Tales from the Stave: Radio 4

[hmvman]

This is a 'talking about music' prog but it isn't on R3 so apologies if I've posted on the wrong board.

Anyway, I just thought I'd draw attention to this series because I thought Tuesday's edition about Coates' London Suite was really enjoyable; interesting and entertaining. I'm annoyed I missed the first programme about VW's 'Serenade to Music' so hoping for a repeat some time. Here's a link to the site http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007050r

As I commented on the R4 boards, the only thing that would've been nice to have were some photos of the scores themselves on the web page since they were the main subject of the discussion.

[salymap]

hmvman. Thanks for that. I missed the Coates and shall try to get it on iplayer. I posted and heard the RVW programme though and, yes, it was very good. I expect it will be repeated some time or other.

[hmvman]

I'm sure you will enjoy the Coates programme, Salymap. I knew he was a fastidious composer and composed in full score but I didn't realise quite how fastidious until I heard this programme. Rob Cowan's on there making the point that just because music is 'light' in character it doesn't mean it isn't well-crafted (I'm still amazed at the number of people I meet who write off 'light' music as something trivial). I was also amazed to hear about how luxurious Coates' flat in Chiltern Court was!

[salymap]

Well hmvman, if he got PRS fees, [or would it be MCPS?] for the number of times his music was used for regular radio programmes,he was on to a nice little earner. Off hand I can think of'In Town Tonight', 'Workers'
Playtime', 'Desert Island Discs'.

[rauschwerk]

Salymap, you surely mean Music While You Work, not Workers' Playtime?

It seems that in the 1930s, Coates was earning £300 per week - quite a lot more than many earned in a year.

[salymap]

Yes, I was very young and always get that wrong