New schedule: has *this* been discussed?

[LezLee]

Today’s playlist. Quite an achievement for a half an hour programme.

Antonin Dvorak – Symphony No.9 'New World', 1st movement (Baltimore Symphony Orchestra / Marin Alsop)
Quincy Jones - The Separation (‘The Color Purple’)
Bela Bartok - Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion, 3rd movement (Cedric Tiberghien, Francois-Frederic Guy - piano / Colin Currie, Sam Walton - percussion)
Nadia Boulanger - Vers La Vie Nouvelle (Lucy Mauro - piano)
Steve Reich - Music for a Large Ensemble (Steve Reich Ensemble - ECM Recording)
Franz von Biber – Passacaglia in G minor 'Guardian Angel' (Rachel Podger - violin)
Maurice Ravel - La Valse (New York Philharmonic / Leonard Bernstein)
Vernon Duke/Yip Harburg - April in Paris (Ella Fitzgerald / Louis Armstrong)
https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00040cg

I don’t know what it was supposed to achieve, all it did for me was annoy me beyond measure. What an ill-conceived load of rubbish.

[french frank]

For me, Record Review WAS an 'entry point' programme since I learned so much about recordings and music. And yes, I usually was out on Saturday mornings so that left me perusing Radio Times to decide which 2 hours I most wanted to hear so I could set my electric plug timer to, hopefully, grab the chosen two hours on a fragile C120 cassette tape!

A techie even in those days - I'm so impressed!

[Bryn]

For me, Record Review WAS an 'entry point' programme since I learned so much about recordings and music. And yes, I usually was out on Saturday mornings so that left me perusing Radio Times to decide which 2 hours I most wanted to hear so I could set my electric plug timer to, hopefully, grab the chosen two hours on a fragile C120 cassette tape!

Auto-reverse, eh? Bin there, dun that. Pot luck on what you lost during the switch-round.

[french frank]

I don’t know what it was supposed to achieve …

Well, the controller has said: "The great thing about younger audiences is that their taste is not rigidly defined by genre. They discover music from all kinds of sources, and their ears are not put off by something that is unfamiliar."

What I think might be the case is that as the various genres become more familiar, older audiences become more discriminating as they hear more, and gravitate towards the 'genres' that they enjoy most.

Result: any programme that aims to attract younger/'replenisher' listeners will have the classical music wrapped up in a mix of genres in the hope that new listeners will be attracted by the classical and move on to the more specialised. Unfortunately, there's no evidence (that I know of) that that is the way it generally works. If anything, they move on to more specialised genres which exclude classical music.

Meanwhile those who have already made their 'discriminatory' choices have less and less to listen to on *Radio* 3.

[LezLee]

I suppose at 78 I’m in the wrong demographic...

[agingjb]

Extracts, gushed over while being played. Who is it for?

I suspect that the presenter isn't quite the enthusiast for music of all kinds that she claimed in the repetitive trailers for "this classical life".
On the evidence, she would rather talk about music than listen to it.

[cloughie]

Well, the controller has said: "The great thing about younger audiences is that their taste is not rigidly defined by genre. They discover music from all kinds of sources, and their ears are not put off by something that is unfamiliar."

What I think might be the case is that as the various genres become more familiar, older audiences become more discriminating as they hear more, and gravitate towards the 'genres' that they enjoy most.

Result: any programme that aims to attract younger/'replenisher' listeners will have the classical music wrapped up in a mix of genres in the hope that new listeners will be attracted by the classical and move on to the more specialised. Unfortunately, there's no evidence (that I know of) that that is the way it generally works. If anything, they move on to more specialised genres which exclude classical music.

Meanwhile those who have already made their 'discriminatory' choices have less and less to listen to on *Radio* 3.

I hope that what was said about younger audiences and genres is true but I fear classical is a genre which is not part of their agenda and is largely absent from R1 2 & 6. Those stations should be the breeding grounds for broadening tastes, sadly they are not!

[DracoM]

[french frank]

I hope that what was said about younger audiences and genres is true but I fear classical is a genre which is not part of their agenda and is largely absent from R1 2 & 6. Those stations should be the breeding grounds for broadening tastes, sadly they are not!

That is what FoR3 (i.e., in this case, me) have been telling the BBC for years and years. But the wider BBC doesn't want to know - they pursue the genres that bring in bigger audiences. Proms coverage gets diluted, reduced and shipped off to the sidelines of BBC FOUR and it's left to Radio 3 to somehow try to:

1) pull in new listeners (any content will do) and

2) then try to interest them in Radio 3's 'core proposition' (BBC Trust speak for classical music`).

If the station aims for 'the centre of the mass', people at both ends drop away; so they move further and further towards the easy listening popular. I don't have recent figures - and statistics can be complex to interpret - but if the average age of the Radio 3 audience has now risen to 60, the chances are that they aren't attracting the young. The 'replenisher' group (35-54) seems to be the easy listening audience fed up with CFM's commercials.

* NB 'broadening tastes' doesn't include classical music.

[cloughie]

That is what FoR3 (i.e., in this case, me) have been telling the BBC for years and years. But the wider BBC doesn't want to know - they pursue the genres that bring in bigger audiences. Proms coverage gets diluted, reduced and shipped off to the sidelines of BBC FOUR and it's left to Radio 3 to somehow try to:

1) pull in new listeners (any content will do) and

2) then try to interest them in Radio 3's 'core proposition' (BBC Trust speak for classical music`).

If the station aims for 'the centre of the mass', people at both ends drop away; so they move further and further towards the easy listening popular. I don't have recent figures - and statistics can be complex to interpret - but if the average age of the Radio 3 audience has now risen to 60, the chances are that they aren't attracting the young. The 'replenisher' group (35-54) seems to be the easy listening audience fed up with CFM's commercials.

* NB 'broadening tastes' doesn't include classical music.

Broaden tastes on R1 2 & 6 exists minimally anywhere outside mainstream 80s and onwards pop. It is a disgrace!

[french frank]

Broaden tastes on R1 2 & 6 exists minimally anywhere outside mainstream 80s and onwards pop. It is a disgrace!

I was surprised when the (then) Director of Radio described R1 as having a wide range of music: garage, acid house, drum n bass, grunge, grime, pop ...

Forgot reggae, rap, hip hop, trip hop ...

[vinteuil]

I was surprised when the (then) Director of Radio described R1 as having a wide range of music: garage, acid house, drum n bass, grunge, grime, pop ...

Forgot reggae, rap, hip hop, trip hop ...

... wot? no ars subtilior ???

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ars_subtilior

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[teamsaint]

Extracts, gushed over while being played. Who is it for?

I suspect that the presenter isn't quite the enthusiast for music of all kinds that she claimed in the repetitive trailers for "this classical life".
On the evidence, she would rather talk about music than listen to it.

If this is Jess Gillam we are discussing, I wonder how broad a taste and knowledge anybody can have at her age ?

[french frank]

... wot? no ars subtilior ???

Well, no. And if one is going to subdivide contemporary pop music into its various constituent strands (forgot dub, ska), why not the various strands of classical music (Gregorian chant, medieval monophonic - Richard Barrett )?

Answer: Those capable (with the help of their teenage children) of subdividing contemporary pop regard "classical music" as a single genre.

[MrGongGong]

If this is Jess Gillam we are discussing, I wonder how broad a taste and knowledge anybody can have at her age ?

Probably a lot more than many around here

I've not heard this yet BUT my only other comment, based on experience
is that

"Young people" DON'T have short attention spans for music
they might have a "short attention span" (along with other folks) for music presented in a context that doesn't invite listening and focus
BUT that is something else entirely

I recently did 5 gigs of "long form" performance with Carnatic singing, live electronics, field recordings and a Portuguese traditional singer to large audiences of about 120 folks including predominantly children under the age of 10. No-one seemed "bored" or expressed a desire for the music to be "packaged" in a different way. People sat/lay on the floor and listened and some went to sleep! Which, given that most of the content was lullabies, was entirely appropriate.