Essential Classics - a programme surely on the wrong station

[JFLL]

And what is actually broadcast following the end of R3 Live in concert broadcasts? Is never announced anywhere until the very moment, and quite often more than half an hour's worth of music.

Yes, I fully agree about the post-evening concert slot, too. It almost seems like 'And here's a Beethoven quartet to fill the gap before Night Waves'. (I'm not wholly joking -- they play really substantial pieces in this limbo.) Totally ridiculous, and gratuitously cocking a snook at those who switch on to listen to a particular piece of music, not the package. Perhaps R3 should have a three-hour programme every week called 'Great Music of the Week which you probably missed because we didn't tell you we were going to play it'.

[doversoul]

Yes, I fully agree about the post-evening concert slot, too. It almost seems like 'And here's a Beethoven quartet to fill the gap before Night Waves'. (I'm not wholly joking -- they play really substantial pieces in this limbo.) Totally ridiculous, and gratuitously cocking a snook at those who switch on to listen to a particular piece of music, not the package. Perhaps R3 should have a three-hour programme every week called 'Great Music of the Week which you probably missed because we didn't tell you we were going to play it'.

I think criticising the way this particular slot is managed is rather unfair. I expect it is possible for the BBC to find out the approximate duration of each concert beforehand but it is after all ‘live’ broadcast and anything can change. I made an enquiry about the slot and asked if there would be any chance of publishing the playlist. I had a very polite, detailed and honest reply from Ian Skelly. The following is part of his email (I did post this before somewhere on the Forum when a similar topic came up).

On the night itself it can often be very frantic behind the scenes making sure the music I play fits the gap available, which is always a last minute thing because the slot is entirely dependent upon when the live concert ends. We have to make sure the next scheduled programme starts bang on time as later in the night everything becomes completely fixed to the clock. […] so everything is very tightly timed. It can be like landing a jumbo jet on a postage stamp


It is ‘to fill the gap before Night Waves’. What else can it be? And the music selected is often quite interesting. Ian Skelly mentions ‘the producer’ in his reply, so I imagine the selection is not entirely his*. I still think it will be good if they publish the playlist afterword but that may be another matter.

[ed.] *If sometimes it may look all ‘oh, not again’ kind of choice, IS cannot entirely to be blamed.

[Roehre]

....And the music selected is often quite interesting......

which makes it even more deplorable, given the eternal warhorses broadcast during the morning hours of R3.

I do acknowledge the specific difficulties re planning to fill the gap after the end of a live concert.
It only directs the spotlight even more at the indifference of the producers of the afternoon programmes, where four of the five weekday programmes consist of recordings of which the duration is known to the second - but the beginning of a work, and its duration, is given with a margin of 5 or even more minutes.

[JFLL]

I think criticising the way this particular slot is managed is rather unfair. I expect it is possible for the BBC to find out the approximate duration of each concert beforehand but it is after all ‘live’ broadcast and anything can change. I made an enquiry about the slot and asked if there would be any chance of publishing the playlist. I had a very polite, detailed and honest reply from Ian Skelly. The following is part of his email (I did post this before somewhere on the Forum when a similar topic came up).

On the night itself it can often be very frantic behind the scenes making sure the music I play fits the gap available, which is always a last minute thing because the slot is entirely dependent upon when the live concert ends. We have to make sure the next scheduled programme starts bang on time as later in the night everything becomes completely fixed to the clock. […] so everything is very tightly timed. It can be like landing a jumbo jet on a postage stamp


It is ‘to fill the gap before Night Waves’. What else can it be? And the music selected is often quite interesting. Ian Skelly mentions ‘the producer’ in his reply, so I imagine the selection is not entirely his. I still think it will be good if they publish the playlist afterword but that may be another matter.

But why should everything have to become "completely fixed to the clock. […] so that everything is very tightly timed"? And anyway, my guess is that the R3 people have a reasonable idea of when a live relay is likely to end – say to the nearest quarter of an hour – so that if they were fairly sure they'd have half an hour they could decide to play an early Beethoven quartet and publish their intention beforehand. The 'gap' before ten o'clock is in fact usually half-an-hour or more these days.

It is ‘to fill the gap before Night Waves’. What else can it be?

You could say that 'Night Waves' was filling the gap after the Beethoven quartet!

[Frances_iom]

But why should everything have to become "completely fixed to the clock. […] so that everything is very tightly timed"?

isn't everthing running off a recording post 10pm (I suspect the annoying nightly studio greeting/advert to the nighwaves presenter is actually them clocking off rather than clocking on - remember Rodger in his wisdom didn't actually want R3 live as it meant he had to employ staff post 6pm.

[french frank]

But why should everything have to become "completely fixed to the clock.

One answer is that now Radio 3 is, like most others, a 24-hour broadcaster. TTN is beamed out to many countries in Europe, so for their schedules it has to start and finish on time. The post concert interval is the kind of live buffer needed to control timings so that you don't end up playing all Monday's programmes on Tuesday ...

It would be useful if it was announced, with an approximate start time, as 'An impromptu selection of music'. And the playlist then published.

[Hornspieler]

One answer is that now Radio 3 is, like most others, a 24-hour broadcaster. TTN is beamed out to many countries in Europe, so for their schedules it has to start and finish on time. The post concert interval is the kind of live buffer needed to control timings so that you don't end up playing all Monday's programmes on Tuesday ...

It would be useful if it was announced, with an approximate start time, as 'An impromptu selection of music'. And the playlist then published.

OK, the live performance you tuned in for is ended. Why not just switch off?

If you were actually there at the performance, you would be walking out of the hall and on your way home or off for some refreshment.

So go out to the kitchen and make yourself a cuppa (or investigate the contents of your drinks cabinet)

As the song from Oklahoma goes - " ... a lot of chaplets in a pot of tea!"

HS

NB This post is not actually directed at any one individual but towards all those who have posted their complaints on this thread.

[Osborn]

Quite right HS. Anyway, after an enjoyable live concert the last thing I want is more music.

[Roehre]

OK, the live performance you tuned in for is ended. Why not just switch off?.

I might be interested in the "fillers", but most of the time I am not in the live concerts. My spare time is to precious to spill it on concerts which most of the time offer music I know inside out already.

[JFLL]

I might be interested in the "fillers", but most of the time I am not in the live concerts. My spare time is to precious to spill it on concerts which most of the time offer music I know inside out already.

Exactly.