Well, that's another bit of Readers' Digest style television that's ended.
BBC4 "Symphony" with Simon Russell Beale
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Another garbled ill-thought out programme - why so much Ives for crying out loud ? and no real discussion of Mahler at all - meanwhile not a sniff of poor Mendelssohn and Schumann , a few seconds of Elgar ... a programme all over the place - it needed at least double the number of episodes to make any sense .
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With the exception of the 4th Symphony, which only really had an impact on the musical scene post 1950's, Ives's symphonies really have little importance even in the history of the American symphony so it would seem rather odd to concentrate so much on him if this was the case. I'm certainly glad I have kept clear of the programmes!
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Norfolk Born
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Originally posted by Norfolk Born View PostWorth noting that next Friday SRB is devoting a whole programme to one composer - Victoria."...the isle is full of noises,
Sounds and sweet airs, that give delight and hurt not.
Sometimes a thousand twangling instruments
Will hum about mine ears, and sometime voices..."
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Norfolk Born
The programme, not part of the Symphony series, and not a repeat, is entitled 'God's Composer' and is broadcast on BBC 4 at 20.00 on 2nd December with a repeat at 0230 on 3rd December. The Sixteen will be singing in the church of San Antonio de las Alemanes in Madrid.
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Norfolk Born
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well it was better than much of what is on the box .. not saying that much is it? .... having watched all four parts i gathered some gossip but no greater or finer understanding of the symphony at all .... just like a murdoch Sunday supplement innitAccording to the best estimates of astronomers there are at least one hundred billion galaxies in the observable universe.
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Having now watched the whole series, I'm nowhere near as negative about it as most people posting here. It struck me as good telly, covered some of the ground quite well, and didn't just include the usual suspects in terms of repertoire choice. Making something that's compressed into four hour-long programmes is a no-win really - on the one hand it's slated for concentrating too much on the mainstream, and then there are complaints about including Ives 2 (which I thought was actually a nice idea). In four hours, the thing could never be more than a taster of what's out there and while I was sorry not to have Mendelssohn or Schumann, it did whet the appetite for Berlioz's R&J and the Liszt Faust Symphony. Nothing wrong with that as far as I can see - nor including some of Vaughan Williams' Pastoral Symphony and the slow movement of Elgar 2. Maybe the last programme had too much Shostakovich, but then again some people can never get too much of him. There were some nice bits done in composers' homes or places they visited. I certainly didn't know about the house where Haydn wrote Symphony No. 98, and it was good to see the houses of Dvorak, Sibelius and such like.
Back to my first point. In the space of four hours I find myself feeling much more positive towards the series than most people here. I was glad that it recognised that symphonies were composed by British and American composers (among others), and it left the way open for any interested viewer and listener to explore further, which is surely all a series lasting a few hours can hope to do.
And finally, I thought SRB and Mark Elder were excellent presenters - enthusiastic and intelligent, even playing piano duets together, which was a charming touch.
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