The 2021 Survey of Classical Music on Radio 3

[Suffolkcoastal]

Just as a matter of interest, below are eamples of some composers who haven't had an overall total of at least 50 works/chunks in the full 13 years of the survey to date & their totals, that R3 likes to either virtually ignore or just occasionally let the out to keep forumites happy or to tick a box. There are a couple of others such as Holmboe & Kalliwoda that have just over 50 broadcast, but largely just due to one or two works that are regularly recycled every few weeks on TTN.

There is certainly a tendency to avoid or minimise composers by groups, such as composers who came to prominence in the 1950s & 60s, classical era composers outside of Mozart & Haydn, women composers whose musical style doesn't fit, French composers 1890-1920 that aren't called Debussy, Ravel, Faure or Saint Saens, or who don't sound French enough for the programmer(s) taste, Scandinavian post-Sibelian symphonists. I've also noted how a certain composer or work appears frequently for a short period, then largely disappears for a number of weeks.

K Atterberg - 38
M Babbitt - 16
M Balfe - 45
F I Beck - 13
J A Benda - 16
P Ben Haim -23
Binchois - 27
B Blacher - 13
R Boughton - 44
D Bourgeois - 32
Braga Santos - 15
F Brun - 6
N Burgmuller - 20
A Bush - 3
G Bush - 13
Cabanilles - 44
Cannabich - 22
M Cardoso - 29
G W Chadwick - 29
G Charpentier - 32
C Chavez - 27
G Coates - 16
C Coles - 38
A Cooke - 11
Coprario - 32
F Cowen - 1
P Creston - 5
Crotch - 15
C Cui - 27
D Diamond - 28
J Dillon - 41
F Draeseke - 0
G von Einem - 13
H Eller - 45
E Englund - 18
A Eshpai - 1
H Ferguson - 48
Z Fibich - 38
J Foerster - 22
P R Fricker - 3
Frankel - 18
Robert Fuchs - 32
R Gerhard - 20
F Gernsheim - 12
Gigout - 37
L Glass - 1
A Goehr - 26
T Gouvy - 3
Guilmant - 44
Gyrowetz - 9
Halevy - 2
I Hamilton - 5
H Hanson - 38
J Harbison - 11
Roy Harris - 35
K A Hartmann - 22
Henriques - 21
L Hofmann - 25
R Holloway - 41
H Huber - 20
W Hurlstone - 21
Ivanovs - 3
Joachim - 35
A Jolivet - 40
Daniel Jones - 33
W Josephs - 8
Kallinikov - 29
Kancheli - 41
Karg-Elert - 32
Kinsella - 1
L Kirchner - 1
J Kokkonen - 3
H Koppel - 1
L Kozeluch - 48
Krenek - 9
F Krommer - 36
F Lachner - 28
L Lajtha - 17
M Landowski - 2
B Lees - 0
D Lilburn - 44
Lopes-Graca - 38
N Ludford - 26
E Lutyens - 25
Lyapunov - 37
A Magnard - 17
Maliperio - 28
Manfredini - 42
I Markevitch - 2
P Maurice - 43
Menotti - 44
A Merikanto - 15
R Milford - 11
L Minkus - 25
Mosolov - 45
A Moyzes - 44
T Murail - 26
Nono - 23
I Norholm - 1
P Nordgren - 2
G Onslow - 27
R Orr - 8
J K Paine - 2
H Partch - 26
F Peeters - 39
Petrassi - 5
Pickard - 27
Pijper - 2
G Popov - 7
C Potter - 11
K Rathaus - 28
A Rawsthorne - 39
A Read Thomas - 27
A Reimann - 4
J G Reutter - 26
F X Richter - 32
F Ries - 19
G Ropartz - 19
H Rosenberg - 6
H Rott - 22
C Rouse - 15
P Ruders - 24
A Sallinen - 29
Salmenhaara - 35
F Schmitt - 43
Sciarrino - 38
H Searle - 6
R Sessions - 6
Shebalin - 4
R Simpson - 35
Spontini - 7
L Sumera - 29
A Tansman - 23
B Tchaikovsky - 6
N Tcherepnin - 25
Thuille - 47
Tischenko - 1
Tomasek - 29
Tournemire - 19
E S Tuur - 43
V Ullmann - 26
Ustvolskaya - 28
Vermeulen - 13
Volkmann - 5
A Vranitsky - 13
P Vranitsky - 8
H Walford-Davies - 45
R E Ward - 0
E Wellesz - 5
Weyse - 19
G Whettam - 1
M Williamson - 37
T Wilson - 4
P von Winter - 2
S Wolpe - 5
Hugh Wood - 31
W Wordsworth - 3
J Woolrich - 40
C Wuorinen - 6
B A Zimmermann - 37
Zwilich - 8

[Ein Heldenleben]

Thanks . Is that a total of less than 50 over 13 years or a total for this year ?
Have to say that some of these composers are way better than the current composer of the week and indeed better than quite a few featured last year ..

[Edgy 2]

Thanks . Is that a total of less than 50 over 13 years or a total for this year ?
Have to say that some of these composers are way better than the current composer of the week and indeed better than quite a few featured last year ..

I take it to mean the total for 13 years.
If that is the case then Piazzolla with 151 in 2021 compared to Bob Simpson with 35 in 13 years beggars belief

Janis Ivanovs - 3

http://www.musicweb-international.com/classrev/jan99/ivanovs.htm

[Ein Heldenleben]

I take it to mean the total for 13 years.
If that is the case then Piazzolla with 151 in 2021 compared to Bob Simpson with 35 in 13 years beggars belief

Janis Ivanovs - 3

http://www.musicweb-international.co...99/ivanovs.htm

My thoughts exactly . What about Lutyens , Goehr , Sessions , Menotti (wasn’t he dead popular once ? )
It’s like a collective cultural amnesia…
And Luigi Nono , Roy Harris …

Don’t know Ivanovs at all… I’ll have a listen.

[Suffolkcoastal]

Yes it's over 13 years. Piazzolla's total over 13 years is 1026!

[Serial_Apologist]

Thanks . Is that a total of less than 50 over 13 years or a total for this year ?
Have to say that some of these composers are way better than the current composer of the week and indeed better than quite a few featured last year ..

Unfair there (giver her a chance!) though in general I am with your perspective.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Unfair there (giver her a chance!) though in general I am with your perspective.

I’ve listened to both episodes today and yesterday and it’s all good competent stuff - the sort of material produced by dozens of living composers but some of the people on the list are world class and appear to be very significantly underplayed. There’s quite a lot of that happening on COTW at the moment - ok-ish living composers getting a weeks worth of exposure e.g Mark-Anthony Turnage whereas some of the dead seem overlooked . Isn’t Milton Babbit for example a key 20th century figure? I wouldn’t want to deny anyone their moment in the sun but let’s not ignore the past .

[RichardB]

I’ve listened to both episodes today and yesterday and it’s all good competent stuff - the sort of material produced by dozens of living composers

I happened to tune in and I thought she came across as a serious and thoughtful artist, but that the music seemed so bland and predictable, and indeed lacking in any of the passion she had been talking about. I wonder what listeners in general made of it. For me it brings nothing new to the table and doesn't live up to the example of its obvious influences. And yes indeed, Milton Babbitt was a key 20th century figure (and teacher of Stephen Sondheim and Stanley Jordan among others!), though more in the USA than in Europe. I suspect that many COTW listeners would find his work quite a tough nut to crack.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I happened to tune in and I thought she came across as a serious and thoughtful artist, but that music seemed so bland and predictable, and indeed lacking in any of the passion she had been talking about. I wonder what listeners in general made of it. For me it brings nothing new to the table and doesn't live up to the example of its obvious influences. And yes indeed, Milton Babbitt was a key 20th century figure (and teacher of Stephen Sondheim and Stanley Jordan among others!), though more in the USA than in Europe. I suspect that many COTW listeners would find his work quite a tough nut to crack.

I liked the Mandela song and she is certainly an interesting interviewee with a fascinating life story and , with her dancing and pianistic abilities clearly the classical music version of the “triple threat” . But what is R3 for if not to challenge ? I would like to hear more Rawsthorne, Bush , Lutyens , Holloway , Simpson for example and yes even Babbitt ! I started off recoiling at the recent Julius Eastman episodes - not being a fan of minimalism- but found myself by the end strangely drawn into his sound world.
I would also like to hear a Halevy opera and some Cui - I dimly remember playing some of his piano pieces.

[antongould]

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

As to my earlier point about The Classical Symphony ...... a much stronger showing last year .....

[Sir Velo]

As to my earlier point about The Classical Symphony ...... a much stronger showing last year .....

So not all change is for the worst AG?

[antongould]

So not all change is for the worst AG?

Indeed

[Suffolkcoastal]

Though the number of chunks of the Classical Symphony actually increased from 13 in 2021 to 17 in 2022. Obviously a 15 minute long work is becoming much too long for the various playlist programmes.