Essential Classics??

[doversoul1]

I have a nagging suspicion that BBC is doing what it is doing not because it thinks that’s what people want but because it is trying to turn people/nation into Janet and John or Peter and Jane. It will be a lot easier to control or make money… It could explain why it is so determined not to listen to what we are saying.

For what reasons, I don’t know….

[salymap]

But it's all soooooooooo sad. I feel I've lost a friend.

[Anna]

I do so hope (cross referencing to the Feedback on 4 Thread) that Draco and Decantor will forward a copy of what they have written to that programme for RW to reply to when he is interviewed in a couple of weeks time. They have put into words what we are thinking but far more eloquently than most of us could.

[BBMmk2]

I hope so Anna. I for one would not be so diplomaticv! It is quite disparaging what the BBC is doing!

[french frank]

Heaven knows what evidence RW & Co had in front of them in deciding these things,

It's a well known trick: first decide what you want to demonstrate, then collect the evidence to support what you want to do. The Trust wanted to demonstrate that R3 was not aping CFM.

First, it states that 'Radio 3 is not proving to be an alternative for Classic FM listeners and is not a cause of its declining listening figures'. It then quotes from RadioCentre/CFM's submission:

"In its submission to this review, RadioCentre supports this view by noting that to date, Radio 3 and Classic FM have largely fulfilled complementary and symbiotic roles. They have however, raised some concerns regarding their perception that Radio 3’s audience proposition is becoming more like that of Classic FM, which we have considered below."

They concede that 'some concerns' were expressed, but finally conclude: "We have found no compelling evidence in our review that the quality of Radio 3 output is diminishing, or that these changes have alienated the core audience or reduced the delivery of public value in any way. "



But if you look at RadioCentre's submission, it is their opening sentence of the first paragraph (of nine) that the Trust quotes. The other eight paragraphs are devoted to critical comments:

3.2. However, we are concerned that elements of the Radio 3 schedule point towards an increasing popularisation of the service. Programming elements, such as the A-Z of Opera, a classical music chart and the Nation's Favourite Aria, borrow significantly from the commercial sector (the Classic FM Chart has been running since 1992; the Classic FM Hall of Fame listener poll since 1996 and the A to Z of Classic FM Music since 2008). [...]

3.3. We are concerned that this marks a dilution of Radio 3's core public service output. Perhaps more worryingly, this seems to be driven by an attempt to increase audience. [...]

3.4 [...] We believe that this is another example of the 'ratings by day, reputation by night' strategy, as practised by other BBC radio stations - most obviously Radio 1 and Radio 2.

3.5. It is critical that Radio 3 maintains its distinctiveness during peak time and not just during off-peak periods and re-focuses on what makes it a distinctive service - its emphasis on live and specially recorded classical music, its promotion of less familiar work and commissioning of new music, its jazz and world music output, and its high quality speech output, including investment in drama and religious programming [...]

3.6. Radio 3 must also acknowledge the enormous power that it wields within the classical music world - and use this power in a responsible manner. We note that the post of Radio 3 controller is responsible for classical music output across all BBC platforms, including the output of Radio 3 and the BBC Proms, in addition to four of the BBC's performing groups (the BBC Concert Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the BBC Singers). Radio 3 is also the most significant commissioner of new music in the UK. We believe that this concentration of power in the hands of one individual, with limited checks and balances, is unparalleled within the UK creative industries.

(The remaining three paragraphs touch on unrelated matters. The 'bold' is RadioCentre's own).

Out of all this, what does the Trust conclude? 'RadioCentre supports this view' (that R3 is not impinging on CFM's territory).

Sorry, but my reading is that RadioCentre is objecting to the direction R3 is going. The Trust also mention the concerns of Voice of the Listener and Viewer, Friends of Radio 3 and the Incorporated Society of Musicians, but they end up saying, 'Carry on as you're going even more determinedly, R3.

Trust? - I don't think so.

[If only we had a emoticon!]

[antongould]

But would Radio Centre / CFM not be, by definition, concerned about anything that R3 did to increase it's audience and hence diminish their revenues? Surely the "goal" of Radio Centre - never put into words of course - is the end of R3 and beyond that of BBC Radio in total?

[DracoM]

FF

Telling. Must go to Feedback as evidence surely?

[aeolium]

ff, I've always thought that the Trust was completely flawed as a concept as well as in actual operation. It should imo be abolished and the BBC subjected to proper external and independent regulation, a proper form of accountability. Even if Chris Patten is a significant improvement on the wretched Michael Lyons, I don't think he can alter the fundamental ineffectiveness of the Trust as a means of providing proper critical scrutiny.

[french frank]

But would Radio Centre / CFM not be, by definition, concerned about anything that R3 did to increase it's audience and hence diminish their revenues? Surely the "goal" of Radio Centre - never put into words of course - is the end of R3 and beyond that of BBC Radio in total?

No. Why should RadioCentre care what Radio 3 does as long as it isn't invading CFM's territory?

The other point is that although the Trust demonstrates a degree of scepticism in referring to 'their [RadioCentre's] perception that Radio 3’s audience proposition is becoming more like that of Classic FM', they conveniently don't link it up with the listener 'perception' being exactly the same. We come from different directions. And the ISM is yet another direction.

Radio 3 will only affect Classic FM's listening figures (hence revenues) if it targets Classic FM's audience which is precisely what it's doing.

[What's more, they've blatantly manipulated the RAJAR figures to 'demonstrate' that R3 hasn't been taking listeners from CFM. I suspect the 'evidence' was obligingly supplied by management, but, of course, we're not allowed to see what management told the Trust.]

[Ferretfancy]

I know that Rob Cowan has to earn a living, but does he really subscribe to the fatuous nonsense that the 10 to 12 slot has now become? On the earlier message boards he sometimes contributed and offered suggestions and comments. Now he is silent.

[Panjandrum]

One thing which does not seem to have got much of an airing is the fact that while the new R3 "strategy" may have won new listeners to the station, and while some listeners may have found the new approach more accessible (whatever that means; AFAIK it is still on 90-93 Fm and digital ) it has just as patently lost as large a section of the audience as it has won over. Therefore, under any reasonable set of criteria, it cannot be considered an unqualified success, even by its most zealous advocates.

Someone needs to tell the Trust that this large potential audience which it has identified for R3, if it is truly deterred from listening by a perceived elitism, is going to struggle in the long run with anything which demands active listening. A constant loop of the same 100 best tunes is hardly ideal preparation for more demanding fare.

[Nick Armstrong]

I know that Rob Cowan has to earn a living, but does he really subscribe to the fatuous nonsense that the 10 to 12 slot has now become?

My schedule last week meant that I tuned in around 10:40 on two or three days. As mentioned elsewhere, I agree that the 'guest' slot is silly and unnecessary (one dreads to think what it's going to be like after a few dozen weeks when they start really scraping the barrel for 'celebs'). The 'personal shopper' item in Friday's prog was laughable

But once that travesty is over, the second half of the programme takes off I think, with Rob Cowan restored to his element. There was some great Rameau before the main event one day; and for me, the Szell Sibelius and above all the Byron Janis / Antal Dorati Rachmaninov 3rd Piano Concerto (what a cracker!! ) were great discoveries. I always thought that the saving grace of the programme might be for Rob to find interesting interpretations to play.

So I think half the show works. If only they would quietly abort the awful guest spot and let Rob (and Sarah Walker, though I'm considerably less confident about her) do what he does best.

[johnb]

After the first week, my impression is that Essential Classics is too much of a rag bag. The danger of these 'guests' is that you quickly discover how someone who might be tolerable for half an hour quickly becomes wearisome when on the programme every day of the week.

The one saving grace has been the outstanding recordings chosen for the "big work" at 11am. I'm grateful to the programme team for scheduling Haitink's Symphonie Fantastique (a recording which otherwise I would never have thought of) and the wonderful Szell Sibelius and Janis Rach 3.

[Ferretfancy]

Caliban,
It's certainly true that things pick up later in the morning on Essential Classics, and I also enjoyed the Sibelius and Rachmaninov items, especially as I've always loved the Byron Janis recording of No.3 The problem for me is that I will probably have many of these performances in my collection. If Rob Cowan presents less well known versions of standard works, that will be fine by me. Of course, sentimental memory can be a snare. The old CD Masters programme did have quite a few short items to fill the schedule, but there were a number of unusual choices among them, and in my view the overall result was a much more interesting balance of items than we are getting at the moment.

[Norfolk Born]

I see that one of this week's 'Essential Classics' is the Minneapolis/Dorati recording of Tchaikowsky's 1812 Overture - the one with the REAL CANNON! Who says standards are slipping?