Saturday morning success!

[oddoneout]

I know that I may be in a minority in this forum, but I do greatly enjoy the new Saturday schedule.

Until every forum member gives an opinion you won't know if you are in a minority!
I would have to be in the N/A box as I didn't listen(or at least not for quite a long time) to the Saturday output pre-SJ anyway, partly from choice and partly from circumstance.
Somewhat ironically though, I notice that today's Music Matters slot in theory might be of interest to me, but I have been disappointed previously with new programmes that sound interesting but which are not as expected, so I am wary of making the time to catch it.

[french frank]

I know that I may be in a minority in this forum, but I do greatly enjoy the new Saturday schedule.

Nodody would deny that whatever Radio 3 chooses to broadcast will find an enthusiastic listener somewhere, in fact it will find several or an entire audience of listeners. If you enjoy it, Radio3 is broadcasting it for you. But individual listeners saying they enjoy something is good only for the BBC and Radio 3: Look, our critics aren't even representative, the listening figures are up, we are getting things right.

Why is this response inadequate? Write on both sides of the page and leave the margins clear.

[french frank]

And by the way, I've spent the last hour (a bit less actually as I skipped some bits) listening to last Saturday's Jools Holland hour. I shall try to avoid value judgements as far as humanly possible. But I may share my comments

[LMcD]

I know that I may be in a minority in this forum, but I do greatly enjoy the new Saturday schedule.

I try not to miss the 8.00 a.m. news summary.

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I switched on Radio 3 about half an hour ago, not knowing which programme was being broadcast, and was soon chuntering to myself “Which patronising nutter is this?”
Everything was “fantastic” ,”remarkable” and all the other platitudinous clichés. Well, of course it was Radio 2’s Jools Holland, dragging down Radio 3 still further.

Not impressed.

[LMcD]

I switched on Radio 3 about half an hour ago, not knowing which programme was being broadcast, and was soon chuntering to myself “Which patronising nutter is this?”
Everything was “fantastic” ,”remarkable” and all the other platitudinous clichés. Well, of course it was Radio 2’s Jools Holland, dragging down Radio 3 still further.

Not impressed.

I switched off Radio 3 about 4 hours ago and may well not switch on again until tomorrow's 'Private Passions'.

[hmvman]

I switched off Radio 3 about 4 hours ago and may well not switch on again until tomorrow's 'Private Passions'.

R3 firmly off for most of Saturdays in this household. Although I'm planning on doing household chores at 2 o'clock today and have Record Review on.

[smittims]

I avoid Saturdays but sometimes tune in for 'Sunday Morning' while cooking. I've come to accept only single movements of approx 3 minutes duration.

[french frank]

I've come to accept only single movements of approx 3 minutes duration.

I think that's the general idea. Keep giving people something for long enough and they'll be bludgeoned into submission, probably with brain damage. I still don't find 4-minute musical miscellanies intellectually engaging.

[LMcD]

I think that's the general idea. Keep giving people something for long enough and they'll be bludgeoned into submission, probably with brain damage. I still don't find 4-minute musical miscellanies intellectually engaging.

I found the first 30 minutes of today's Saturday Breakfast very satisfying - Debussy Arabesque No.1, Vaughan Williams Tallis Fantasia and Corelli Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 2 - but things got a bit fragmented after the news bulletin.

[Serial_Apologist]

I think that's the general idea. Keep giving people something for long enough and they'll be bludgeoned into submission, probably with brain damage. I still don't find 4-minute musical miscellanies intellectually engaging.

Or emotionally either, in my case: they're the equivalent of art objects on mantelpieces until the owner on request gives the details of what they are, where they came from, how old they are and, where germane, where and when they were bought - none of which will we be informed of in such programmes.

[Serial_Apologist]

I found the first 30 minutes of today's Saturday Breakfast very satisfying - Debussy Arabesque No.1, Vaughan Williams Tallis Fantasia and Corelli Concerto Grosso Op. 6 No. 2 - but things got a bit fragmented after the news bulletin.

Musical extracts can be put to all manner of purposes... I remember back in the 1960s buying one of those intended to be popular LPs of "purple passages from the great composers" that used to be around, and a girlfriend of the time said "That's a nice tune"!

[cloughie]

I switched on Radio 3 about half an hour ago, not knowing which programme was being broadcast, and was soon chuntering to myself “Which patronising nutter is this?”
Everything was “fantastic” ,”remarkable” and all the other platitudinous clichés. Well, of course it was Radio 2’s Jools Holland, dragging down Radio 3 still further.

Not impressed.

I don’t know whether Jools fits into R3 - I’ve never listened in to find out. I do think in the pop/rock field and the ‘Later’ mode he is an excellent accompanist - Adele, a singer I do not particularly find as good as many others obviously do, sings Dylan’s ‘Make you feel my love’ with Jools’ solo piano accompaniment - to my ears - excellent.

[french frank]

I don’t know whether Jools fits into R3 - I’ve never listened in to find out.

I listened to a complete programme because when I say 'I don't listen to R3 now' people ask 'Well how can you criticise it?" There are various things about R3 which one can criticise without the need to listen e.g. the almost total absence of complete works of any length. But when I say I don't listen, I'm not counting the occasional forays to discover what other people are talking about and to find out whether they have a point.

On the day (last week) that I listened, his guest was a jazz musician whose name escapes me (I will check), but who chose mainly classical works. What struck me was that two musicians were talking together and said virtually not a word about 'music' or Music. It was almost entirely unenlightening chat. No discussion about classical music, no discussion about jazz. Pointless as far as I was concerned.

It was a few weeks ago: the jazz musician was Michael 'Bami' Rose.

[smittims]

I've noticed this on Radio 3 for some years, so much so that I am sure it is deliberate policy. They give the impression that they are talking about music, but if you listen carefully you find they are not really talking about music as such, just things around it, such as a musician's life,the story of an opera, the financial success of a concert series, etc.

I think is is a general trend in broadcasting. Some years ago I saw a half-hour Tv programme 'action from the (name forgotten) yacht race'. Most of it showed the participants eating, drinking and laughing. There were just eight minutes of actual yacht racing.