A new presenter for COTW

[Nick Armstrong]

Donald Macleod will henceforth be sharing COTW presenting duties, starting next week with Ligeti…



I’ll leave it to others to comment.

[smittims]

I suppose I'm disqualified, as I don't listen to this programme these days. I prefer whole works to snippets, I'd rather they talked about the music than the composer's private life, and I don't care for Kate Molleson's style; so no change to my midday schedule.

I've long thought this programme should be replaced by one playing complete pieces, and not limited to five hour-long episodes. The spoken info would be about the work's structure, unusual features, aspects of originality, etc. But I see no chance of such a programme being introduced on Radio 3 in its present way of doing things.

[oddoneout]

I suppose I'm disqualified, as I don't listen to this programme these days. I prefer whole works to snippets, I'd rather they talked about the music than the composer's private life, and I don't care for Kate Molleson's style; so no change to my midday schedule.

I've long thought this programme should be replaced by one playing complete pieces, and not limited to five hour-long episodes. The spoken info would be about the work's structure, unusual features, aspects of originality, etc. But I see no chance of such a programme being introduced on Radio 3 in its present way of doing things.

The reason I enjoy CotW is the chance to find out more about the composer as a person - the way life(private and public) influenced the works, events that changed the direction of that life and/or the nature of the composing, the context of that person's life, something beyond the "5 well known facts about composer X". Other programmes during the week will/may reference that composer with performances of complete works - Lunchtime Concert, Afternoon on 3, Evening Concert. On CotW I find that I listen to music by composers I otherwise wouldn't listen to, or don't necessarily have much general interest in, because the format makes it more digestible. It also covers lesser known composers whose work I wouldn't encounter.
Whether complete works are played rather depends on the nature of the composer's output.
Kate Molleson isn't an "off switch" presenter for me so I shall be interested to see how she approaches the role - and how much pressure might be brought to bear to "improve" it with a presenter change. After so many years of 'CotW is DMcC is CotW' it will take a bit of getting used to but at least the programme itself is continuing.

[teamsaint]

The reason I enjoy CotW is the chance to find out more about the composer as a person - the way life(private and public) influenced the works, events that changed the direction of that life and/or the nature of the composing, the context of that person's life, something beyond the "5 well known facts about composer X". Other programmes during the week will/may reference that composer with performances of complete works - Lunchtime Concert, Afternoon on 3, Evening Concert. On CotW I find that I listen to music by composers I otherwise wouldn't listen to, or don't necessarily have much general interest in, because the format makes it more digestible. It also covers lesser known composers whose work I wouldn't encounter.
Whether complete works are played rather depends on the nature of the composer's output.
Kate Molleson isn't an "off switch" presenter for me so I shall be interested to see how she approaches the role - and how much pressure might be brought to bear to "improve" it with a presenter change. After so many years of 'CotW is DMcC is CotW' it will take a bit of getting used to but at least the programme itself is continuing.

I would ‘t say that KM is an “ off switch” presenter, but she does seem to get an extraordinary amount of work on R3 , while other good presenters seem to get less than perhaps they ought.

[oddoneout]

I would ‘t say that KM is an “ off switch” presenter, but she does seem to get an extraordinary amount of work on R3 , while other good presenters seem to get less than perhaps they ought.

I can't say I've noticed that she dominates in terms of airwave hours, but in any case to what extent are such decisions solely the management's? Do all presenters want maximum hours?

[Ein Heldenleben]

I can't say I've noticed that she dominates in terms of airwave hours, but in any case to what extent are such decisions solely the management's? Do all presenters want maximum hours?

Probably not. From my experience though quite a few presenters would be quite happy being on air from 06.00 to 00.00 were that possible. There’s one local radio presenter who used to pretty much do presenting / newsreading work on and off from 06.00 to 22.30. I also had freelance friends would regularly do a day shift with one company and an evening with another.

[gurnemanz]

The reason I enjoy CotW is the chance to find out more about the composer as a person - the way life(private and public) influenced the works, events that changed the direction of that life and/or the nature of the composing, the context of that person's life, something beyond the "5 well known facts about composer X". Other programmes during the week will/may reference that composer with performances of complete works - Lunchtime Concert, Afternoon on 3, Evening Concert. On CotW I find that I listen to music by composers I otherwise wouldn't listen to, or don't necessarily have much general interest in, because the format makes it more digestible. It also covers lesser known composers whose work I wouldn't encounter.
Whether complete works are played rather depends on the nature of the composer's output.
Kate Molleson isn't an "off switch" presenter for me so I shall be interested to see how she approaches the role - and how much pressure might be brought to bear to "improve" it with a presenter change. After so many years of 'CotW is DMcC is CotW' it will take a bit of getting used to but at least the programme itself is continuing.

I agree with all that. CotW is a R3 programme that I usually do listen to because it does do more than just play the music. I mostly then stay tuned for Lunchtime Concert, especially if it's song recital.

[Master Jacques]

I am probably alone in feeling positive about the fact that "national treasure" Donald Macleod, who has been in charge since 1999, has at last agreed to share the workload of Composer of the Week. From its foundation in 1943, until his advent, it was usually simply presented by whoever happened to be duty announcer on the day. That seems to me a good way to keep focus on the music and biographical content, rather than on the presenter or star interviewees. It's different when living composers are available, but the dead ones sometimes get upstaged by the programme's increasing tendency to rove far and wide outside the studio.

Macleod introduced a "personality" element, which for me has its downside as well as advantages. His affable broadcasting expertise is very potent. And he "knows what he knows", which on the other hand means he is not always open to modern biographical and/or musicological research, or willing to accept changing perspectives on some of his subject composers.

He has also in recent years become something of a bandwagon merchant. Alas, that is hardly going to diminish, with Kate Molleson at the helm of CotW. For me, this is a classic case of "be careful what you wish for": the programme certainly needed refreshing, but .... oh dear me!

[french frank]

CotW used at one time to have a rota of presenters (Catriona Young was certainly one who served her turn). Not sure of the timing but it could have been when Donald Macleod ended his stint as sole presenter of TTN (oh, what kind of social life could he have had, I used to think ) that he moved to become sole presenter of CotW. I thinks it's better if there's a rota of several presenters so that listeners don't make an indissoluble link between the presenter and the programme. (That said people still seem to talk more about their fave presenters: unfave presenters are more often a switch-off so people don't tend to talk about them as much - or, if they do, it becomes repetiitive.) Presenterland is one of the reasons I just lost interest in Radio 3 whatever the music.

[AuntDaisy]

Disappointing news, I was looking forward to DM on D Scarlatti.
I suppose it could be worse - how about Elizabeth Alker's (De-)Composer of the Week?

CotW used at one time to have a rota of presenters (Catriona Young was certainly one who served her turn). Not sure of the timing but it could have been when Donald Macleod ended his stint as sole presenter of TTN (oh, what kind of social life could he have had, I used to think )...

Thanks french frank, that was news to me.
~1994 COTW had Susan Sharpe, Penny Gore, Chris de Souza, John Thornley, Paul Hindmarsh, Misha Donat...

Could DM's end of stint have been ~15/5/1999? Susan Sharpe presented the following TTNs.

[Ein Heldenleben]

I am probably alone in feeling positive about the fact that "national treasure" Donald Macleod, who has been in charge since 1999, has at last agreed to share the workload of Composer of the Week. From its foundation in 1943, until his advent, it was usually simply presented by whoever happened to be duty announcer on the day. That seems to me a good way to keep focus on the music and biographical content, rather than on the presenter or star interviewees. It's different when living composers are available, but the dead ones sometimes get upstaged by the programme's increasing tendency to rove far and wide outside the studio.

Macleod introduced a "personality" element, which for me has its downside as well as advantages. His affable broadcasting expertise is very potent. And he "knows what he knows", which on the other hand means he is not always open to modern biographical and/or musicological research, or willing to accept changing perspectives on some of his subject composers.

He has also in recent years become something of a bandwagon merchant. Alas, that is hardly going to diminish, with Kate Molleson at the helm of CotW. For me, this is a classic case of "be careful what you wish for": the programme certainly needed refreshing, but .... oh dear me!

I am reliably informed (by a non BBC source ) that the programmes are researched and at least partly scripted in Cardiff by a recent Oxford music graduate.

[Master Jacques]

I am reliably informed (by a non BBC source ) that the programmes are researched and at least partly scripted in Cardiff by a recent Oxford music graduate.

My informant puts it slightly differently: the recent music graduate is the latest in a line of all-rounder interns, who put in the heavy digging before DM "adjusts" their results. Point being, the research level of the programme isn't high enough, in my opinion, tending to regurgitate conventional encyclopedic material, rather than quarrying expert recent study. It's a question of time and money, of course, but DM's style plays a part too.

[Master Jacques]

I suppose it could be worse - how about Elizabeth Alker's (De-)Composer of the Week?

I don't know. She might actually learn something! Hope springs eternal...

[Ein Heldenleben]

My informant puts it slightly differently: the recent music graduate is the latest in a line of all-rounder interns, who put in the heavy digging before DM "adjusts" their results. Point being, the research level of the programme isn't high enough, in my opinion, tending to regurgitate conventional encyclopedic material, rather than quarrying expert recent study. It's a question of time and money, of course, but DM's style plays a part too.

You mean a bit like writing an Oxford undergraduate essay ?

[vinteuil]

You mean a bit like writing an Oxford undergraduate essay ?

... speaking from how it was for you?

.