2011 Survey of classical music broadcast on Radio 3 - The Results

[Suffolkcoastal]

For Mr GG

Berg = 40+
Webern = 25+
Ligeti = 45+
Feldman = 5

for Ferneyhoughgeliebte

Dunstable = 5
Perotin = 6
Machaut = 25+
Schutz = 30+
Ockeghem = 15+
Dufay = 10+

Thanks for the good wishes, the injury is doubly annoying as I was due to have my induction in the newly referbished gym today and having already been missing my workouts as whilst the gym was closed,I was in need of my gym fix!

[french frank]

Webern = 25+
Feldman = 5

That's probably more Feldman than Webern, then!

Mind you rest that knee, Sc ...

[amateur51]

AM-kneesia??

Ouch!

U-PUN my word sirrah, that was a shocker

[Bax-of-Delights]

Good work suffolkcoastal - especially at this time when the mindset of the R3 producers is chanelling more and more towards the mainstream.

I suspect Bax was represented primarily by Tintagel and Garden of Fand plus the one prom performance of a Symphony. Any others?

[Serial_Apologist]

I've done an initial study of the week Jan 3-9 1970 which shows some interesting facts. Bear in mind that it's a single week in isolation and therefore the detail may not be typical. Numerical information is hard to assess because often the name of a recitalist is given with no info on composers (predominantly mainstream, at a guess), while a programme of 'Bartok' doesn't reveal how many pieces were played and a name appearing may only refer to a single short song.

However, it's clear that contemporary composers figure largely - 24-ish? out of 65, not including, say, Sibelius or Elgar who are 'mainstream', not 'modernist'. Cardew and Ferneyhough already there! A bit more research would show how many were still living. Most contemporary composers are continental, with Italy figuring strongly. In terms of overall quantity, the great majority of the airtime would have been filled by mainstream composers and, I think, well-known works - though the details are missing to show that. This is the list of all named (incl. 'Anon''!) composers:

Anon
Aplvor, Denis
Arne
Arriaga
Bach
Barber
Bartok
Beethoven
Berio
Berlioz
Blacher, Boris
Boulez
Brahms
Britten
Cardew, C
Casella, A
Cecconi(-Botella), M
Chopin
Cornelius, P
Dallapiccola
De Leeuw, Ton
Debussy
Dvorak
Elgar
Ferneyhough
Franck
Ghedini, GF
Handel
Haydn
Josquin des Prez
Lawes, W
Lehar
Ligeti
Liszt
Lutyens
Mahler
Malipiero, GF
Méhul, E
Messiaen
Mozart
Penderecki
Petrassi, G
Praetorius
Purcell
Rameau
Ravel
Raxach, E
Scarlatti
Schoenberg
Schubert
Schumann
Serocki, K
Shostakovich
Sibelius
Strauss, R
Stravinsky
Tchaikovsky
Telemann
Varèse
Vaughan Williams
Vivaldi
Wagner
Warlock
Weber
Wishart, Peter

NB: This is the William Glock era!

My memory of R3 broadcasting in the late 60s/early 7os is very clear. I was avid for knowledge of new music at the time, and R3 was a huge source back then, which it no longer is. My father - who, bless him, was not keen on 20th century music other than the most conservative - had just then retired, and, as part of his hobby life, was marking up Radio Times every week for 20th century music broadcasts. Being the methodical man he was, he had neatly arranged charts of lengths of works to be broadcast, (timings were mentioned back then in RT, and he complained and wrote to the BBC when the practice stopped, to be fobbed off), and of spaces on reel-to-reel tapes remaining for recording them on. Whenever I returned home - I was living in Bristol at the time - he would regale me with tapings he had made in the interim, and I would spend the whole time catching up, and thrilling in the experience. The "chart" for the coming week would always be covered with recordings of pieces not to be missed. In consequence I had ideas for a book intended to popularise modern music, from Mahler and Debussy to Peter Maxwell Davies, thus making it less "elitist" as I saw it - though fortunately the idea never got beyond 500 sheets of typed foolscap in a very immature writing style. I only mention this for the fact that such was the enthusiasm that Radio 3 was then capable of generating in a young listener previously weaned on the classics and the romantics - and I was not the only one.

S-A

[Norfolk Born]

Ouch!

U-PUN my word sirrah, that was a shocker

Best wishes from me and from my two lady friends (Pat, Ella)

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Thanks for #46, Suffy!

[amateur51]

Best wishes from me and from my two lady friends (Pat, Ella)

Trust you to cap it, Norfs!

[EdgeleyRob]

Fascinating stuff SF and many thanks.I assume Stanford,Field and Lloyd were off the bottom of the scale?

[Suffolkcoastal]

The Bax 2nd symphony prom had a repeat so the symphony appeared twice BoD but that was the only complete symphony by Bax played. The Bax total was 30+ (between 30 & 34). It was less Tintagel orientated than before, but still largely favouring shorter works.

EdgeleyRob
Stanford = 45+
Field = 8
G Lloyd = 1!

BW
SC

[Norfolk Born]

Trust you to cap it, Norfs!

Boom!Boom!

[EdgeleyRob]

The Bax 2nd symphony prom had a repeat so the symphony appeared twice BoD but that was the only complete symphony by Bax played. The Bax total was 30+ (between 30 & 34). It was less Tintagel orientated than before, but still largely favouring shorter works.

EdgeleyRob
Stanford = 45+
Field = 8
G Lloyd = 1!

BW
SC

Appreciate that.

Lloydy scrapes in by the skin of his teeth !

[MrGongGong]

For Mr GG

Berg = 40+
Webern = 25+
Ligeti = 45+
Feldman = 5

for Ferneyhoughgeliebte

Dunstable = 5
Perotin = 6
Machaut = 25+
Schutz = 30+
Ockeghem = 15+
Dufay = 10+

Thanks for the good wishes, the injury is doubly annoying as I was due to have my induction in the newly referbished gym today and having already been missing my workouts as whilst the gym was closed,I was in need of my gym fix!

Thanks and good wishes for legging it in future

[rauschwerk]

My memory of R3 broadcasting in the late 60s/early 7os is very clear. I was avid for knowledge of new music at the time, and R3 was a huge source back then, which it no longer is.

Indeed. In those days, of course, far less new music was available on commercial recordings and in real terms it was much more expensive than nowadays. But I agree with the point made elsewhere on this thread, namely that someone turning on R3 at random has very little chance of hearing any but the most popular works of the great 20th century composers. Municipal record libraries are, I suspect, not what they were. How many nowadays will chance it and buy their first Bartok/Stravinsky/Schoenberg recording, even for a fiver, without any idea whether they might like it? I was inspired to much adventurous listening by Antony Hopkins but the modern equivalent of his programme (Discovering Music) has virtually been axed.

[french frank]

I was inspired to much adventurous listening by Antony Hopkins but the modern equivalent of his programme (Discovering Music) has virtually been axed.

In any case, much of the Discovering Music content, especially now that it precedes an evening concert performance, has been focused on pretty well-known works. In parallel with Hear & Now a programme which dealt with the landmark 20th century works and composers would fill an important gap.

In 1970, be it noted, Music in Our Time (= Hear & Now) was broadcast in the late afternoon, not at 11.30pm.