Schubert on 3

[Nick Armstrong]

Speaking personally, it's not Schubert I dislike, it's the way the BBC present the programmes -'Play Schubert for Me' etc.
With one composer all the week, the nanny style of presenters somehow seems more unbearable.

I'd agree with that saly. Taking up David-G's #103, I don't mind in principle the opportunity of hearing more unusual Schubert - it gets away from the Classic FM-style repetition of 'favourite' classics in the morning, from my point of view it means there will be music not chat and non-classical music in the late evening when I like to listen to something classical - there are distinct advantages. But the way it's being announced (it's the 'requests and dedications' that scare me too, saly) doesn't bode particularly well, and I fear a large amount of second-rate vocal music, badly sung

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

I'm with HS, sals and Cali. I adore Schubert's Music and I shall be making a point of hearing the operas, which I don't think I've heard in nearly thirty years! ()

BUT, I also like single malt whiskies. But I wouldn't want to down an entire bottle in one sitting, let alone the contents of a shop, one after another. Especially if an over-effusive shop owner followed me around reading out letters from other customers saying what they liked about each whisky!

To feature the complete Schubert (/Mozart/Bach/Beethoven/Schönberg/Dunstable/Coltrane etc) over a series of months with other works & programmes between featured programmes is an excellent idea - just imagine how, say, the String Quintet in C grows in stature when in the company of comparable masterworks. But the supermarket approach of these composerthons (depriving many listeners of their favourite regular programmes) merely emphasizes the paucity of sense and imagination at the "management" of R3.

[Pabmusic]

...the supermarket approach of these composerthons (depriving many listeners of their favourite regular programmes) merely emphasizes the paucity of sense and imagination at the "management" of R3.

Excellently said!

[Hornspieler]

I'm with HS, sals and Cali. I adore Schubert's Music and I shall be making a point of hearing the operas, which I don't think I've heard in nearly thirty years! ()

BUT, I also like single malt whiskies. But I wouldn't want to down an entire bottle in one sitting, let alone the contents of a shop, one after another. Especially if an over-effusive shop owner followed me around reading out letters from other customers saying what they liked about each whisky!

To feature the complete Schubert (/Mozart/Bach/Beethoven/Schönberg/Dunstable/Coltrane etc) over a series of months with other works & programmes between featured programmes is an excellent idea - just imagine how, say, the String Quintet in C grows in stature when in the company of comparable masterworks. But the supermarket approach of these composerthons (depriving many listeners of their favourite regular programmes) merely emphasizes the paucity of sense and imagination at the "management" of R3.

Schubert on 3 - A sonnet in celebration

This week we’re having Schubert round the clock
Throughout the day and also through the night
Such chamber works as Shepherd on the Rock
By courtesy of Mr Roger Wright
If Schubert were alive this very day
He might be quite delighted with the feste
Of works that he has never heard us play
And symphonies and lieder and the rest.

Death and the Maiden, Earl King, Auf dem Strohm
Marches, Serenades and Polonaise
Where did Franz’s ideas all come from
To keep his ouvre going for seven days?
I’m going to add some gin onto my list
It’s easier to enjoy it when you’re p-----!

Hornspieler

[Panjandrum]

Ode to Joy?

Schubert all day and all night
Thou undisputed master of song
Thy quartets and trios our endless delight.
How many more than 9 symphonies
Had thou not been taken by syphilis?
Thy too early death one of the great villainies.
Thy 30 years spent in the act of creation
Now crammed into a mere 8 days duration.
And all this, though done by Wright,
Yet it offends; it is Wrong!

[bach736]

Schubert

So farewell Radio 3 - see you in a week.
Or maybe not.

[birkenshawboy]

We are promised 'documentaries' during the forthcoming Schubertfest. Can Radio3 really be serious? I'm old enough to remember those great days when it was assumed that listeners actually wanted to discover new things about composers and their music: Roger Nichols' fine Debussy and Ravel series, David Brown on Tchaikovsky to name but two memorable radio broadcasters. What chance similar enlightenment in the coming days?

[kernelbogey]

I have not read every post on this thread, but there seems to be an overwhelming body of negative opinion. Is there nobody else who, like me, is looking forward to the Schubert? [...] But that everyone is cynical about this I find rather surprising.

I was enthusiastic in my post 82 about the idea of broadcasting all of Schubert's works, but not in a continuous stream.

Ferneyhoughgeliebte put it well:

[...] I also like single malt whiskies. But I wouldn't want to down an entire bottle in one sitting, let alone the contents of a shop, one after another. Especially if an over-effusive shop owner followed me around reading out letters from other customers saying what they liked about each whisky!

[...] just imagine how, say, the String Quintet in C grows in stature when in the company of comparable masterworks. But the supermarket approach of these composerthons (depriving many listeners of their favourite regular programmes) merely emphasizes the paucity of sense and imagination at the "management" of R3.

As I recall, Radio 3 used to broadcast more programmes of the kind implied in Ferney's second para. This was when the channel reflected good musical scholarship. I would like also programmes which compare masterworks like the String Quintet with other music being performed at the time, particularly that which was popular. The reasons works and composers like this survive as great while others fall by the wayside is instructive.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

There's a strange irony about this. Radio 3 will be broadcasting the least known of Schubert's works during this week. Yet Radio 3 seems to go out of its way these days to avoid playing music outside the limits of The Lark Ascending and Jupiter.
So despite the lack of programming imagination involved, I suppose this aspect of Saturation Schubert should be welcomed.

[Flay]

Just looking at the schedule fills me with fear. "Play Schubert for me." Too much, man.

[Hornspieler]

So farewell Radio 3 - see you in a week.
Or maybe not.

The message boards are emptying
Have we all taken flight
To get away from Schubert
On air all day and night?

I'm travelling to Vienna
Where Mahler reigns supreme
And I'll refresh my taste buds
With Sacha Torte and cream.

Then cruising down the river
To get to Budapest
With gypsy music playing
Bartok and all the rest.

HS

[MrGongGong]

Make sure you go to

http://www.gerbeaud.hu/

and

http://www.szechenyibath.com/

[Roehre]

Spot the stupid mistake:

"performs two of Schubert's best known works for string quartet: the short movement known as his Quartettsatz and his last contribution to the genre - the "Death and the Maiden" Quartet, written in 1824."

[JFLL]

Spot the stupid mistake:

"performs two of Schubert's best known works for string quartet: the short movement known as his Quartettsatz and his last contribution to the genre - the "Death and the Maiden" Quartet, written in 1824."

Yes, the G major D.887 is rather caviare to the general. A pity, as it's his best, IMHO, but a hard listen (and play, I should think. I saw the Wihan Quartet perform it a week ago, and boy were they sweating afterwards!)

[Pianorak]

Speaking personally, it's not Schubert I dislike, it's the way the BBC present the programmes -'Play Schubert for Me' etc.
With one composer all the week, the nanny style of presenters somehow seems more unbearable.

Look on the bright side, guys: If Radio Times is to be believed it's going to be an our-favourite-presenter free week.