Should BBC presenters express judgements on the performance?

[gradus]

I don't mind presenters showing great enthusiasm for a performance eg Tom Service after the Barenboim Beethoven 7 performance last night, particularly when it mirrors my own reaction. If not, one can always turn off the radio.

[Frances_iom]

I don't mind presenters showing great enthusiasm for a performance eg Tom Service after the Barenboim Beethoven 7 performance last night, particularly when it mirrors my own reaction. If not, one can always turn off the radio.

I do - Service is manic even before the performance - just below a certain female 'presenter' in on my list of those I place somewhere in the fourth circle of Hell

[waldhorn]

a certain female 'presenter'

Do tell...
or at least give us some initials...
e.g. KD, SK, etc...!

[Eine Alpensinfonie]

I think I can guess, and I don't suspect S.K.

[Tevot]

I'm with Gradus on this one. I think Tom Service's response to Beethoven 7 last night mirrored that of many listening 'on the wireless' and indeed those lucky enough to be there live at the RAH. Jonathan Swain thought the Albert Hall audience "possessed." I hope he meant it in a nice way;-) !

Best Wishes,

Tevot

[Frances_iom]

his response to that was probably acceptable however I was based my opinion on the the presentation on all of the concerts both before and after (after is easy I just switch off, before is the nuisance as I have to guess how long it will be before he gives way to the music.
The female presenter is the one reputedly exceedingly well paid but she doesn't worry me as much - I'm afraid I just turn off everything she is presenting as a matter of course accepting that the loss is mine - Service has turned out to be an unpleasant listen for me - maybe the PG school of intro is what I really hanker for - discreet, to the point and in the background

[Caliban]

before is the nuisance as I have to guess how long it will be before he gives way to the music.

Esp if trying to record it with a little ambient noise / applause before the first note (actually the same applies after, if one just wants to fade / stop the applause before some buffoon or buffoonette starts yelling how amazing it was)

[Richard Tarleton]

They seem afraid of telling radio listeners when anything has obviously gone wrong - I'm thinking of that abortive concerto performance by - was it Gil Shaham? - that was interrupted by demonstrators not long ago, and the Strauss FLS the other day when Anna S was (it turned out) visibly as well as audibly unwell.

[amcluesent]

Far too many presenters now regards themselves as celebridees, and hence have cart blanche to start shouting and bawling while the last note is still hanging in the air. I see no reason why the R3 controller can't insist 30 to 45 seconds go past before we hear from the presenter, rather than bellowing over the noise in the hall.

Of course, some (well one) is beyond parody, when every performance is not only the best ever, it was the best it could possibly be. Until the next broadcast! All critical faculties are suspended, so they are.

Words you never hear on R3 for some reason - under-rehearsed, split notes, rows of empty seats, cacophony, poor programming, perfunctory, self-indulgent ...

[Extended Play]

Perhaps terminology is a factor here. This thread is concentrating on "presenters", because that is what today's Radio 3 has conditioned us to expect: people put before us with a much higher profile than the "announcers" of the past, whose names were given on air, of course, but who would probably never have dreamed of voicing, or have been expected to express, personal opinions about the standard of the performance (even though it would have been entertaining to hear some of them do so!). I detect a yearning for such restraint in some of the posts above. Maybe what it boils down to is that, as listeners, we don't need an instant critique from the presenter when we can hear the audience's reaction and can make up our own minds. Might there not be a case for resurrecting something akin to a weekly Critics Forum where the performances could be assessed after a period of reflection by genuine experts?