Thread to talk about BBC Radio 3 output.

[DeCameron]

Thought this might be a good place to discuss, comment or flag upcoming items on Radio3.

I'm really enjoying this weeks composer, Jean-Baptiste Lully. Musical life in France in the reign of the Sun King sounded altogether more fruity than in England in the same period.

 

[Valvebloke]

Sibelius. Why ? He's not quite playing every time I tune in (there was a time when it felt like that) but I reckon he still gets way, way, way too much airtime. I'd have thought an hour or two a month would have been about right, preferably somewhere between 2am and 6am.

VB

EDIT: You couldn't make it up. 14:10 I go into the kitchen to make a sandwich. The Archers (unbearable soap opera) are on R4 so I flip over to R3. What do I hear ? That's right, you guessed it, turgid meandering drone. It has to be Sibelius (in fact his 5th symphony) :wall: .

 

[Chumpy]

Have heard/read today that BBC 3 a.m. DJs are all changing soon.

BBC R3 often the best radio-music ever, especially via FM.

 

[DeCameron]

This must be the equivalent if going to church for me- I try not to miss it, invariably in bed with the paper and a cup of tea ( for the first hour or so at least ). This morning on Building a Library, a favourite of mine, Brahms Piano Concerto No.1- the reviewer mentioned that not many women had recorded it before going on to completely ignore Helene Grimaud. Her Brahms solo piano music has been a revelation to me and while R3's choice of Friere live with Chailly was certainly great, I ordered Grimaud/Nelsons 2013 on Amazon straight after.

 

[musicbox]

Harriet Smith did mention Helene Grimaud and played an excerpt from her new recording - sounded overpowering to me! She mentioned something about it being uneven.... similarly she brushed off my own favourite Radu Lupu/Edo de Waart/LPO due to "Lupu being completely overawed by the beauty of the music". neither did she mention Rubinstein/Reiner/Chicago on RCA which is also rather good and fantastic sound.

Can't grumble too much - her ultimate recommendation of Freire/Chailly/Leipzig on Decca is a pretty good one. Can't have been easy with 80+ available recordings to choose from. Glad she dismissed the DG Gilels/Jochum/BPO which is often the standard recommendation - its heavy, stodgy & slow IMO.

 

[DeCameron]

I must have missed the Grimaud bit but I think she's right- I bought it on Amazon and you could indeed describe it as uneven ( perhaps because No.1 is live?). I heard the whole Freire -Chailly recording on R3 on Monday and it is very special. He did what I expected Grimaud to do, yet she didn't. Tempted to get his now...

 

[musicbox]

The no.2 in the set is even better IMO.

I listened to the podcast of this Saturday's "Building a Library" - Shostakovich 8th Symphony. Stephen Johnson seemed to be saying there are no bad ones - but Vasily Petrenko & RLPO on Naxos was his favourite. may give it a go.... but I find Shosty's 8th quite a hard slog tbh.

 

[barry2tone]

Off topic with Radio 4 , but "Who killed classical music?" was worth a listen. Boo to Boulez!

http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03q6f00

 

[wizons]

Off topic with Radio 4 , but "Who killed classical music?" was worth a listen. Boo to Boulez! http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b03q6f00

A fascinating programme. Thanks for the link.

I've often felt that once the post war years faded the likes of Boulez and Stockhausen would fade with them into irrelevance, other than as an interesting footnote in the history of music. The argument that Central European composers, especially those from countries that colluded in some way with the Axis powers, felt compelled to reject their pre-war musical heritage because of the trauma of WWll makes sense.

There were composers who maintained a sense of developing tradition after the war. Olivier Messiaen comes to mind. Although he experimented with total serialism for a brief period in the 1950s he quickly moved away from it towards a recognisable tonality and a sense of connection with past composers. It's no accident that his works are performed frequently. And of course, Britten comes to mind as one who rejected the madness of the Darmstadt School. He is in the ascendancy now - Peter Grimes and the War Requiem have become established works that the public respond to.

Good riddance to the post-war avant-grade!! I used to listen to them and read about their music quite a lot, but I now realise that I was interest in the intellectual processes involved and not the music.

 

[musicbox]

I have yet to listen to the programme, but it could be very intersting - thanks for the link barry2tone as it would have passed me by completely otherwise!

Its a great shame that the general public tend to think that contemporary classical music is avant-garde noise, posturing & pretentiousness - personally I blame the likes of Boulez and the disciples of St Anton of Darmstadt for this (but maybe this proggramme will make me think further about this?) . There is so much great contemporary "classical" music out there with real content, real emotion and passion that can touch "ordinary" people.

 

[barry2tone]

personally I blame the likes of Boulez and the disciples of St Anton of Darmstadt for this (but maybe this programme will make me think further about this?) . .

Don't expect to have those views confounded.

But still interesting to hear them in a broader historical setting, and to hear how Darmstadt (unconsciously?) aped other contemporary social movements.

 

[DeCameron]

I usually catch this in the car or in the kitchen if I'm home earlier. I'm really enjoying it- Rafferty's interviews are great and his enthusiasm for music shines out of him. Anne-Sophie Mutter recently ( who'd just stepped off a flight from Sydney) and yesterday Felicity Lott, come to mind. There's usually live music in the studio and tonight it was the latest incarnation if the Penguin Cafe Orchestra. This show is really good value for money.