The slow death of classical threads.....

[teamsaint]

All good points, ts. It's coming up to two years since I retired in December 2019 and the world I expected to retire into just vanished, almost overnight, and it doesn't look like coming back in the foreseeable future, if ever. The concerts I had lined up post-retirement simply disappeared and I've not been to a concert since Haitink's Proms farewell with the VPO in September 2019 and seriously doubt whether I have the will or desire to go again. This is something I never, ever thought I'd be saying and it's a measure of the massive change that has taken place but I've been attending classical concerts since 1972 and now I don't want to go any more!

Sad, but understandable . Strangely I also find myself less enthusiastic to go to hear live music,but for different reasons to you I suspect.
I think FWIW, that the emasculation of the arts sector, a reduction in the direction of a small centrally funded and compliant elite group, will be , for many politicians , a good thing .

Anyway, I’m hoping to be at Basingstoke for an Alpine Symphony in two weeks time. I hope you feel ready to be back hearing live music very soon, Pet.

[Ein Heldenleben]

As some one who listens to Radio 3 09.00 to 22.00 most days I often start threads based on an Afternoon concert or Performance on Three after a good concert.It’s surprising how little response you get compared to a general critical comment on a sequence programme.

[cloughie]

As some one who listens to Radio 3 09.00 to 22.00 most days I often start threads based on an Afternoon concert or Performance on Three after a good concert.It’s surprising how little response you get compared to a general critical comment on a sequence programme.

EIF has not featured too much either hereabouts!

[Petrushka]

As some one who listens to Radio 3 09.00 to 22.00 most days I often start threads based on an Afternoon concert or Performance on Three after a good concert.It’s surprising how little response you get compared to a general critical comment on a sequence programme.

Don't make the mistake that your comments are not read or appreciated! Writing about music and trying to communicate what you found good/bad about it other than I enjoyed/didn't enjoy it is really very difficult. I'd rate music as being the most difficult thing to write about and even harder to make it interesting.

[Nick Armstrong]

Don't make the mistake that your comments are not read or appreciated! Writing about music and trying to communicate what you found good/bad about it other than I enjoyed/didn't enjoy it is really very difficult. I'd rate music as being the most difficult thing to write about and even harder to make it interesting.

Agreed! I often read and appreciate postings without feeling I have anything to add!

[cloughie]

Agreed! I often read and appreciate postings without feeling I have anything to add!

My #15520 on the What Classical thread is a good example - shows my appreciation on hearing a piece but probably excites nobody unless thy happened to hear it. For all I know others may have thought it was a poor performance of a mundane piece. For all I know I could be on most people’s ignore list!

[gradus]

Agreed! I often read and appreciate postings without feeling I have anything to add!

That's what I think too.

[pastoralguy]

EIF has not featured too much either hereabouts!

To be honest, the tickets were simply too expensive! £37 for an hour of music in an environment where good acoustics are not guaranteed as well as extraneous noises such as rain, sirens and general traffic meant that for the first time ever I felt excluded from the EIF.

[cloughie]

To be honest, the tickets were simply too expensive! £37 for an hour of music in an environment where good acoustics are not guaranteed as well as extraneous noises such as rain, sirens and general traffic meant that for the first time ever I felt excluded from the EIF.

I was thinking more on any comments on this week’s evening concerts on R3 now broadcast after the end of the Proms!

[Stanfordian]

To be honest, the tickets were simply too expensive! £37 for an hour of music in an environment where good acoustics are not guaranteed as well as extraneous noises such as rain, sirens and general traffic meant that for the first time ever I felt excluded from the EIF.

A friend of mine said recently that he wasn't going to live performances yet with all the restrictions in place as, 'they are to be enjoyed not endured.

[edashtav]

Agreed! I often read and appreciate postings without feeling I have anything to add!

Exactly.

[DracoM]

I wish R3 would brig back the 'Brains Trust'.
NOT, rpt NOT, a R3 'Question Time' / 'Any Questions', but a proper exchange between really top brains.
Might generate comment?

And 'classical thread' uptake might be better / more challenging if much of R3's day time > evening offers were not so predictably baroque /early classical, designed to to soothe / not flutter the pigeons. How do that is tricky indeed, or even if it's a good idea....? ! Even trickier.

The online classical stns I listen to have found all manners of ways of re-animating what I had always thought of as standard repertoire through canny research.
e.g. https://areena.yle.fi/audio/ohjelmat/yle-klassinen which constantly surprises me with both new composers and ensembles, as well as in repertoire of standard composes I thought I knew well but which I had had little or no knowledge after a lifetime of listening to BBC R3.

[french frank]

I was thinking more on any comments on this week’s evening concerts on R3 now broadcast after the end of the Proms!

I wish R3 would brig back the 'Brains Trust'.
NOT, rpt NOT, a R3 'Question Time' / 'Any Questions', but a proper exchange between really top brains.
Might generate comment?

And 'classical thread' uptake might be better / more challenging if much of R3's day time > evening offers were not so predictably baroque /early classical, designed to to soothe / not flutter the pigeons. How do that is tricky indeed, or even if it's a good idea....? ! Even trickier.

The online classical stns I listen to have found all manners of ways of re-animating what I had always thought of as standard repertoire through canny research.
e.g. https://areena.yle.fi/audio/ohjelmat/yle-klassinen which constantly surprises me with both new composers and ensembles, as well as in repertoire of standard composes I thought I knew well but which I had had little or no knowledge after a lifetime of listening to BBC R3.

Taking both comments together: I agree. There's no logic to widening the classical music discussion to include any classical music people feel enthusiastic about, or their latest discovery; while at the same time expecting those who want to discuss any other subjects to curb their enthusiasms and join the music discussions. Those who want more discussion on classical music must do what they can and see what others want (and allowing for masks or football).

[Lordgeous]

I long for the 'golden' days of Antony Hopkins, John Amis, Interpretations on Record, etc. etc. Record Review tries but rarely comes close. Now i AM sounding old!

[kernelbogey]

I wish R3 would bri[n]g back the 'Brains Trust'.

I suppose that any such move would be regarded by current R3 management as hopelessly retrogade nostalgia. (Though I agree with the underlying idea of the wish.)