the highest number of pieces/chunks by that composer since I began my survey in 2009, the + indicates the lowest number since 2009.
The Symphony survey will follow shortly.
Anniversary composers had the usual mixture of high & low numbers of broadcasts depending if a particular composer is in or out of favour with the R3 programmers. There’s the continuing promotion of women composers, well certain favoured ones, which isn’t in some cases entirely justified IMO. Another noticeable trait this year is how many of the favourite ‘war horses’ have appeared, indeed many of them had record years, The Nutcracker, Ravel’s G Major Concerto, Vltava, Rodeo, Barber’s Adagio, The Planets, Adagio from Spartacus, that ghastly little Tarantelle by Saint-Saens, Finlandia, Short Ride in a Fast Machine & Carnival of the Animals (particularly The Swan & Aquarium), just for starters.
The list of all composers with 50 or more pieces/chunks is in the thread below if there are any composers not in this category that you would like to know the figures for these please let me know.
The *against a composer indicates the highest number of pieces/chunks by that composer since I began my survey in 2009, the + indicates the lowest number since 2009.
The Symphony survey will follow shortly.
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