'Light Fantastic' Light Music Series

[groovydavidii]

Anyone remember “Light Fantastic” Radio 3 series devoted to ‘Light’ music, of which Brian Kay describes as ’tuneful melody, easy on the ear’ – favourites such as ‘Westminster Chimes,’ Coronation Scot, etc., a mood uplifting series, surely due repeating for these uncertain times?

[Petrushka]

Anyone remember “Light Fantastic” Radio 3 series devoted to ‘Light’ music, of which Brian Kay describes as ’tuneful melody, easy on the ear’ – favourites such as ‘Westminster Chimes,’ Coronation Scot, etc., a mood uplifting series, surely due repeating for these uncertain times?

Yes indeed, I remember that series, one of which was televised on either BBC2 or BBC4, I forget which.

Going back even further, I recall that light music was very much the preserve of Radio 2 and back in the 1970s the BBC put on the BBC International Festival of Light Music in a number of concerts at the Royal Festival Hall. Other Radio 2 programmes (eg Torchlight on Music, Marching & Waltzing, Music While You Work, Eric Robinson's Melodies For You etc) brought light classical music to a huge radio audience.

Nowadays, light music doesn't seem to have an outlet on broadcast media and seems to have fallen almost entirely into neglect. It's a great pity because for many people it provided the stepping-stone to try more serious music and graduate to Radio 3. In fact, I pretty much followed that path myself!