The Choir 26.01.14

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

You dilute the force of your criticism with an obvious inaccuracy. The named soloist, Paul Groves, had sung at the beginning of the bleeding chunk in question - before the Kyrie.

Then I stand corrected.

[Vox Humana]

This seems the logical place to post this link.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/bbc/10607639/Why-Radio-3-is-out-of-tune-with-its-listeners.html?

[jean]

There's a thread on the article already:

http://www.for3.org/forums/showthread.php?10405-Michael-White-weighs-into-the-debate&highlight=michael+White

[Vox Humana]

Thank you. I had overlooked it.

[antongould]

Any views on this week's Choir?

[ardcarp]

I'm probably shirking my Hostly duties, anton g, but I find it very depressing to listen to The Choir these days. With reference to last Sunday's, it's great that people want to meet up and sing madrigals (they are wrongly neglected and, thanks to Kingsley Amis wrongly looked down upon, IMO) but listening to a guy talking about finding The Silver Swan the pinnacle of his achievement is frankly boring. Yes, I stuck with the programme that far. The presentation style which has been forced onto The Choir has been much discussed, and one can't keep on being outraged about it week after week. One just runs out of outrage.

A final burst then. Could we not have had a presenter that knows something about it? Here is the tail-end of SMP's Wiki biog:

She is also a singer and pianist and plays the viola da gamba - "incredibly badly" in her own words.
In support of Red Nose Day 2013, More[sic]-Pietch set herself the challenge of learning eight notes on the cello in seven days, as part of a comic rendition of Pachelbel's Canon.[5]

Is this the best you can do, Beeb?

[Radio64]

Agreed. I'm a relative newcomer but was more than a little disappointed on listening to The Choir, especially for the rather dour presentation.




(Get C B-H on the job! )

[DracoM]

One size fits all. If it works for Breakfast, then it'll work for everything - tweets, banality, 'tracks', gush, ignorance, patronising dilution, anti-specialist exclusivity - yes a new BBC stance - anonymise and iron out complexity in case if frightens people.

The headlines, Parliamentary Cttees, the broadsheet articles and feedback from REAL punters and their rants, NOTHING seemingly can deflect RW from vampire like sucking the life blood out of R3nad leaving it helpless, bloodless, unexciting and dying on its CFM-lookalike feet. .

The Choir has access to arguably one of the most specialised audiences of the week, with the jazz programmes, and yet it treats that audience as if they were all Y10. I'd weep if I thought it worthwhile or effective.

[Gabriel Jackson]

Could we not have had a presenter that knows something about it? Here is the tail-end of SMP's Wiki biog:

She is also a singer and pianist and plays the viola da gamba - "incredibly badly" in her own words.
In support of Red Nose Day 2013, More[sic]-Pietch set herself the challenge of learning eight notes on the cello in seven days, as part of a comic rendition of Pachelbel's Canon.[5]

I haven't heard the programme since she started presenting it, but Sara Mohr-Pietsch does know "something about it"...in fact a great deal more than just "something".

[ardcarp]

I'm sure she does, GJ, and no doubt I was being a bit harsh. Nevertheless in her role as a professional presenter rather than a professional choir-person, she has to dance to the tune of the current odious R3 house style, and I do not respect her for it.

[Vox Humana]

...listening to a guy talking about finding The Silver Swan the pinnacle of his achievement...

Oh, dear God. Shoot me now. This is "Janet and John" stuff.*

* Or "Peter and Jane" if you prefer.

[mercia]

at circa 21 minutes there should be time for the whole of the Symphony of Psalms today

[HARRIET HAVARD]

You obviously never had the misfortune to listen to SMP's presentation on Breakfast, GJ. Which is why, I would guess, most of us assumed she has been moved to the graveyard shift of the Choir.

[DracoM]

Well, gee, thanks! 'The graveyard slot'. Right.

It's supposed to be a programme that intelligently and thoughtfully comments on and plays music from the choral world. Given that more people of all ages sing regularly and irregularly in choirs and other choral ensembles than any single activity other than sex and shopping in UK, you'd think that they might manage to reflect and treat with some respect and maybe even dignity one of the most specialised and possibly most hands-on knowledgeable - along with probably the jazz fans - audiences on R3.

This should not be an anodyne musical wallpaper 'episode' with tweets, emails, gush, waffle and 'tracks', but something just a bit more attentively informed. And SM-P's manner / style compounds the felony as far as I'm concerned, along with the benighted editor / producer. Between them, they have made this a show for Y10's, and frankly I resent and despise what the BBC have done to a genre I love.

[Old Grumpy]

at circa 21 minutes there should be time for the whole of the Symphony of Psalms today

It appears you will be in luck, judging from the brief trail I have just heard.

OG