The 2021 Survey of Classical Music on Radio 3

[Suffolkcoastal]

Interestingly, or maybe not, only a score of 7 plays in the Gershwin total for Rhapsody in Blue ……

7 complete & 2 chunks. It's those Preludes in their original form or various arrangements that account for a fair amount, often just one of them. All 3 only last 5-6 minutes, but that seems too much for a lot of the R3 daytime schedule these days.

[Suffolkcoastal]

Here's the Symphony breakdown for those composers who had 5 or more symphonies/sinfoniettas/sinfonias broadcast complete in 2021.

F J HAYDN 98
MOZART W A 93
BEETHOVEN 79
SIBELIUS 57
MENDELSSOHN 41
SCHUBERT 39
BRAHMS 36
BACH CPE 35
SCHUMANN 35
TCHAIKOVSKY 31
DVORAK 29
MAHLER 29
SHOSTAKOVICH 29
BRUCKNER 23
PROKOFIEV 19
ABEL 17
NIELSEN 15
RACHMANINOV 14
VAUGHAN WILLIAMS 12
STRAVINSKY 11
ARNOLD 10
SCRIABIN 10
BOYCE 9
STRAUSS R 9
GIPPS 8
KRAUS 8
SALIERI 8
BERLIOZ 7
M HAYDN 7
VIVALDI 7
KORNGOLD 6
MYSLIVECEK 6
SAINT-GEORGES 6
SAINT-SAENS 6
ALBINONI 5
BACH W F 5
FARRENC 5
MARTINU 5
POULENC 5
SCHOENBERG 5

The most broadcast symphonies complete were:
MOZART 41 x 16
SIBELIUS 7 x 16
PROKOFIEV 1 x 15
MOZART 40 x 12
BRAHMS 1 x 12
SCHUBERT 9 x 12
SIBELIUS 5 x 12
BEETHOVEN 1 x 11
BEETHOVEN 2 x 11
MENDELSSOHN 3 x 11
MENDELSSOHN 4 x 11
SCHUMANN 2 x 11
SCHUMANN 3 x 11
HAYDN 103 x 10
BEETHOVEN 6 x 10

[Suffolkcoastal]

As requested here they are Edgy.

York Bowen - 27 (highest recorded since 2009)
H Ferguson - 1
Parry - 33
Brian - 1
Cooke - 1
Elcock - 1
Mathias - 9
McEwen - 3
Hoddinott - 7
George Lloyd - 7
Daniel Jones - 2
David Matthews - 10
Alan Rawsthorne - 8 (highest recorded since 2009!)
Lennox Berkeley - 11

[Edgy 2]

Some depressing numbers there
Many thanks again sc, much appreciated

[Ein Heldenleben]

From Andrew’s excellent database - average length of pieces played

Bruckner 20 mins 9 secs
Beech 6 mins 49 secs
Gershwin 6 mins 21 secs

I feel a bit better now.
But given that Bruckner is unquestionably one of the symphonic giants of the 19th century shouldn’t there be more complete performances ? On the magazine programmes all you ever get are the “scherzi” - the uptempo usually third movement. I can see why a complete symphony might not work early morning but why not on the afternoon concert which is become a bit of a ragbag?

[Ein Heldenleben]

7 complete & 2 chunks. It's those Preludes in their original form or various arrangements that account for a fair amount, often just one of them. All 3 only last 5-6 minutes, but that seems too much for a lot of the R3 daytime schedule these days.

Those pieces are way over- played - they are musically pretty slight whereas his Broadway songs Man I Love , Our Love Is Here to Stay , Foggy Day, are amongst the greatest ever written in the genre.

Thanks very much for the excellent data gathering - must be a lot of work.

[RichardB]

Some depressing numbers there

Most depressing as far as I am concerned is that as far as I know R3 hasn't broadcast anything of mine since 2018! It was never like that back in the days of "Hear and Now" and "Music in Our Time" and "Mixing It" and Radio 3 studio recordings and BBC commissions for Invitation Concerts etc. etc. etc. - when people lament the relative dearth of broadcasts of music by Havergal Brian perhaps they can spare a thought for all those living composers whose work is being ignored.

[gradus]

Sc, yet another Stakhanovite Effort, how on earth do you do it?

[french frank]

Interestingly, or maybe not, only a score of 7 plays in the Gershwin total for Rhapsody in Blue ……

I was going to suggest it was a bit on the long side for most R3 programmes, but judging from the two versions still available in Sounds it has the potential to last anything from 2m 22secs (Private Passions) to 14m 38secs (Afternoon Concert, where it appeared to finish the Sondheim tribute concert, along with Bach and Barber). Looking back on Andrew's database, there also seems to have been an 11 sec version last year (This Classical Life).

[Edgy 2]

Most depressing as far as I am concerned is that as far as I know R3 hasn't broadcast anything of mine since 2018! It was never like that back in the days of "Hear and Now" and "Music in Our Time" and "Mixing It" and Radio 3 studio recordings and BBC commissions for Invitation Concerts etc. etc. etc. - when people lament the relative dearth of broadcasts of music by Havergal Brian perhaps they can spare a thought for all those living composers whose work is being ignored.

[cloughie]

Those pieces are way over- played - they are musically pretty slight whereas his Broadway songs Man I Love , Our Love Is Here to Stay , Foggy Day, are amongst the greatest ever written in the genre.

Thanks very much for the excellent data gathering - must be a lot of work.

‘Summertime’ must have been a fair number plays and maybe ‘Someone to watch over me’

[Serial_Apologist]

‘Summertime’ must have been a fair number plays and maybe ‘Someone to watch over me’

Much of today's programming could be under the title "Someone to Wash Over Me".

[cloughie]

Much of today's programming could be under the title "Someone to Wash Over Me".

Careful what you wish for, S_A - Soap on 3 anyone? No doubt featuring Peter Pears recordings!

[antongould]

‘Summertime’ must have been a fair number plays and maybe ‘Someone to watch over me’

From Andrew’s file - most popular pieces played in ascending order
3 Preludes
Piano Concerto in F Major
I Got Rhythm
American in Paris
Lullaby
Rhapsody in Blue
Love Walked In
Someone to Watch Over Me
A Foggy Day
Soon
Oh Lady Be Good
Summertime
Cuban Overture
Girl Crazy

[Serial_Apologist]

Careful what you wish for, S_A - Soap on 3 anyone? No doubt featuring Peter Pears recordings!

And, to be seasonal, with a one horse, soap and sleigh!