BBC & R3 News…
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March 31st 2007: The Controller's Monthly Note for April
Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
EASTER SEASON
We have a special weekend of programming for you, and for a number of events we are basing ourselves in Cambridge, at the King's Easter Festival. First however, on Good Friday (April 6th), the Archbishop of Canterbury introduces W.H. Auden's Horae Canonicae. This is Auden's personal reflection on the events and significance of this day in the Christian calendar. The poems themselves are read by the actor Tom Durham, concluding the station's celebration of the Auden centenary.
You can also hear Dr Williams – a poet himself – discussing Auden in an interview featured on The Verb later the same evening (9.45pm). During Good Friday afternoon, there is a remarkable line-up of soloists in Bach's St John Passion: Michael Chance, Susan Gritton, Mark Padmore, Toby Spence and Thomas Quasthoff. Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in this performance. There is another setting of the St John Passion, this one by Arvo Pärt, in a live broadcast on Good Friday evening. It will be performed by the Hilliard Ensemble and King's College Choir and appears alongside a new work by British composer Michael Zev Gordon.
We stay with King's on Easter Sunday (April 8th), when Choral Evensong comes from the College Chapel at 4pm. Our visit continues on Easter Monday with an organ recital in which David Goode performs Liszt's magnificent treatment of the Crucifixus theme from Bach's Mass in B minor, and Michael Williamson's major organ fantasy 'Vision of Christ-Phoenix' in celebration of Easter.
Go to Choral Evensong – Easter Sunday at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/choralevensong/pip/qn1jg/
NEW PROGRAMMES
I hope you have had the chance to enjoy some of our new programmes on Radio 3. The Essay, our late night speech series of talks – at 11.00 from Monday to Thursday – will feature nature in springtime starting on April 9th. Lengthening days, singing birds, and budding trees, all have become poetic shorthand for spring. In this week of new nature writing, as Mark Cocker (author of Birds Britannica) watches the cranes that have re-colonised Norfolk after centuries away; cyclist Matt Seaton bikes through the congested south-east of England; poet Kathleen Jamie witnesses the black grouse in a Scottish glen; and poet John Burnside waits for spring and dreams of Pan.
Go to The Essay page at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/theessay/
In Words and Music on the 22nd, we turn to the subject of music itself as Dame Diana Rigg and Samuel West read poetry ranging from Marvell's Music Empire, through Larkin's tribute to Sidney Bechet and Auden's The Composer to contemporary poems by Jo Shapcott, Mario Petrucci and Seamus Heaney. We are also including a rare archive recording of Yeats reading his own poem The Fiddler of Donney. The music in this unpresented sequence includes Webern's orchestration of Bach's A Musical Offering and works by Handel, Mendelssohn, Britten and Dowland.
Go to the Words and Music page at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/wordsandmusic/
Our new programme Jazz Library continues on Friday evenings. One of the great figures of jazz, Miles Davis, is discussed by Alyn Shipton on April 20th. It's impossible to cover the recorded legacy of Davis in one programme, so Alyn is focussing on some aspects of his work up to and including his iconic album Kind of Blue.
Go to the Jazz Library page at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzlibrary
LIGETI
The Hungarian composer GyĊrgy Ligeti died in June last year. In Hear and Now on the evening of April 21st, we present a tribute from two musicians who knew and had worked with him on many occasions, composer George Benjamin and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard. In the first of the London Sinfonietta's Ligeti Remembered concerts, the unearthly sound world of Ligeti's Ramifications and Melodien are contrasted with the rhythmic intensity of his Piano Concerto, a piece Pierre-Laurent Aimard has described as requiring 'an unbridled imagination' from its interpreters. Both musicians also share their memories of working with the composer with Ivan Hewett.
NEXT WEEK
We have Bach as Composer of the Week starting on April 2nd. Remembering the warm reaction to our Bach Experience in 2005, I hope many of you will be able to find time for this week of programmes which concentrates on a single year in Bach's life, his first year in Leipzig where he arrived in 1723. This was an astonishingly productive period, and one wonders at the composer's prolific output, including the first cantata cycle and the St John Passion. Do remember that you can now hear Composer of the Week at midday and in the evenings at 8.45pm.
Go to Composer of the Week at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/cotw/
Also in the evenings, we return to our occasional series, Belief, on Monday, as Joan Bakewell talks to artists, thinkers and other public figures. In a society where religion remains a significant influence, she explores the influences that have shaped their thinking, and how what they believe affects both their personal and working lives. Her guests are Theodore Zeldin, Simon Conway Morris, Nasser Mansour and Janet Martin Soskice. Belief
Go to Belief at http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/belief/
AND MORE
Before I sign off, a few other reminders and tips for future listening – you can hear seven more concerts from our new relationship with the New York Philharmonic in afternoons and evenings, starting on the 16th April. There is a Beethoven Violin Sonata cycle with Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Alexander Lonquich starting in Performance on 3 on April 11th , afternoons with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Holst and Schubert as Composers of the Week – all this and much much more.
I trust you find much to enjoy.
With best wishes
Roger Wright
Dear All
EASTER SEASON
We have a special weekend of programming for you, and for a number of events we are basing ourselves in Cambridge, at the King's Easter Festival. First however, on Good Friday (April 6th), the Archbishop of Canterbury introduces W.H. Auden's Horae Canonicae. This is Auden's personal reflection on the events and significance of this day in the Christian calendar. The poems themselves are read by the actor Tom Durham, concluding the station's celebration of the Auden centenary.
You can also hear Dr Williams – a poet himself – discussing Auden in an interview featured on The Verb later the same evening (9.45pm). During Good Friday afternoon, there is a remarkable line-up of soloists in Bach's St John Passion: Michael Chance, Susan Gritton, Mark Padmore, Toby Spence and Thomas Quasthoff. Sir Simon Rattle conducts the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra in this performance. There is another setting of the St John Passion, this one by Arvo Pärt, in a live broadcast on Good Friday evening. It will be performed by the Hilliard Ensemble and King's College Choir and appears alongside a new work by British composer Michael Zev Gordon.
We stay with King's on Easter Sunday (April 8th), when Choral Evensong comes from the College Chapel at 4pm. Our visit continues on Easter Monday with an organ recital in which David Goode performs Liszt's magnificent treatment of the Crucifixus theme from Bach's Mass in B minor, and Michael Williamson's major organ fantasy 'Vision of Christ-Phoenix' in celebration of Easter.
Go to Choral Evensong – Easter Sunday at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/choralevensong/pip/qn1jg/
NEW PROGRAMMES
I hope you have had the chance to enjoy some of our new programmes on Radio 3. The Essay, our late night speech series of talks – at 11.00 from Monday to Thursday – will feature nature in springtime starting on April 9th. Lengthening days, singing birds, and budding trees, all have become poetic shorthand for spring. In this week of new nature writing, as Mark Cocker (author of Birds Britannica) watches the cranes that have re-colonised Norfolk after centuries away; cyclist Matt Seaton bikes through the congested south-east of England; poet Kathleen Jamie witnesses the black grouse in a Scottish glen; and poet John Burnside waits for spring and dreams of Pan.
Go to The Essay page at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/theessay/
In Words and Music on the 22nd, we turn to the subject of music itself as Dame Diana Rigg and Samuel West read poetry ranging from Marvell's Music Empire, through Larkin's tribute to Sidney Bechet and Auden's The Composer to contemporary poems by Jo Shapcott, Mario Petrucci and Seamus Heaney. We are also including a rare archive recording of Yeats reading his own poem The Fiddler of Donney. The music in this unpresented sequence includes Webern's orchestration of Bach's A Musical Offering and works by Handel, Mendelssohn, Britten and Dowland.
Go to the Words and Music page at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/wordsandmusic/
Our new programme Jazz Library continues on Friday evenings. One of the great figures of jazz, Miles Davis, is discussed by Alyn Shipton on April 20th. It's impossible to cover the recorded legacy of Davis in one programme, so Alyn is focussing on some aspects of his work up to and including his iconic album Kind of Blue.
Go to the Jazz Library page at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzlibrary
LIGETI
The Hungarian composer GyĊrgy Ligeti died in June last year. In Hear and Now on the evening of April 21st, we present a tribute from two musicians who knew and had worked with him on many occasions, composer George Benjamin and pianist Pierre-Laurent Aimard. In the first of the London Sinfonietta's Ligeti Remembered concerts, the unearthly sound world of Ligeti's Ramifications and Melodien are contrasted with the rhythmic intensity of his Piano Concerto, a piece Pierre-Laurent Aimard has described as requiring 'an unbridled imagination' from its interpreters. Both musicians also share their memories of working with the composer with Ivan Hewett.
NEXT WEEK
We have Bach as Composer of the Week starting on April 2nd. Remembering the warm reaction to our Bach Experience in 2005, I hope many of you will be able to find time for this week of programmes which concentrates on a single year in Bach's life, his first year in Leipzig where he arrived in 1723. This was an astonishingly productive period, and one wonders at the composer's prolific output, including the first cantata cycle and the St John Passion. Do remember that you can now hear Composer of the Week at midday and in the evenings at 8.45pm.
Go to Composer of the Week at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/cotw/
Also in the evenings, we return to our occasional series, Belief, on Monday, as Joan Bakewell talks to artists, thinkers and other public figures. In a society where religion remains a significant influence, she explores the influences that have shaped their thinking, and how what they believe affects both their personal and working lives. Her guests are Theodore Zeldin, Simon Conway Morris, Nasser Mansour and Janet Martin Soskice. Belief
Go to Belief at http://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/programmes/belief/
AND MORE
Before I sign off, a few other reminders and tips for future listening – you can hear seven more concerts from our new relationship with the New York Philharmonic in afternoons and evenings, starting on the 16th April. There is a Beethoven Violin Sonata cycle with Christian Tetzlaff and pianist Alexander Lonquich starting in Performance on 3 on April 11th , afternoons with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra and Holst and Schubert as Composers of the Week – all this and much much more.
I trust you find much to enjoy.
With best wishes
Roger Wright
March 1st 2007: The Controller's Monthly Note for March
Hello and welcome to the Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
OPERA
One of the advantages of the new schedule is the greater flexibility we now have in the afternoons. Tomorrow (Friday 2nd) is a good example of how we intend to make use of our newly found space by broadcasting complete operas. Peter Grimes from Opera North was not originally part of our planning, but after its success we decided to send a recording team to capture this thrilling production. It also ties in well with our 'Performing Britten' series currently running on Sunday afternoons. You might have heard Philip Langridge talking about Peter Grimes last Sunday, when he gave a fascinating insight into the role. If you are interested, don't forget that you can to listen to it again on our radio player as preparation for the complete Peter Grimes performance. This Sunday at 3.00pm you can hear Janet Baker in conversation with John Evans; they discuss The Rape of Lucretia, Britten's first chamber opera, which was successfully revived at Aldeburgh in 1966 with Dame Janet as the doomed Roman heroine. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/afternoonon3/pip/dr0fs/
We continue our weekly visits to the Metropolitan Opera, and what a cast there is on Saturday evening for Simon Boccanegra. Thomas Hampson makes his role debut as the lead in Verdi's drama of political struggle in 14th-century Genoa. Alongside him, Angela Gheorghiu co-stars as Maria, the Doge's daughter. And of course, the ever-popular Opera Quiz takes place during the second interval.
Did Wagner tell the real story in his opera? Well, join the Early Music Show on Saturday 10th at 1.00pm to learn about the real lives of the celebrated 16th-century Mastersingers in the company of Lucie Skeaping. We hear examples of their songs, including works by Hans Sachs himself. And later in the evening, you can attend the Metropolitan Opera performance to hear the complete Wagner opera.
BLAKE
We have already received positive comments about the way in which we are using our new programmes to link certain themes together. For example, we're celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Blake, with The Fiery World by Peter Ackroyd, his first radio play, in our drama on Sunday evening. This great English polymath comes to life through the drama of his arrest in 1805 on a charge of sedition. It portrays Blake as an outspoken visionary whose radical ideas did not sit comfortably in an England at war. We continue the same theme later in the evening with our new programme, Words and Music (at 10.15pm), which explores his poetry in Innocence and Experience, alongside settings of music. During the week which follows, The Essay explores the language of Blake at 11.00pm each evening. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/dramaon3/pip/iiqjx/
International Orchestras
We continue to reflect music making throughout the world, and starting on Monday 5th we spend the week in Lucerne at its internationally renowned festival. The extra space we have in the afternoons allows us to bring you more of high profile events from festivals across the world: so on Monday we have the wonderful Lucerne Festival Orchestra, made up of top musicians from all over the world, under the artistic leadership of Claudio Abbado in Mahler's Sixth Symphony. Other conductors featured during the week are Mariss Jansons and Pierre Boulez. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/afternoonon3/pip/tplzq/
We are also pleased to announce a new arrangement with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in which ten concerts each year will be broadcast from the current season at New York's Lincoln Centre. In the first concert on Tuesday 6th, the orchestra's Music Director Lorin Maazel directs the orchestra in an all-French programme with Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges and Saint-Säens' Symphony No. 3 in C minor, his Organ Symphony. Watch out for more to follow!
And in the UK we are pleased to give you the chance to hear Valery Gergiev, the new Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, in his first concerts in that role with the orchestra. On March 29th and 30th you can hear him featuring the music of Stravinsky, Debussy and Prokofiev. We are broadcasting all the concerts in this series, and the first programme was received with great critical acclaim. It promises to be a memorable series.
Jazz Library In this new programme, on Friday nights at 10.30pm, Alyn Shipton suggests the essential recordings for building a jazz library. On February 9th, he turns his attention to Charlie Parker, who is still regarded as one of the greatest soloists and innovators in jazz. Given how prolific he was, which are the essential items for your collection? Alyn explores his work and his partnerships with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Fats Navarro. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzlibrary/
The Essay
Another of our new programmes, The Essay, is broadcast on weekdays at 11.00pm from Monday to Thursday. These are short reflections on a particular subject; starting on March 12th, four prominent cultural figures talk about their first impressions of America, and how these developed into their ideas of the country. Among others, we hear from the writer PD James and the composer Errollyn Wallen. The series ties in with an exhibition at the British Museum, A New World: England's First View of America, which opens this month. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/theessay/
AND…
Don't miss out on an astonishingly eclectic selection of music and thought in Private Passions on March 11th, when Michael Berkeley's guest is the travel writer and historian William Dalrymple. He takes us on a musical journey from Tomás Luis de Victoria to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and music from a Sufi shrine in Lahore. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/privatepassions/
All best wishes
Roger Wright
Dear All
OPERA
One of the advantages of the new schedule is the greater flexibility we now have in the afternoons. Tomorrow (Friday 2nd) is a good example of how we intend to make use of our newly found space by broadcasting complete operas. Peter Grimes from Opera North was not originally part of our planning, but after its success we decided to send a recording team to capture this thrilling production. It also ties in well with our 'Performing Britten' series currently running on Sunday afternoons. You might have heard Philip Langridge talking about Peter Grimes last Sunday, when he gave a fascinating insight into the role. If you are interested, don't forget that you can to listen to it again on our radio player as preparation for the complete Peter Grimes performance. This Sunday at 3.00pm you can hear Janet Baker in conversation with John Evans; they discuss The Rape of Lucretia, Britten's first chamber opera, which was successfully revived at Aldeburgh in 1966 with Dame Janet as the doomed Roman heroine. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/afternoonon3/pip/dr0fs/
We continue our weekly visits to the Metropolitan Opera, and what a cast there is on Saturday evening for Simon Boccanegra. Thomas Hampson makes his role debut as the lead in Verdi's drama of political struggle in 14th-century Genoa. Alongside him, Angela Gheorghiu co-stars as Maria, the Doge's daughter. And of course, the ever-popular Opera Quiz takes place during the second interval.
Did Wagner tell the real story in his opera? Well, join the Early Music Show on Saturday 10th at 1.00pm to learn about the real lives of the celebrated 16th-century Mastersingers in the company of Lucie Skeaping. We hear examples of their songs, including works by Hans Sachs himself. And later in the evening, you can attend the Metropolitan Opera performance to hear the complete Wagner opera.
BLAKE
We have already received positive comments about the way in which we are using our new programmes to link certain themes together. For example, we're celebrating the 250th anniversary of the birth of William Blake, with The Fiery World by Peter Ackroyd, his first radio play, in our drama on Sunday evening. This great English polymath comes to life through the drama of his arrest in 1805 on a charge of sedition. It portrays Blake as an outspoken visionary whose radical ideas did not sit comfortably in an England at war. We continue the same theme later in the evening with our new programme, Words and Music (at 10.15pm), which explores his poetry in Innocence and Experience, alongside settings of music. During the week which follows, The Essay explores the language of Blake at 11.00pm each evening. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/dramaon3/pip/iiqjx/
International Orchestras
We continue to reflect music making throughout the world, and starting on Monday 5th we spend the week in Lucerne at its internationally renowned festival. The extra space we have in the afternoons allows us to bring you more of high profile events from festivals across the world: so on Monday we have the wonderful Lucerne Festival Orchestra, made up of top musicians from all over the world, under the artistic leadership of Claudio Abbado in Mahler's Sixth Symphony. Other conductors featured during the week are Mariss Jansons and Pierre Boulez. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/afternoonon3/pip/tplzq/
We are also pleased to announce a new arrangement with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra in which ten concerts each year will be broadcast from the current season at New York's Lincoln Centre. In the first concert on Tuesday 6th, the orchestra's Music Director Lorin Maazel directs the orchestra in an all-French programme with Ravel's L'Enfant et les sortilèges and Saint-Säens' Symphony No. 3 in C minor, his Organ Symphony. Watch out for more to follow!
And in the UK we are pleased to give you the chance to hear Valery Gergiev, the new Principal Conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra, in his first concerts in that role with the orchestra. On March 29th and 30th you can hear him featuring the music of Stravinsky, Debussy and Prokofiev. We are broadcasting all the concerts in this series, and the first programme was received with great critical acclaim. It promises to be a memorable series.
Jazz Library In this new programme, on Friday nights at 10.30pm, Alyn Shipton suggests the essential recordings for building a jazz library. On February 9th, he turns his attention to Charlie Parker, who is still regarded as one of the greatest soloists and innovators in jazz. Given how prolific he was, which are the essential items for your collection? Alyn explores his work and his partnerships with Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis and Fats Navarro. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/jazzlibrary/
The Essay
Another of our new programmes, The Essay, is broadcast on weekdays at 11.00pm from Monday to Thursday. These are short reflections on a particular subject; starting on March 12th, four prominent cultural figures talk about their first impressions of America, and how these developed into their ideas of the country. Among others, we hear from the writer PD James and the composer Errollyn Wallen. The series ties in with an exhibition at the British Museum, A New World: England's First View of America, which opens this month. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/theessay/
AND…
Don't miss out on an astonishingly eclectic selection of music and thought in Private Passions on March 11th, when Michael Berkeley's guest is the travel writer and historian William Dalrymple. He takes us on a musical journey from Tomás Luis de Victoria to Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and music from a Sufi shrine in Lahore. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/privatepassions/
All best wishes
Roger Wright
February 15th 2007: The Controller's Extra Monthly Note
Hello and welcome to this extra Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
Thanks for your messages about our Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky season. As usual, your views have been incredibly broad, ranging from 'Why do you do these seasons of complete works?' to 'Please let us have more of these special weeks'! We have also had many suggestions about possible composers and themes for the future. It was wonderful to have an overwhelming response to the Valentine's Day poem competition. You can find some of the poems on our site – a snapshot of our listeners' creativity. www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/tchaikovsky/competition/
I am writing an extra message to you this month, since our new schedule (described recently as a 'spring clean') begins this weekend. It's the first time in five years we have made significant changes to our programming. All radio stations change their programming from time to time, adapting to changing tastes and developing ideas. If Radio 3 hadn't changed since its first day in 1967 we would still be broadcasting sailing, swimming and football in addition to speech and music! We wanted to respond to specific listener comments in revising the schedule on this occasion – not least the view that there should be more classical music in the late evening and that the Composer of the Week repeat should be earlier.
We also wanted to build room for sixty hours (Weekdays, 4-5 pm in the summer) devoted to the history of western classical music, in collaboration with Radio 4. More news on this nearer the time.
At the same time, our interactive colleagues are overhauling the website (in common with other BBC stations). It will be good to have your responses to the site once you have had time to explore, and do look out on the message board for references to external sites featuring discussion about Radio 3. www.bbc.co.uk/radio3.
We are looking forward to the arrival of our new programmes – and not least to having Rob Cowan as our breakfast show presenter (along with Sara Mohr-Pietsch who now joins Martin Handley as the third morning presenter). We are also welcoming Iain Burnside to his new slot on Sunday mornings. Try and catch his occasional 'Music 101' moments when we hope to encourage strong debate by playing classical music which some distinguished guests would gladly consign to oblivion!
We hope you enjoy our new sequence of classical music (Monday-Thursday 10.30 pm) beginning with programmes featuring the remarkable pianist Angela Hewitt. There has been great interest in our new non-presented programme of words and music at 10.15 on Sunday evening; it is thrilling to have Derek Jacobi and Juliet Stevenson launch it.
Listen out also for the first four programmes in 'The Essay' for different views of Auden in his centenary year.
We welcome back Alyn Shipton to a regular slot in the new programme Jazz Library on Friday evenings – a response to those seeking a jazz equivalent to CD Review's popular Building a Library.
The amount of specially recorded live music increases in our new schedule. So I'm particularly pleased that the afternoons presented by Penny Gore, Louise Fryer and Fiona Talkington bring a greater breadth of music to listeners. We will range from recitals to operas, so look forward to an exciting spring ahead with performances by the New York Philharmonic; the Berlin Philharmonic (including Mark Elder conducting Hansel and Gretel . Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; San Francisco Symphony Orchestra; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and opera afternoons including Opera North's Peter Grimes, Les Troyens from Paris, Gergiev conducting Shostakovich's The Nose and that 'Alagna Aida' from La Scala!
Finally, talking of Britten and opera… I hope you enjoy our new ten-part series (Sunday 3 pm), Performing Britten, which will examine each of his operas and their performing traditions with interviews with the interpreters most closely associated with the roles in the operas. I trust you will find much to enjoy.
All best wishes
Roger Wright
Controller, BBC Radio 3
Dear All
Thanks for your messages about our Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky season. As usual, your views have been incredibly broad, ranging from 'Why do you do these seasons of complete works?' to 'Please let us have more of these special weeks'! We have also had many suggestions about possible composers and themes for the future. It was wonderful to have an overwhelming response to the Valentine's Day poem competition. You can find some of the poems on our site – a snapshot of our listeners' creativity. www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/tchaikovsky/competition/
I am writing an extra message to you this month, since our new schedule (described recently as a 'spring clean') begins this weekend. It's the first time in five years we have made significant changes to our programming. All radio stations change their programming from time to time, adapting to changing tastes and developing ideas. If Radio 3 hadn't changed since its first day in 1967 we would still be broadcasting sailing, swimming and football in addition to speech and music! We wanted to respond to specific listener comments in revising the schedule on this occasion – not least the view that there should be more classical music in the late evening and that the Composer of the Week repeat should be earlier.
We also wanted to build room for sixty hours (Weekdays, 4-5 pm in the summer) devoted to the history of western classical music, in collaboration with Radio 4. More news on this nearer the time.
At the same time, our interactive colleagues are overhauling the website (in common with other BBC stations). It will be good to have your responses to the site once you have had time to explore, and do look out on the message board for references to external sites featuring discussion about Radio 3. www.bbc.co.uk/radio3.
We are looking forward to the arrival of our new programmes – and not least to having Rob Cowan as our breakfast show presenter (along with Sara Mohr-Pietsch who now joins Martin Handley as the third morning presenter). We are also welcoming Iain Burnside to his new slot on Sunday mornings. Try and catch his occasional 'Music 101' moments when we hope to encourage strong debate by playing classical music which some distinguished guests would gladly consign to oblivion!
We hope you enjoy our new sequence of classical music (Monday-Thursday 10.30 pm) beginning with programmes featuring the remarkable pianist Angela Hewitt. There has been great interest in our new non-presented programme of words and music at 10.15 on Sunday evening; it is thrilling to have Derek Jacobi and Juliet Stevenson launch it.
Listen out also for the first four programmes in 'The Essay' for different views of Auden in his centenary year.
We welcome back Alyn Shipton to a regular slot in the new programme Jazz Library on Friday evenings – a response to those seeking a jazz equivalent to CD Review's popular Building a Library.
The amount of specially recorded live music increases in our new schedule. So I'm particularly pleased that the afternoons presented by Penny Gore, Louise Fryer and Fiona Talkington bring a greater breadth of music to listeners. We will range from recitals to operas, so look forward to an exciting spring ahead with performances by the New York Philharmonic; the Berlin Philharmonic (including Mark Elder conducting Hansel and Gretel . Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra; San Francisco Symphony Orchestra; Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra; Abbado and the Lucerne Festival Orchestra and opera afternoons including Opera North's Peter Grimes, Les Troyens from Paris, Gergiev conducting Shostakovich's The Nose and that 'Alagna Aida' from La Scala!
Finally, talking of Britten and opera… I hope you enjoy our new ten-part series (Sunday 3 pm), Performing Britten, which will examine each of his operas and their performing traditions with interviews with the interpreters most closely associated with the roles in the operas. I trust you will find much to enjoy.
All best wishes
Roger Wright
Controller, BBC Radio 3
February 9th 2007: The Controller's Monthly Note for February
Hello and welcome to the latest Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
Another composer season is upon us. So there is only one subject this month:
THE TCHAIKOVSKY EXPERIENCE
From Saturday 10th until Friday the 16th, Radio 3 will broadcast the complete works of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky – and nothing else.
Little did we know when we started our first complete works project (with Beethoven less than two years ago) that these seasons would create such interest. Each one has been really different, reflecting the individual composers under the microscope. We have had a Webern day with his music presented chronologically dotted through the day, a major focus on the Cantatas in our Bach Christmas, and Wagner's Ring Cycle as an Easter Monday offering. Your suggestions are still coming in about other composers you would like us to feature; no doubt the forthcoming week will encourage even more ideas.
Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky were popular choices in our postbag and I think they make for an intriguing pairing – linked yet contrasting. No matter how much you know about these composers and their music, these special seasons make us all listen in a new way to familiar repertoire and introduce pieces that we haven't heard before.
There is so much to discover. The slow movement of Tchaikovsky's Third Symphony is a particular favourite of mine, and yet we only rarely hear the symphony in concert. A fine cycle of Tchaikovsky's symphonies, specially recorded by the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda, will be a particular highlight of the week. And if it is rare to hear the third symphony, what chance do we have to explore less familiar operas: has anyone at all heard Vakula the Smith, other than in Radio 3's legendary recording which we are repeating this week?.
And we also have all the solo piano music and songs, as well as real rarities such as A Greeting to Anton Rubinstein for his golden jubilee as an artist; The Cantata in commemoration of the bicentenary of the birth of Peter the Great (Polytechnic); the Festival Overture on the Danish National Anthem. There's also my favourite title of all, the Jurists' Song in honour of the 50th year of the Imperial School of Jurisprudence! I am also looking forward to hearing alternative versions of well known pieces – the four versions of the Romeo and Juliet overture and the original version of the First Symphony which the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov have specially recorded for us.
If you don't know Stravinsky's Faun and Shepherdess, the three versions of Scherzo à la Russe, How the mushrooms prepared for war, or In Memoriam Dylan Thomas you are in for a treat. Listen out too for the early Symphony in E flat – a real reminder of Stravinsky's romantic Russian roots.
I always forget to mention how intense the discussions are in the Radio 3 offices when we organise these seasons. Heated arguments develop around many of our editorial issues. Which is the best recording of Tchaikovsky 6 or Stravinsky's Rite of Spring? How many different versions of which pieces should we play? Which are the great works that we now take for granted and which really are the neglected great works? So let the discussions continue and please join in.
Our interactive offering is more wide-ranging and richer than ever. For the first time we have listener diaries to follow and respond to – you can make your views known on your favourite pieces and recordings and help us shape the week as it progresses. There will be five of the recent Tchaikovsky TV programmes to watch, speech audio files to listen to, competitions to enter, and plenty to read: informative articles about the history of the Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky period, music repertoire-, CD-, book- and weblink guides, and an interactive timeline – in fact there is more on the site than I have room to mention here; much of the material is already on The Tchaikovsky Experience website, which will take over the Radio 3 Home Page when the broadcasts begin. Please take a moment to look at what's on offer at www.bbc.co.uk/tchaikovsky, or via the Radio 3 website: www.bbc.co.uk/radio3.
And don't forget that you can hear anything you may have missed on our Listen Again facility. I do hope that you enjoy the week and that, if you are not familiar with that Third Symphony slow movement, you will seek it out and love it.
With best wishes
Roger Wright
Controller, BBC Radio 3
Dear All
Another composer season is upon us. So there is only one subject this month:
THE TCHAIKOVSKY EXPERIENCE
From Saturday 10th until Friday the 16th, Radio 3 will broadcast the complete works of Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky – and nothing else.
Little did we know when we started our first complete works project (with Beethoven less than two years ago) that these seasons would create such interest. Each one has been really different, reflecting the individual composers under the microscope. We have had a Webern day with his music presented chronologically dotted through the day, a major focus on the Cantatas in our Bach Christmas, and Wagner's Ring Cycle as an Easter Monday offering. Your suggestions are still coming in about other composers you would like us to feature; no doubt the forthcoming week will encourage even more ideas.
Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky were popular choices in our postbag and I think they make for an intriguing pairing – linked yet contrasting. No matter how much you know about these composers and their music, these special seasons make us all listen in a new way to familiar repertoire and introduce pieces that we haven't heard before.
There is so much to discover. The slow movement of Tchaikovsky's Third Symphony is a particular favourite of mine, and yet we only rarely hear the symphony in concert. A fine cycle of Tchaikovsky's symphonies, specially recorded by the BBC Philharmonic and Gianandrea Noseda, will be a particular highlight of the week. And if it is rare to hear the third symphony, what chance do we have to explore less familiar operas: has anyone at all heard Vakula the Smith, other than in Radio 3's legendary recording which we are repeating this week?.
And we also have all the solo piano music and songs, as well as real rarities such as A Greeting to Anton Rubinstein for his golden jubilee as an artist; The Cantata in commemoration of the bicentenary of the birth of Peter the Great (Polytechnic); the Festival Overture on the Danish National Anthem. There's also my favourite title of all, the Jurists' Song in honour of the 50th year of the Imperial School of Jurisprudence! I am also looking forward to hearing alternative versions of well known pieces – the four versions of the Romeo and Juliet overture and the original version of the First Symphony which the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra and Ilan Volkov have specially recorded for us.
If you don't know Stravinsky's Faun and Shepherdess, the three versions of Scherzo à la Russe, How the mushrooms prepared for war, or In Memoriam Dylan Thomas you are in for a treat. Listen out too for the early Symphony in E flat – a real reminder of Stravinsky's romantic Russian roots.
I always forget to mention how intense the discussions are in the Radio 3 offices when we organise these seasons. Heated arguments develop around many of our editorial issues. Which is the best recording of Tchaikovsky 6 or Stravinsky's Rite of Spring? How many different versions of which pieces should we play? Which are the great works that we now take for granted and which really are the neglected great works? So let the discussions continue and please join in.
Our interactive offering is more wide-ranging and richer than ever. For the first time we have listener diaries to follow and respond to – you can make your views known on your favourite pieces and recordings and help us shape the week as it progresses. There will be five of the recent Tchaikovsky TV programmes to watch, speech audio files to listen to, competitions to enter, and plenty to read: informative articles about the history of the Tchaikovsky and Stravinsky period, music repertoire-, CD-, book- and weblink guides, and an interactive timeline – in fact there is more on the site than I have room to mention here; much of the material is already on The Tchaikovsky Experience website, which will take over the Radio 3 Home Page when the broadcasts begin. Please take a moment to look at what's on offer at www.bbc.co.uk/tchaikovsky, or via the Radio 3 website: www.bbc.co.uk/radio3.
And don't forget that you can hear anything you may have missed on our Listen Again facility. I do hope that you enjoy the week and that, if you are not familiar with that Third Symphony slow movement, you will seek it out and love it.
With best wishes
Roger Wright
Controller, BBC Radio 3
January 16th 2007: The Trust and the public
On January 1st the BBC Trust took over the governance of the BBC from the old Board of Governors and today they launched their first public consultations as part of their duty to communicate with licence fee payers.
The first of the consultations concerns the remits of the BBC's new Public Purposes, part of the duties enshrined in the new Charter and agreed with government. You can read or download the consultation paper here and, if you want to do a really thorough job, the seven associated documents which explain the Public Purposes here. Having read all the documents we feel that there is little that we would wish to respond to, though we may submit comments as an indication that we have considered the issues which are here set out very lucidly.
This consultation is open to individual members of the public as well as to organisations and will close on Tuesday, April 10th 2007.
The second consultation is of more immediate relevance to us: this concerns the new Service Licences which lay down in some detail what each service (TV channels, radio stations) is expected to do. We shall submit a full reply on Radio 3's licence on the basis of a group view. You can read or download the Service Licence consultation paper here and the Service Licence documentation here.
This consultation is also open to individual members of the public and, again, will close on Tuesday, April 10th 2007.
The first of the consultations concerns the remits of the BBC's new Public Purposes, part of the duties enshrined in the new Charter and agreed with government. You can read or download the consultation paper here and, if you want to do a really thorough job, the seven associated documents which explain the Public Purposes here. Having read all the documents we feel that there is little that we would wish to respond to, though we may submit comments as an indication that we have considered the issues which are here set out very lucidly.
This consultation is open to individual members of the public as well as to organisations and will close on Tuesday, April 10th 2007.
The second consultation is of more immediate relevance to us: this concerns the new Service Licences which lay down in some detail what each service (TV channels, radio stations) is expected to do. We shall submit a full reply on Radio 3's licence on the basis of a group view. You can read or download the Service Licence consultation paper here and the Service Licence documentation here.
This consultation is also open to individual members of the public and, again, will close on Tuesday, April 10th 2007.
January 2nd 2007: The Controller's Monthly Note for January
Hello and welcome to the latest Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
A Happy New Year!
I hope that you are enjoying the Proms repeats in the evenings: it's an annual way of reliving the great music making we enjoyed throughout the summer. As 2007 gets under way, there is also much that is new and original for you to enjoy: we mark the beginning of the Sibelius anniversary year and we give you the chance to immerse yourselves in the music of one of the most original musical voices to come out of Russia – Sofia Gubaidulina.
THE EARLY MUSIC SHOW – QUEEN ANNE
We start closer to home, some three hundred years ago, through music from the time of Queen Anne. It's inevitable that we now see 18th-century London as dominated by Handel, but our Early Music Show programme sets the record straight as we discover Daniel Purcell, Gottfried Finger and John Eccles. Then as now, London was a great cosmopolitan centre, and its exceptional affluence meant that many Londoners had the inclination and funds to seek out the best cultural entertainment available. Lucie Skeaping takes us back across the centuries on Saturday 6th at 1pm.
METROPOLITAN OPERA – BELLINI'S I PURITANI
We remain in London for the subject matter of Bellini's opera from the Metropolitan Opera. I Puritani (also on 6th January) is set against the background of the English Civil War. I am not certain that we get to reflect too much on the history or social aspects of the period, but it's an original setting for the most stock of all operatic plots – a rich mix of love and intrigue. In this performance, the cast is greatly enhanced by the presence of the marvellous soprano Anna Netrebko, who leads the cast in the role of Elvira for this live broadcast.
METROPOLITAN OPERA – TAN DUN'S THE FIRST EMPEROR
Throughout the music world, there are many first performances, but fewer subsequent ones. That's the reason behind our Radio 3 involvement with the Royal Philharmonic Society encore scheme. But I have a feeling that this new Tan Dun opera, which receives its first broadcast performance from New York on Saturday 13th, is quickly going to establish itself in the repertory. It is an attractive combination of drama, love and history based around the life of Chin, the First Emperor of China, who unified the country in the third century BC and built the Great Wall. I am sure many of us will be listening with interest to see what this original composer brings to the operatic stage. We can also look forward to the performance of Plácido Domingo in the title role.
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA
The annual composer weekend of the BBC Symphony Orchestra this year features Sofia Gubaidulina and it has been planned in collaboration with the composer herself. Describing music in words can be difficult: as Elvis Costello said, "Writing about music is rather like dancing about architecture". In the case of Gubaidulina it's particularly hard, since she has such a unique, original means of expression. The weekend is called 'A Journey of the Soul', which reflects her strong Russian Orthodox faith, but it's a journey in other ways too, as her music travelled to the West for the first time in the early 1980s. 'Alleluja' recalls the journey of history in the fall of the Berlin Wall, seen as a reawakening and the triumph of faith over Soviet oppression. For all her journeying (she now lives in Germany), Russian roots are never far from the surface, and on Tuesday evening (16th) we can hear the UK première of her concerto for the Russian accordion, the bayan: 'Under The Sign Of Scorpio'.
For further details of the weekend, please look at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/orchestras/symphonyorchestra/performances/gubaidulina_home.shtml
You may also find our timeline interesting at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/orchestras/symphonyorchestra/performances/gubaidulina_timeline.shtml.
A further sense of occasion comes from the presence with the BBC Symphony Orchestra of Valery Gergiev, who is a leading champion of Gubaildulina's music. During the weekend you can also hear Gergiev's first concert as Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra as its Music Director.
SIBELIUS
Staying in the North, during the week of the 22nd January we have an opportunity to hear the Sibelius symphonies in a cycle of four concerts with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under four conductors: Vanska, Volkov, Segerstam and Solyom. Colleagues in Scotland tell me that the series has been a great success, with some truly memorable playing. So I am looking forward to celebrating the beginning of the Sibelius 50th anniversary year.
The following week we mark another anniversary, what would have been the 70th birthday of the pianist John Ogdon. There is a celebration of his life and work over three nights starting on Monday 29th January.
REGIME CHANGE
Our drama on Sunday 14th January is set in a run-down apartment block in Istanbul. Regime Change is a major new comedy by Peter Straughan taking its cue from a speech in the second Act of Julius Caesar, when the statesman Brutus suffers one night of anguish as he contemplates assassinating the Emperor. It gives birth to a wickedly dark comedy of ambition, desire and self-deceit. The play has been developed and recorded with members of the Royal Shakespeare Company ensemble, led by Henry Goodman as the would-be dictator, Lutz.
FRANK BRIDGE
If he had not taught Benjamin Britten, Frank Bridge may well have been forgotten. After they met at a music festival in Norfolk, Bridge became both teacher and friend to the young musician. Our five programmes, continuing our British music theme from 2006, reveal him in his later works as a more adventurous figure than we may have guessed. It's high time for a re-evaluation.
As always, you can find a wealth of material in support of our programmes at the Radio 3 website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
I hope you will find much to enjoy on Radio 3 during January and the whole of 2007.
Best wishes
Roger Wright
Dear All
A Happy New Year!
I hope that you are enjoying the Proms repeats in the evenings: it's an annual way of reliving the great music making we enjoyed throughout the summer. As 2007 gets under way, there is also much that is new and original for you to enjoy: we mark the beginning of the Sibelius anniversary year and we give you the chance to immerse yourselves in the music of one of the most original musical voices to come out of Russia – Sofia Gubaidulina.
THE EARLY MUSIC SHOW – QUEEN ANNE
We start closer to home, some three hundred years ago, through music from the time of Queen Anne. It's inevitable that we now see 18th-century London as dominated by Handel, but our Early Music Show programme sets the record straight as we discover Daniel Purcell, Gottfried Finger and John Eccles. Then as now, London was a great cosmopolitan centre, and its exceptional affluence meant that many Londoners had the inclination and funds to seek out the best cultural entertainment available. Lucie Skeaping takes us back across the centuries on Saturday 6th at 1pm.
METROPOLITAN OPERA – BELLINI'S I PURITANI
We remain in London for the subject matter of Bellini's opera from the Metropolitan Opera. I Puritani (also on 6th January) is set against the background of the English Civil War. I am not certain that we get to reflect too much on the history or social aspects of the period, but it's an original setting for the most stock of all operatic plots – a rich mix of love and intrigue. In this performance, the cast is greatly enhanced by the presence of the marvellous soprano Anna Netrebko, who leads the cast in the role of Elvira for this live broadcast.
METROPOLITAN OPERA – TAN DUN'S THE FIRST EMPEROR
Throughout the music world, there are many first performances, but fewer subsequent ones. That's the reason behind our Radio 3 involvement with the Royal Philharmonic Society encore scheme. But I have a feeling that this new Tan Dun opera, which receives its first broadcast performance from New York on Saturday 13th, is quickly going to establish itself in the repertory. It is an attractive combination of drama, love and history based around the life of Chin, the First Emperor of China, who unified the country in the third century BC and built the Great Wall. I am sure many of us will be listening with interest to see what this original composer brings to the operatic stage. We can also look forward to the performance of Plácido Domingo in the title role.
SOFIA GUBAIDULINA
The annual composer weekend of the BBC Symphony Orchestra this year features Sofia Gubaidulina and it has been planned in collaboration with the composer herself. Describing music in words can be difficult: as Elvis Costello said, "Writing about music is rather like dancing about architecture". In the case of Gubaidulina it's particularly hard, since she has such a unique, original means of expression. The weekend is called 'A Journey of the Soul', which reflects her strong Russian Orthodox faith, but it's a journey in other ways too, as her music travelled to the West for the first time in the early 1980s. 'Alleluja' recalls the journey of history in the fall of the Berlin Wall, seen as a reawakening and the triumph of faith over Soviet oppression. For all her journeying (she now lives in Germany), Russian roots are never far from the surface, and on Tuesday evening (16th) we can hear the UK première of her concerto for the Russian accordion, the bayan: 'Under The Sign Of Scorpio'.
For further details of the weekend, please look at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/orchestras/symphonyorchestra/performances/gubaidulina_home.shtml
You may also find our timeline interesting at: http://www.bbc.co.uk/orchestras/symphonyorchestra/performances/gubaidulina_timeline.shtml.
A further sense of occasion comes from the presence with the BBC Symphony Orchestra of Valery Gergiev, who is a leading champion of Gubaildulina's music. During the weekend you can also hear Gergiev's first concert as Music Director of the London Symphony Orchestra as its Music Director.
SIBELIUS
Staying in the North, during the week of the 22nd January we have an opportunity to hear the Sibelius symphonies in a cycle of four concerts with the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra under four conductors: Vanska, Volkov, Segerstam and Solyom. Colleagues in Scotland tell me that the series has been a great success, with some truly memorable playing. So I am looking forward to celebrating the beginning of the Sibelius 50th anniversary year.
The following week we mark another anniversary, what would have been the 70th birthday of the pianist John Ogdon. There is a celebration of his life and work over three nights starting on Monday 29th January.
REGIME CHANGE
Our drama on Sunday 14th January is set in a run-down apartment block in Istanbul. Regime Change is a major new comedy by Peter Straughan taking its cue from a speech in the second Act of Julius Caesar, when the statesman Brutus suffers one night of anguish as he contemplates assassinating the Emperor. It gives birth to a wickedly dark comedy of ambition, desire and self-deceit. The play has been developed and recorded with members of the Royal Shakespeare Company ensemble, led by Henry Goodman as the would-be dictator, Lutz.
FRANK BRIDGE
If he had not taught Benjamin Britten, Frank Bridge may well have been forgotten. After they met at a music festival in Norfolk, Bridge became both teacher and friend to the young musician. Our five programmes, continuing our British music theme from 2006, reveal him in his later works as a more adventurous figure than we may have guessed. It's high time for a re-evaluation.
As always, you can find a wealth of material in support of our programmes at the Radio 3 website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
I hope you will find much to enjoy on Radio 3 during January and the whole of 2007.
Best wishes
Roger Wright
December 22nd 2006: Is this a Licence to thrill?
The BBC Trust which takes over from the Board of Governors on 1st January 2007 has issued a press release about the new Service Licences which it published on 18th December and which lay down the scope of each BBC service. The text of Radio 3's licence can be read here (pdf) and it is worth comparing it with those of the other network radio stations.
A public consultation will be launched soon and we understand it will be open for three months. FoR3 will be responding and we shall be pleased to hear the views of any Radio 3 listeners. Everyone, of course, will be free to send in their views indiividually to the BBC Trust.
We shall publish our own response on this website before submitting it and, again, any further comments from listeners will be welcomed.
A public consultation will be launched soon and we understand it will be open for three months. FoR3 will be responding and we shall be pleased to hear the views of any Radio 3 listeners. Everyone, of course, will be free to send in their views indiividually to the BBC Trust.
We shall publish our own response on this website before submitting it and, again, any further comments from listeners will be welcomed.
December 21st 2006: What's new for the New Year?
The heavily leaked new schedule was finally unveiled today just making the promised Christmas deadline. When all the persuasive PR language ('ambitious', 'vibrant', 'engaging', 'acclaimed', 'evocative', 'eclectic', and, of course, the old standby 'stellar line-up') have been removed, can we gauge whether this is a bold new direction for Radio 3, or is it a further limp down the well-worn path of personality cult and cool?
Top billing is given to the change of presenter for Morning on 3: Rob Cowan takes on the 7am-10am slot with a new programme to be called (eponymously, so we're informed) – Rob Cowan. Will this be an appropriate vehicle for Rob's encyclopaedic knowledge of recorded performance history or will he have to pick his way, like previous presenters, through the litter of news bulletins, programme trails, time checks and sundry announcements and musical odds and ends which have made the slot unlistenable for many people? We shall see.
There is probably a Golden Rule which advises that a change of presenter should be accompanied by a change of programme name. Consequently, the name CD Masters is axed and replaced by Classical Collection, to run from 10 am until noon. Apparently there will be different presenters of whom only one is so far named, Sarah Walker, an acknowledged expert on new music, while the programme will continue with the historical recordings remit of CD Masters. No word yet on Jonathan Swain, able co-presenter of CD Masters and an acknowledged expert on historical recordings.
We assume, since nothing is said to the contrary, that Composer of the Week will remain at noon and the lunchtime concert at 1pm. In the afternoons, as has already been announced, the children's programme Making Tracks, which unexpectedly failed to reappear at the beginning of the school year, is permanently dropped. All the weekday 4pm programmes are also dropped (with Choral Evensong moving to 4pm on Sundays). This will now clear a three-hour slot, 2pm – 5pm, when In Tune begins. One innovation will be the inclusion of full-length opera broadcasts, though whether these will be regular or occasional is not stated. We assume that most of the orchestral content throughout the week will, as usual, be supplied by BBC orchestras though there is a promised performance by the Berlin Phil.
'More classical music in the afternoon' is the headline. It remains to be seen whether the extended three-hour slot of studio-presented concert excerpts turns out to be a longer stretch of unadventurous wallpaper (possibly now with the unavoidable programme trails inserted), or whether some real spice can be injected into the sometimes lack-lustre afternoon sequence. More is not necessarily better.
In Tune is cut by half an hour to allow for a 7pm start to the evening concert. Or evening 'concert': we have yet to see whether the announcement that live concert broadcasts – apart from the Proms – are to end is also heralding, as strongly rumoured, the extension of the 'afternoon format': concert excerpts introduced from the continuity studio by a regular announcer rather than full recordings of the concert with presentation from the concert hall. The loss of concert atmosphere would be regretted by many. Another point is that at present the evening concert, normally beginning at 7.30pm, attracts the biggest audience of the evening. Listening peaks between 7.30pm and 8pm and the concert slot ends at 9.30pm. Will a 7pm start be too early for people coming home from work and getting an evening meal? People unable to tune in until 8pm will now find the concert is more than half over, with only the final item of the programme left.
'More classical music in the evening', it says here. Well, fair enough, the repeat of Composer of the Week is moved down from midnight to follow the evening 'concert' at 8.45pm. Those who have found both the midday and the midnight broadcasts inconvenient now have their chance to hear the programme across the week. Against that, it will now separate daytime listeners and evening listeners, since many who previously listened to the evening concert up to 9.30pm will not want to listen to Composer of the Week if they have already heard the programme earlier in the day. Also, though this is marketed as 'classical music' it is speech-based and classified as a 'music documentary', the music being mainly shorter pieces and excerpts as illustration rather than undiluted music. The success of this move will be judged in time but it does not have the immediate look of a good idea, putting a bit of a dead weight on a valued part of the listening schedule.
Night Waves will now begin at 9.45pm. The press release curiously does not make it clear that the 'flagship arts and ideas programme' is being cut from five editions a week to four (with The Verb moving into the Friday slot).
A brand new 30-minute programme, Artist Focus, follows at 10.30pm, presumably Monday to Thursday. This seems to be a revival of the old Artist of the Week programme, dropped when CD Masters was introduced a few years ago. This is also a supposed response to the 'not enough classical music in the evenings' complaint, though the meaning of the description 'a spontaneous musical journey' can only be guessed at, and, as with Composer of the Week, an across the week programme does reduce the amount of variety in this part of the schedule.
Another headline is an 'ambitious series of cultural talks', Monday to Thursday from 11pm to 11.15pm. The Essay is in fact the old Twenty Minutes concert interval talk, removed from the early evening and slightly shortened. The good point about this is that we shall be spared those dire interval 'features' which consisted of brief snippets from anyone and everyone involved with the concert, from child timpanist to orchestra manager, from rehearsal pianist to piano tuner. The reasons given for such changes (in this case to give it a fixed start time, unaffected by the vagaries of the concert programme) are always suspect. There are probably just as many people who appreciate a serendipitous interval talk but broadcasting wisdom prevails: people like fixed times.
The 'mixed genre' music moves from 10.15pm to 11.15pm and runs through until 1am. Andy Kershaw moves from Sunday to Monday, cutting Late Junction to three nights, Tuesday to Thursday. On Fridays it appears that there will be no Artist Focus, but Jazz Library (a sort of jazz Building a Library) will run from 10.30pm to 11.30pm, to be followed as usual by Jazz on 3. Mixing It is dropped.
The weekends are not fully accounted for. Morning on 3 will now be called what? Martin Handley? Louise Fryer? On Saturdays it will presumably still be two hours long, followed by CD Review which is cut by 45 minutes (after being extended only three years ago). Music Matters, which moved to Sunday afternoon three years ago, now moves in at 12.15pm. No mention of a change to the Early Music Show but with Discovering Music moving to Sundays, it is not clear what will be on from 2pm until 3pm. An extension of World Routes? Jazz and opera are presumably unchanged but The Verb moves to Friday and it is not clear how Saturday evening will be rejigged to fill it.
On Sundays it looks as if Morning on 3/Martin Handley/Louise Fryer etc will be extended to 10am when The Cowan Collection is replaced by a new programme 'hosted' [sic] by Iain Burnside. There are no further details except that it will apparently be called Iain Burnside: Radio 3 does appear to be brain-dead when it comes to thinking up programme titles; unless, of course, there is an agenda to calling programmes by the name of the presenter…
No further changes are announced until 4pm when 3 for All is dropped and Choral Evensong (still broadcast live) will take over this 'prime slot'. Discovering Music then returns to Sunday evenings after its removal and revamp three years ago. It will be extended to 90 minutes and will regularly feature exam syllabus pieces. Whether in this format it will satisfy the enthusiasts who still remember the old, pre-revamp Discovering Music is a little doubtful. At 6.30pm we presume the present Sunday schedule applies (with The Choir possibly being renamed Aled Jones). With Andy Kershaw moving to Mondays, there will be a new 'unpresented' music and poetry/readings programme, eponymously entitled Music and Words, at 10.30pm. Apparently featuring classical music and well-known actors reading, an 'evocative evening listen' is promised. Will it go on until 1am? If so, it may be a bit of a soporific drift, rather like a literary Late Junction with music.
We will return to this later with a view on how the balance of the schedule has changed
Top billing is given to the change of presenter for Morning on 3: Rob Cowan takes on the 7am-10am slot with a new programme to be called (eponymously, so we're informed) – Rob Cowan. Will this be an appropriate vehicle for Rob's encyclopaedic knowledge of recorded performance history or will he have to pick his way, like previous presenters, through the litter of news bulletins, programme trails, time checks and sundry announcements and musical odds and ends which have made the slot unlistenable for many people? We shall see.
There is probably a Golden Rule which advises that a change of presenter should be accompanied by a change of programme name. Consequently, the name CD Masters is axed and replaced by Classical Collection, to run from 10 am until noon. Apparently there will be different presenters of whom only one is so far named, Sarah Walker, an acknowledged expert on new music, while the programme will continue with the historical recordings remit of CD Masters. No word yet on Jonathan Swain, able co-presenter of CD Masters and an acknowledged expert on historical recordings.
We assume, since nothing is said to the contrary, that Composer of the Week will remain at noon and the lunchtime concert at 1pm. In the afternoons, as has already been announced, the children's programme Making Tracks, which unexpectedly failed to reappear at the beginning of the school year, is permanently dropped. All the weekday 4pm programmes are also dropped (with Choral Evensong moving to 4pm on Sundays). This will now clear a three-hour slot, 2pm – 5pm, when In Tune begins. One innovation will be the inclusion of full-length opera broadcasts, though whether these will be regular or occasional is not stated. We assume that most of the orchestral content throughout the week will, as usual, be supplied by BBC orchestras though there is a promised performance by the Berlin Phil.
'More classical music in the afternoon' is the headline. It remains to be seen whether the extended three-hour slot of studio-presented concert excerpts turns out to be a longer stretch of unadventurous wallpaper (possibly now with the unavoidable programme trails inserted), or whether some real spice can be injected into the sometimes lack-lustre afternoon sequence. More is not necessarily better.
In Tune is cut by half an hour to allow for a 7pm start to the evening concert. Or evening 'concert': we have yet to see whether the announcement that live concert broadcasts – apart from the Proms – are to end is also heralding, as strongly rumoured, the extension of the 'afternoon format': concert excerpts introduced from the continuity studio by a regular announcer rather than full recordings of the concert with presentation from the concert hall. The loss of concert atmosphere would be regretted by many. Another point is that at present the evening concert, normally beginning at 7.30pm, attracts the biggest audience of the evening. Listening peaks between 7.30pm and 8pm and the concert slot ends at 9.30pm. Will a 7pm start be too early for people coming home from work and getting an evening meal? People unable to tune in until 8pm will now find the concert is more than half over, with only the final item of the programme left.
'More classical music in the evening', it says here. Well, fair enough, the repeat of Composer of the Week is moved down from midnight to follow the evening 'concert' at 8.45pm. Those who have found both the midday and the midnight broadcasts inconvenient now have their chance to hear the programme across the week. Against that, it will now separate daytime listeners and evening listeners, since many who previously listened to the evening concert up to 9.30pm will not want to listen to Composer of the Week if they have already heard the programme earlier in the day. Also, though this is marketed as 'classical music' it is speech-based and classified as a 'music documentary', the music being mainly shorter pieces and excerpts as illustration rather than undiluted music. The success of this move will be judged in time but it does not have the immediate look of a good idea, putting a bit of a dead weight on a valued part of the listening schedule.
Night Waves will now begin at 9.45pm. The press release curiously does not make it clear that the 'flagship arts and ideas programme' is being cut from five editions a week to four (with The Verb moving into the Friday slot).
A brand new 30-minute programme, Artist Focus, follows at 10.30pm, presumably Monday to Thursday. This seems to be a revival of the old Artist of the Week programme, dropped when CD Masters was introduced a few years ago. This is also a supposed response to the 'not enough classical music in the evenings' complaint, though the meaning of the description 'a spontaneous musical journey' can only be guessed at, and, as with Composer of the Week, an across the week programme does reduce the amount of variety in this part of the schedule.
Another headline is an 'ambitious series of cultural talks', Monday to Thursday from 11pm to 11.15pm. The Essay is in fact the old Twenty Minutes concert interval talk, removed from the early evening and slightly shortened. The good point about this is that we shall be spared those dire interval 'features' which consisted of brief snippets from anyone and everyone involved with the concert, from child timpanist to orchestra manager, from rehearsal pianist to piano tuner. The reasons given for such changes (in this case to give it a fixed start time, unaffected by the vagaries of the concert programme) are always suspect. There are probably just as many people who appreciate a serendipitous interval talk but broadcasting wisdom prevails: people like fixed times.
The 'mixed genre' music moves from 10.15pm to 11.15pm and runs through until 1am. Andy Kershaw moves from Sunday to Monday, cutting Late Junction to three nights, Tuesday to Thursday. On Fridays it appears that there will be no Artist Focus, but Jazz Library (a sort of jazz Building a Library) will run from 10.30pm to 11.30pm, to be followed as usual by Jazz on 3. Mixing It is dropped.
The weekends are not fully accounted for. Morning on 3 will now be called what? Martin Handley? Louise Fryer? On Saturdays it will presumably still be two hours long, followed by CD Review which is cut by 45 minutes (after being extended only three years ago). Music Matters, which moved to Sunday afternoon three years ago, now moves in at 12.15pm. No mention of a change to the Early Music Show but with Discovering Music moving to Sundays, it is not clear what will be on from 2pm until 3pm. An extension of World Routes? Jazz and opera are presumably unchanged but The Verb moves to Friday and it is not clear how Saturday evening will be rejigged to fill it.
On Sundays it looks as if Morning on 3/Martin Handley/Louise Fryer etc will be extended to 10am when The Cowan Collection is replaced by a new programme 'hosted' [sic] by Iain Burnside. There are no further details except that it will apparently be called Iain Burnside: Radio 3 does appear to be brain-dead when it comes to thinking up programme titles; unless, of course, there is an agenda to calling programmes by the name of the presenter…
No further changes are announced until 4pm when 3 for All is dropped and Choral Evensong (still broadcast live) will take over this 'prime slot'. Discovering Music then returns to Sunday evenings after its removal and revamp three years ago. It will be extended to 90 minutes and will regularly feature exam syllabus pieces. Whether in this format it will satisfy the enthusiasts who still remember the old, pre-revamp Discovering Music is a little doubtful. At 6.30pm we presume the present Sunday schedule applies (with The Choir possibly being renamed Aled Jones). With Andy Kershaw moving to Mondays, there will be a new 'unpresented' music and poetry/readings programme, eponymously entitled Music and Words, at 10.30pm. Apparently featuring classical music and well-known actors reading, an 'evocative evening listen' is promised. Will it go on until 1am? If so, it may be a bit of a soporific drift, rather like a literary Late Junction with music.
We will return to this later with a view on how the balance of the schedule has changed
December 1st 2006: The Controller's Monthly Note for December
Hello and welcome to the latest Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
RADIO 3 CHOIR OF THE YEAR
On the evening of Monday 11th December Aled Jones takes us to the final of the BBC Radio 3 Choir Of The Year competition recorded in the Wales Millennium Centre.
Eight of the UK's best amateur choirs will be competing in various categories, including an audience prize decided in the hall. The build-up rounds to this final were a great tribute to, and reminder of, the the vitality of amateur singing in the UK. It promises to be a splendid occasion.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/choiroftheyear/index.shtml
METROPOLITAN OPERA
Our annual extensive coverage of the Metropolitan Opera is underway, and as usual you can share the experience of being at the opera with the New York audience live on Radio 3.
On Saturday 19th Carlos Alvarez plays the embittered hunchback court jester Rigoletto, in Verdi's first operatic masterpiece, a piece which has captivated opera lovers for 150 years. The opera was not always as well received as nowadays. The work's first version, featuring the attempted murder of the crowned head of state, was offensive to the Austrians who ruled Venice at the time; Verdi was seen as contributing to the rise of sentiment against the occupying power. After some controversial passages were changed it was first heard in Venice at La Fenice on 11 March 1851.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/operaon3/met_opera.shtml
CYMBELINE
Cymbeline is one of Shakespeare's most rarely performed plays but you can hear it on Radio 3 on the evening of Sunday 17th December. It's a type of 'archetypal fairytale'. Strangely, for a fairytale there are elements where the narrative comes into contact with reality, namely the town of Milford Haven. Some scenes set near there were recorded on location in Wales, including the use of a Neolithic burial mound as Belarius's cave. It tells of the semi-legendary King's dealings with the Romans, the secret marriage of his daughter, and the exiled Belarius, living in a cave at Milford Haven with the abducted sons of Cymbeline. The cast features Sian Phillips, Nia Roberts and William Houston. I hope you enjoy this new production.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/dramaon3/
WH AUDEN
Another rarely heard drama is WH Auden's mystery cycle, For The Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, which we are broadcasting on Christmas Eve. It is narrated by Rufus Sewell. Next February is the centenary of the poet's birth, and with this production we begin a year-long celebration of his life and work. This cycle traces the Nativity narrative, but recasts it in a contemporary setting to form a meditation on the meaning of the divine in everyday life. It reflects the heart of Auden's spirituality and I think forms a fitting start to our Auden celebrations.
CHRISTMAS MUSIC
For a purely musical celebration of Christmas, tune in for our annual EBU Day of Christmas Music. The journey will take us rapidly from Russia back to the UK and to Finland and the Czech Republic, as well as many other countries. You can hear it from midday on Sunday 17th, when our BBC contribution will be a concert with the BBC Singers. From Germany we have an organ recital encompassing three magnificent instruments in Karlsruhe; the orchestral music from Russia has a strong winter theme; while from Romania we hear their ancient tradition of church music, one of the less known of Orthodox singing traditions.
During the week which follows, we continue with great performances of Christmas music: On Thursday 21st, the BBC Symphony Orchestra is joined by the BBC Singers for a performance of Hector Berlioz's 'L'Enfance du Christ' (The Childhood Of Christ), one of the composer's most popular works. On the following evening, recalling our Bach Christmas last year, the English Baroque Soloists are directed by John Eliot Gardiner in their annual Christmas concert – a selection of Bach's Advent cantatas including the much-loved 'Wachet auf' and 'Nun komm der Heiden Heiland', BWV 61.
CHRISTMAS REFLECTIONS
The season is also marked by the return of our occasional series, Belief, starting on Christmas morning. Joan Bakewell will be talking with artists, thinkers and other public figures about their beliefs. Her first guest is Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, a Roman Catholic priest for 50 years, who has been Archbishop of Westminster since 2000.
Another influential spiritual leader is profiled on Sunday 17th during the evening – Brother Roger of Taizé. His death in August 2005 shocked people all over the world, when he was attacked and killed before a congregation of almost 3,000 pilgrims. The programme looks at the quiet revolution he achieved in a remote part of France, bringing together Christians of all denominations in a way unseen since the Reformation. In this programme, Mike Ford visits Taizé to meet the Brothers and pilgrims preparing to mark the first anniversary of his death.
FOR YOUNGER LISTENERS…
And if you are with children at Christmas, do encourage them to listen (with you!) to Kids And Carols, starting on Boxing Day afternoon. Angellica Bell and Adrian Dickson will present an introduction to the world of classical music and the orchestra. In this short series the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra perform parts of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Strauss's Thunder And Lightning Polka.
FINALLY, PERU…
Though winter and particularly Christmas is often the time for being at home, we have not forgotten the rest of the world. Listen this Saturday as Lucy Duran heads to Peru in World Routes to explore its musical culture – the first of a three programme special. The programmes will feature unique field recordings from the capital, Lima and take us on a magical Peruvian journey. As Lucy says, 'There's more to the music of Peru than cheesy panpipe covers of El Cóndor Pasa!' – and she certainly found it! She starts at the Machu Picchu, where we hear music said to have originated in the music of the pre-Columbian Andes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/onlocation/peru.shtml
It only remains to wish you all a happy festive period in the company of Radio 3. All of us here send our thanks to you for your continued interest in Radio 3, and our warmest wishes for an enjoyable and peaceful new year.
Roger Wright
Dear All
RADIO 3 CHOIR OF THE YEAR
On the evening of Monday 11th December Aled Jones takes us to the final of the BBC Radio 3 Choir Of The Year competition recorded in the Wales Millennium Centre.
Eight of the UK's best amateur choirs will be competing in various categories, including an audience prize decided in the hall. The build-up rounds to this final were a great tribute to, and reminder of, the the vitality of amateur singing in the UK. It promises to be a splendid occasion.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/choiroftheyear/index.shtml
METROPOLITAN OPERA
Our annual extensive coverage of the Metropolitan Opera is underway, and as usual you can share the experience of being at the opera with the New York audience live on Radio 3.
On Saturday 19th Carlos Alvarez plays the embittered hunchback court jester Rigoletto, in Verdi's first operatic masterpiece, a piece which has captivated opera lovers for 150 years. The opera was not always as well received as nowadays. The work's first version, featuring the attempted murder of the crowned head of state, was offensive to the Austrians who ruled Venice at the time; Verdi was seen as contributing to the rise of sentiment against the occupying power. After some controversial passages were changed it was first heard in Venice at La Fenice on 11 March 1851.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/operaon3/met_opera.shtml
CYMBELINE
Cymbeline is one of Shakespeare's most rarely performed plays but you can hear it on Radio 3 on the evening of Sunday 17th December. It's a type of 'archetypal fairytale'. Strangely, for a fairytale there are elements where the narrative comes into contact with reality, namely the town of Milford Haven. Some scenes set near there were recorded on location in Wales, including the use of a Neolithic burial mound as Belarius's cave. It tells of the semi-legendary King's dealings with the Romans, the secret marriage of his daughter, and the exiled Belarius, living in a cave at Milford Haven with the abducted sons of Cymbeline. The cast features Sian Phillips, Nia Roberts and William Houston. I hope you enjoy this new production.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/dramaon3/
WH AUDEN
Another rarely heard drama is WH Auden's mystery cycle, For The Time Being: A Christmas Oratorio, which we are broadcasting on Christmas Eve. It is narrated by Rufus Sewell. Next February is the centenary of the poet's birth, and with this production we begin a year-long celebration of his life and work. This cycle traces the Nativity narrative, but recasts it in a contemporary setting to form a meditation on the meaning of the divine in everyday life. It reflects the heart of Auden's spirituality and I think forms a fitting start to our Auden celebrations.
CHRISTMAS MUSIC
For a purely musical celebration of Christmas, tune in for our annual EBU Day of Christmas Music. The journey will take us rapidly from Russia back to the UK and to Finland and the Czech Republic, as well as many other countries. You can hear it from midday on Sunday 17th, when our BBC contribution will be a concert with the BBC Singers. From Germany we have an organ recital encompassing three magnificent instruments in Karlsruhe; the orchestral music from Russia has a strong winter theme; while from Romania we hear their ancient tradition of church music, one of the less known of Orthodox singing traditions.
During the week which follows, we continue with great performances of Christmas music: On Thursday 21st, the BBC Symphony Orchestra is joined by the BBC Singers for a performance of Hector Berlioz's 'L'Enfance du Christ' (The Childhood Of Christ), one of the composer's most popular works. On the following evening, recalling our Bach Christmas last year, the English Baroque Soloists are directed by John Eliot Gardiner in their annual Christmas concert – a selection of Bach's Advent cantatas including the much-loved 'Wachet auf' and 'Nun komm der Heiden Heiland', BWV 61.
CHRISTMAS REFLECTIONS
The season is also marked by the return of our occasional series, Belief, starting on Christmas morning. Joan Bakewell will be talking with artists, thinkers and other public figures about their beliefs. Her first guest is Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, a Roman Catholic priest for 50 years, who has been Archbishop of Westminster since 2000.
Another influential spiritual leader is profiled on Sunday 17th during the evening – Brother Roger of Taizé. His death in August 2005 shocked people all over the world, when he was attacked and killed before a congregation of almost 3,000 pilgrims. The programme looks at the quiet revolution he achieved in a remote part of France, bringing together Christians of all denominations in a way unseen since the Reformation. In this programme, Mike Ford visits Taizé to meet the Brothers and pilgrims preparing to mark the first anniversary of his death.
FOR YOUNGER LISTENERS…
And if you are with children at Christmas, do encourage them to listen (with you!) to Kids And Carols, starting on Boxing Day afternoon. Angellica Bell and Adrian Dickson will present an introduction to the world of classical music and the orchestra. In this short series the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra perform parts of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, Vivaldi's Four Seasons and Strauss's Thunder And Lightning Polka.
FINALLY, PERU…
Though winter and particularly Christmas is often the time for being at home, we have not forgotten the rest of the world. Listen this Saturday as Lucy Duran heads to Peru in World Routes to explore its musical culture – the first of a three programme special. The programmes will feature unique field recordings from the capital, Lima and take us on a magical Peruvian journey. As Lucy says, 'There's more to the music of Peru than cheesy panpipe covers of El Cóndor Pasa!' – and she certainly found it! She starts at the Machu Picchu, where we hear music said to have originated in the music of the pre-Columbian Andes.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/worldmusic/onlocation/peru.shtml
It only remains to wish you all a happy festive period in the company of Radio 3. All of us here send our thanks to you for your continued interest in Radio 3, and our warmest wishes for an enjoyable and peaceful new year.
Roger Wright
November 1st 2006: The Controller's Monthly Note for November
Hello and welcome to the latest Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
We have an exciting month on Radio 3 with two major projects. One of these comprises an in-depth look at the contemporary world, while the other takes us back ninety years to reflect on the horrors of the First World War through the words of Wilfred Owen
FREE THINKING
Free Thinking begins on Friday 3rd November. It's a festival of ideas which will take place annually in Liverpool bringing writers, artists, scientists, philosophers and political thinkers together to tackle contemporary issues including new technology, cities, loneliness, sex and morality.
We start with an opening lecture from Brian Eno on Friday night at 9.30pm, in which he deals with the culture of creativity. The week on Radio 3 continues each evening at the same time with debates about contemporary values, an alternative global vision, and related dramas to provoke reflection on our society.
If you would like to come along to the events then most tickets are free. Vist the The Free Thinking Website for more details of the events and how to obtain tickets – and if you cannot be there, then do join the debate in the webblogs and listen to the broadcasts (which will also be available to listen to online). http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/freethinking/index.shtml
WILFRED OWEN WEEK
On the evening of Remembrance Sunday, November 12th, we turn to the poetry of Wilfred Owen (1893-1918).
After our complete Beethoven, Webern and Bach seasons we now present the complete canon of Owen's war poems. Beginning during The Choir, which features a performance of Britten's War Requiem, including settings of Owen, Paul Farley introduces the first in our sequence of poems read by the actor Ben Whishaw. The same evening we have a documentary following Owen's life from childhood in Birkenhead to his grave in Ors in Northern France. On Thursday 16th we broadcast the premiere of a new choral work by Judith Bingham, commissioned by Radio 3 and based upon Owen's letters.
During the week you will be able to hear the poems positioned throughout the schedule which promises to be a very moving experience. To find out more visit Radio 3's Wilfred Owen website http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/speechanddrama/wilfredowen.shtml
OPERA
Do look out for our opera highlights during November. On Saturday 4th November we are broadcasting Prokoviev's 'Betrothal in a Monastery', which is rarely heard outside Russia. This sparkling early opera was recorded at Glyndebourne and conducted by the new musical director, Vladimir Jurowski. Well known in Russia, it's appropriate that we in the UK should know it better, since the narrative comes from Sheridan's comedy 'The Duenna'. The composer thought the original play was 'like champagne', with a plot about swapping identities around an arranged marriage. It's a most amusing piece, with great music and a full Russian cast.
We have not forgotten Mozart, and we are really pleased to bring you three Mozart operas recorded at this year's Salzburg Festival. 'Mitridate, Re di Ponto' dates from 1770, while the 14-year-old Mozart was in Milan. Like the Prokofiev it's a tangled web based around love with a cast including Swedish soprano Miah Persson and American tenor Robert Croft in the title role. Listen out for more of the Salzburg Mozart cycle: 'Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail' on November 18th and 'Don Giovanni' on December 2nd.
EARLY MUSIC
During November the Early Music Show has a British theme: Made In Britain. On Sunday November 5th, Lucie Skeaping visits Eton College to look at the Eton Choirbook – an extremely rare source of pre-Reformation church music and the most important choirbook to survive the upheavals under Henry VIII. Some remarkable 15th-century composers are only known to us through this one book. Later on Sunday, we find out that the British choral tradition is still evolving when we hear about the growing trend of girls' choirs in British cathedrals in The Choir, presented by Aled Jones.
AWARDS FOR WORLD MUSIC
The nominations for next year's awards are shortly being announced as part of the WOMEX World Music Fair, and you can find out who they are during World Routes on Saturday 4th November at 3.00 pm. We are going to hear from many leading musicians during the programme, representing all corners of the globe. Lucy Duran presents the show from Seville.
LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL
We launch this annual jazz extravaganza at 10.30pm on the evening of November 18th. Jez Nelson will be presenting a live extended edition of Jazz on 3. This special programme is a preview of the top jazz stars performing in the Festival: pianist Randy Weston, Mike Westbrook's Village Band, Evan Parker with Henry Grimes and the Martin Speake Quartet.
This year's London Jazz Festival has an extremely strong line-up with over 150 events taking place in 30 venues. The festival is presented in association with Radio 3 and we are delighted to bring you the highlights during the second half of the month. Find out more from Radio 3's London Jazz Festival website. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/londonjazzfest/
COMPOSER OF THE WEEK
One of the most neglected British composers of the 20th century was George Lloyd, who died in 1998. Starting on Monday 13th November, we're featuring him in Composer of the Week for the first time. There is plenty of music to choose from, with twelve symphonies, three operas, seven concertos, music for solo piano, brass band pieces, chamber music and three large-scale cantatas.
Lloyd's career offered great promise, but he has suffered from periods of near oblivion. The bright beginning was cut short by the Second World War, as he was badly injured while serving on HMS Trinidad. In later years, he led a double life, rising every morning to write music before his day's work as a market gardener.
We hope that this prominent placing on Radio 3 will provide the chance to reassess and appreciate Lloyd and his works – and in Afternoon Performance you can hear more of Lloyd's music as we continue our feature on British symphonists including his Symphony no.4 specially recorded recently by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
As ever, I hope you enjoy this varied and distinctive line-up of programmes.
Best wishes
Roger Wright
Dear All
We have an exciting month on Radio 3 with two major projects. One of these comprises an in-depth look at the contemporary world, while the other takes us back ninety years to reflect on the horrors of the First World War through the words of Wilfred Owen
FREE THINKING
Free Thinking begins on Friday 3rd November. It's a festival of ideas which will take place annually in Liverpool bringing writers, artists, scientists, philosophers and political thinkers together to tackle contemporary issues including new technology, cities, loneliness, sex and morality.
We start with an opening lecture from Brian Eno on Friday night at 9.30pm, in which he deals with the culture of creativity. The week on Radio 3 continues each evening at the same time with debates about contemporary values, an alternative global vision, and related dramas to provoke reflection on our society.
If you would like to come along to the events then most tickets are free. Vist the The Free Thinking Website for more details of the events and how to obtain tickets – and if you cannot be there, then do join the debate in the webblogs and listen to the broadcasts (which will also be available to listen to online). http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/freethinking/index.shtml
WILFRED OWEN WEEK
On the evening of Remembrance Sunday, November 12th, we turn to the poetry of Wilfred Owen (1893-1918).
After our complete Beethoven, Webern and Bach seasons we now present the complete canon of Owen's war poems. Beginning during The Choir, which features a performance of Britten's War Requiem, including settings of Owen, Paul Farley introduces the first in our sequence of poems read by the actor Ben Whishaw. The same evening we have a documentary following Owen's life from childhood in Birkenhead to his grave in Ors in Northern France. On Thursday 16th we broadcast the premiere of a new choral work by Judith Bingham, commissioned by Radio 3 and based upon Owen's letters.
During the week you will be able to hear the poems positioned throughout the schedule which promises to be a very moving experience. To find out more visit Radio 3's Wilfred Owen website http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/speechanddrama/wilfredowen.shtml
OPERA
Do look out for our opera highlights during November. On Saturday 4th November we are broadcasting Prokoviev's 'Betrothal in a Monastery', which is rarely heard outside Russia. This sparkling early opera was recorded at Glyndebourne and conducted by the new musical director, Vladimir Jurowski. Well known in Russia, it's appropriate that we in the UK should know it better, since the narrative comes from Sheridan's comedy 'The Duenna'. The composer thought the original play was 'like champagne', with a plot about swapping identities around an arranged marriage. It's a most amusing piece, with great music and a full Russian cast.
We have not forgotten Mozart, and we are really pleased to bring you three Mozart operas recorded at this year's Salzburg Festival. 'Mitridate, Re di Ponto' dates from 1770, while the 14-year-old Mozart was in Milan. Like the Prokofiev it's a tangled web based around love with a cast including Swedish soprano Miah Persson and American tenor Robert Croft in the title role. Listen out for more of the Salzburg Mozart cycle: 'Die Entfuhrung aus dem Serail' on November 18th and 'Don Giovanni' on December 2nd.
EARLY MUSIC
During November the Early Music Show has a British theme: Made In Britain. On Sunday November 5th, Lucie Skeaping visits Eton College to look at the Eton Choirbook – an extremely rare source of pre-Reformation church music and the most important choirbook to survive the upheavals under Henry VIII. Some remarkable 15th-century composers are only known to us through this one book. Later on Sunday, we find out that the British choral tradition is still evolving when we hear about the growing trend of girls' choirs in British cathedrals in The Choir, presented by Aled Jones.
AWARDS FOR WORLD MUSIC
The nominations for next year's awards are shortly being announced as part of the WOMEX World Music Fair, and you can find out who they are during World Routes on Saturday 4th November at 3.00 pm. We are going to hear from many leading musicians during the programme, representing all corners of the globe. Lucy Duran presents the show from Seville.
LONDON JAZZ FESTIVAL
We launch this annual jazz extravaganza at 10.30pm on the evening of November 18th. Jez Nelson will be presenting a live extended edition of Jazz on 3. This special programme is a preview of the top jazz stars performing in the Festival: pianist Randy Weston, Mike Westbrook's Village Band, Evan Parker with Henry Grimes and the Martin Speake Quartet.
This year's London Jazz Festival has an extremely strong line-up with over 150 events taking place in 30 venues. The festival is presented in association with Radio 3 and we are delighted to bring you the highlights during the second half of the month. Find out more from Radio 3's London Jazz Festival website. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/londonjazzfest/
COMPOSER OF THE WEEK
One of the most neglected British composers of the 20th century was George Lloyd, who died in 1998. Starting on Monday 13th November, we're featuring him in Composer of the Week for the first time. There is plenty of music to choose from, with twelve symphonies, three operas, seven concertos, music for solo piano, brass band pieces, chamber music and three large-scale cantatas.
Lloyd's career offered great promise, but he has suffered from periods of near oblivion. The bright beginning was cut short by the Second World War, as he was badly injured while serving on HMS Trinidad. In later years, he led a double life, rising every morning to write music before his day's work as a market gardener.
We hope that this prominent placing on Radio 3 will provide the chance to reassess and appreciate Lloyd and his works – and in Afternoon Performance you can hear more of Lloyd's music as we continue our feature on British symphonists including his Symphony no.4 specially recorded recently by the BBC Philharmonic Orchestra.
As ever, I hope you enjoy this varied and distinctive line-up of programmes.
Best wishes
Roger Wright
October 26th 2006: Proms fail to lift RAJAR gloom
Listening figures for the Proms quarter, July–September, were released by RAJAR, the audience research organisation, today.
At a weekly average audience of 2.026 million this was the lowest Proms quarter since the year 2000, and represented a fall of 41,000 (2 %) on last year's Proms quarter. The previous quarter, April–June, was the lowest reach ever, by some margin, at 1.834 million so an improvement on that was a certainty.
To put this in context: over the last seven years for which comparable figures are available, the Proms quarter has been the highest of the year on three occasions, and second highest also three times (anomalously, in 1999, it was the lowest quarter). If 2.026 million turns out to be either the highest or second highest this year, the overall average for the year will be very poor indeed.
What does this mean? It means that the downward trend which began two and a half years ago is continuing. The median (and also the average) for Proms quarters is 2.068 million. The median for all quarters is 2.021 million, so this Proms quarter is only a fraction above the median; it should be a lot better than that. Listening hours, at 13.942 million were surprisingly high, giving an average per listener of 6.9 hours per week (the combination of a low reach and high listening hours). The share of listening, at 1.3% is reasonable. A lower number of people were listening for longer than average which is a small crumb of comfort.
The RAJAR figures are calculated from a sample so anomalies occur in individual quarters. Trends, on the other hand, are more reliable and that's bad new for Radio 3's management.
At a weekly average audience of 2.026 million this was the lowest Proms quarter since the year 2000, and represented a fall of 41,000 (2 %) on last year's Proms quarter. The previous quarter, April–June, was the lowest reach ever, by some margin, at 1.834 million so an improvement on that was a certainty.
To put this in context: over the last seven years for which comparable figures are available, the Proms quarter has been the highest of the year on three occasions, and second highest also three times (anomalously, in 1999, it was the lowest quarter). If 2.026 million turns out to be either the highest or second highest this year, the overall average for the year will be very poor indeed.
What does this mean? It means that the downward trend which began two and a half years ago is continuing. The median (and also the average) for Proms quarters is 2.068 million. The median for all quarters is 2.021 million, so this Proms quarter is only a fraction above the median; it should be a lot better than that. Listening hours, at 13.942 million were surprisingly high, giving an average per listener of 6.9 hours per week (the combination of a low reach and high listening hours). The share of listening, at 1.3% is reasonable. A lower number of people were listening for longer than average which is a small crumb of comfort.
The RAJAR figures are calculated from a sample so anomalies occur in individual quarters. Trends, on the other hand, are more reliable and that's bad new for Radio 3's management.
October 26th 2006: Live concerts 'face the axe'
The Evening Standard has broken a story that Radio 3 plans to cut its broadcasts of live concerts. As yet there is no official confirmation. The story claims that concerts will now be recorded for broadcast 'a few days later', though not in full. The reason given for the change is that variation in the timing of live concerts 'wreaks havoc' with the schedule.
This would be a strange explanation since the concert's fixed slot of 7.30pm-9.30pm was created by Mr Wright when Night Waves was moved to 9.30pm. When Night Waves began at 10.45pm longer concerts and varying start times could be accommodated. To edit the content of a programme to fit a fixed time slot is the exact reverse of the original aim that each programme should be given the time it needs.
The official reply that "We will be announcing changes to the schedule in the near future" suggests that other changes are in the offing for the New Year. On past experience this does not seem like good news. To be clear: it is not the fact that changes are made, but the nature of those changes, that we query. It will be surprising if the new schedules are a cause for celebration, but we can hope.
This would be a strange explanation since the concert's fixed slot of 7.30pm-9.30pm was created by Mr Wright when Night Waves was moved to 9.30pm. When Night Waves began at 10.45pm longer concerts and varying start times could be accommodated. To edit the content of a programme to fit a fixed time slot is the exact reverse of the original aim that each programme should be given the time it needs.
The official reply that "We will be announcing changes to the schedule in the near future" suggests that other changes are in the offing for the New Year. On past experience this does not seem like good news. To be clear: it is not the fact that changes are made, but the nature of those changes, that we query. It will be surprising if the new schedules are a cause for celebration, but we can hope.
October 1st 2006: The Controller's Monthly Note for October
Hello and welcome to the latest Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
THIRD PROGRAMME ANNIVERSARY
I hope you have been able to enjoy our Radio 3 birthday weekend, when we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Third Programme, which became Radio 3 in 1967. We are all grateful for the vision of those who took the bold step of founding such a radio station. It was very encouraging to read the press coverage of the anniversary, not least the Daily Telegraph which regards the station as 'not simply the best thing about the BBC, but one of the best things about Britain'. And the Sunday Times said about Radio 3, 'You feel better as a human being for listening to it, and there are not many stations you can say that about.'
You can still enjoy on demand the irreverent but affectionate soundscape of the station 'Three and a Third', produced by Alan Hall, and broadcast last Saturday at 1015pm. Sadly, Sir John Drummond, former Radio 3 Controller and Proms Director, died last month at the age of 71. We had hoped he could be with us at Friday's concert to join in our celebrations – he was and is much missed. Sir John Tusa's tribute to this great figure in the arts world was broadcast on Saturday lunchtime, and is also available on the Radio Player.
LISTEN UP!
On Friday night we also launched the 2006 Listen Up! Festival of Orchestras. This represents a major collaboration between Radio 3, the Association of British Orchestras and Making Music (representing amateur music organisations) in association with Creative Partnerships (providing creative learning opportunities in schools). Each evening on Radio 3 until November you can hear performances by orchestras from the length and breadth of the UK. Next week alone we shall be going to Glasgow, Aberdeen, Leeds, Birmingham, London, Edinburgh and Brighton. There's much more activity than I can possibly write about, so why not click here to view the broadcast details…http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/listenup/r3broadcasts.shtml and http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/listenup/whatson.shtml to find out which concerts will be happening near you. Listen Up! is not just a broadcast showcase for the talent and vitality of Britain's professional and amateur performers: it will be happening in your area in concert halls, shopping centres, schools, hospitals, and even living rooms across the land. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/listenup/
CHORAL EVENSONG
There is another quite remarkable anniversary this month, as Choral Evensong celebrates its 80th birthday with a special service from Westminster Abbey. This is the longest running outside broadcast in the history of radio: the first live Choral Evensong took place on the National Programme on Thursday 7 October 1926 from Westminster Abbey. After ten years of weekly broadcasts from the Abbey, the programme expanded to include St Paul's and York Minster. Now, of course, many cathedrals, abbeys, monasteries and churches are included, and it remains for many a weekly appointment to listen. It is also among the most popular programmes on the Radio 3 Listen Again website, reaching an audience across the world.
>From a different spiritual tradition, World Routes on Saturday 14th features the best known African musician in the world today, Youssou N'Dour. He is singing music dedicated to the Sufi saints of West Africa. Sufism – the mystic tradition whose teachings include universal love attained through a music-induced trance – is especially popular in his home country of Senegal.
HEAR AND NOW
Our musical journeys of discovery continue on Friday evening (6th) at 10.15 as Mixing It presenters Mark Russell and Robert Sandall take the programme into the countryside. In the middle of King's Wood in rural Kent, they listen to the otherworldly music coming from a huge metal trumpet, rising over 20 feet out of the leaves and bracken. A specially created pond feeds a pipe that drips water into an underground chamber, in which various tuned bowls and rods are suspended. The resulting harmonies are amplified by the chamber and emerge from the trumpet, serenading the walkers as they pass by. Music as you have never quite heard it before…
COMPOSERS AT HOME
Also at the weekend (Sunday 8th at 3.30pm), we have the opportunity to visit another composer's house in the company of Loyd Grossman. He travels to Eynsford in Kent, where Peter Warlock moved in the Twenties. Warlock was one of the most talented English composers of the early 20th century, who died in suspicious circumstances at the age of 36. Simon Callow reads from the composer's letters, and Malcolm Rudland talks about the composer's works, including the Capriol Suite and song-cycle The Curlew.
DRAMA ON 3
In An Enemy of The People, on Sunday 15th, the Northern Irish playwright Martin Lynch reinterprets Ibsen's classic 19th-century drama of the same name in his new play set in contemporary Belfast. Ibsen's play examines what happens when someone challenges the perceived consensus of his community. In Lynch's story, a mother is forced to stand up for justice when her brother-in-law is savagely killed. At first, it looks like another sectarian murder but in reality Moya McGovern's struggle for justice is only just beginning. Susan Lynch plays the part of Moya McGovern, and the cast features Charles Lawson, Harry Towb, Seainin Brennan and Patrick O'Kane.
BBC SINGERS
The BBC Singers are currently on tour in Mexico with conductor Odaline de la Martinez. On their travels, they will be performing music ranging from Thomas Tallis to Judith Bingham. To follow their journey, go to the BBC Singers website www.bbc.co.uk/singers where the BBC Singers' producer and intrepid explorer Michael Emery is keeping an account of their trip in his online diary.
http:\\www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
As ever, I hope you enjoy this varied and distinctive line-up of programmes.
Best wishes
Roger Wright
Dear All
THIRD PROGRAMME ANNIVERSARY
I hope you have been able to enjoy our Radio 3 birthday weekend, when we celebrated the 60th anniversary of the Third Programme, which became Radio 3 in 1967. We are all grateful for the vision of those who took the bold step of founding such a radio station. It was very encouraging to read the press coverage of the anniversary, not least the Daily Telegraph which regards the station as 'not simply the best thing about the BBC, but one of the best things about Britain'. And the Sunday Times said about Radio 3, 'You feel better as a human being for listening to it, and there are not many stations you can say that about.'
You can still enjoy on demand the irreverent but affectionate soundscape of the station 'Three and a Third', produced by Alan Hall, and broadcast last Saturday at 1015pm. Sadly, Sir John Drummond, former Radio 3 Controller and Proms Director, died last month at the age of 71. We had hoped he could be with us at Friday's concert to join in our celebrations – he was and is much missed. Sir John Tusa's tribute to this great figure in the arts world was broadcast on Saturday lunchtime, and is also available on the Radio Player.
LISTEN UP!
On Friday night we also launched the 2006 Listen Up! Festival of Orchestras. This represents a major collaboration between Radio 3, the Association of British Orchestras and Making Music (representing amateur music organisations) in association with Creative Partnerships (providing creative learning opportunities in schools). Each evening on Radio 3 until November you can hear performances by orchestras from the length and breadth of the UK. Next week alone we shall be going to Glasgow, Aberdeen, Leeds, Birmingham, London, Edinburgh and Brighton. There's much more activity than I can possibly write about, so why not click here to view the broadcast details…http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/listenup/r3broadcasts.shtml and http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/listenup/whatson.shtml to find out which concerts will be happening near you. Listen Up! is not just a broadcast showcase for the talent and vitality of Britain's professional and amateur performers: it will be happening in your area in concert halls, shopping centres, schools, hospitals, and even living rooms across the land. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/listenup/
CHORAL EVENSONG
There is another quite remarkable anniversary this month, as Choral Evensong celebrates its 80th birthday with a special service from Westminster Abbey. This is the longest running outside broadcast in the history of radio: the first live Choral Evensong took place on the National Programme on Thursday 7 October 1926 from Westminster Abbey. After ten years of weekly broadcasts from the Abbey, the programme expanded to include St Paul's and York Minster. Now, of course, many cathedrals, abbeys, monasteries and churches are included, and it remains for many a weekly appointment to listen. It is also among the most popular programmes on the Radio 3 Listen Again website, reaching an audience across the world.
>From a different spiritual tradition, World Routes on Saturday 14th features the best known African musician in the world today, Youssou N'Dour. He is singing music dedicated to the Sufi saints of West Africa. Sufism – the mystic tradition whose teachings include universal love attained through a music-induced trance – is especially popular in his home country of Senegal.
HEAR AND NOW
Our musical journeys of discovery continue on Friday evening (6th) at 10.15 as Mixing It presenters Mark Russell and Robert Sandall take the programme into the countryside. In the middle of King's Wood in rural Kent, they listen to the otherworldly music coming from a huge metal trumpet, rising over 20 feet out of the leaves and bracken. A specially created pond feeds a pipe that drips water into an underground chamber, in which various tuned bowls and rods are suspended. The resulting harmonies are amplified by the chamber and emerge from the trumpet, serenading the walkers as they pass by. Music as you have never quite heard it before…
COMPOSERS AT HOME
Also at the weekend (Sunday 8th at 3.30pm), we have the opportunity to visit another composer's house in the company of Loyd Grossman. He travels to Eynsford in Kent, where Peter Warlock moved in the Twenties. Warlock was one of the most talented English composers of the early 20th century, who died in suspicious circumstances at the age of 36. Simon Callow reads from the composer's letters, and Malcolm Rudland talks about the composer's works, including the Capriol Suite and song-cycle The Curlew.
DRAMA ON 3
In An Enemy of The People, on Sunday 15th, the Northern Irish playwright Martin Lynch reinterprets Ibsen's classic 19th-century drama of the same name in his new play set in contemporary Belfast. Ibsen's play examines what happens when someone challenges the perceived consensus of his community. In Lynch's story, a mother is forced to stand up for justice when her brother-in-law is savagely killed. At first, it looks like another sectarian murder but in reality Moya McGovern's struggle for justice is only just beginning. Susan Lynch plays the part of Moya McGovern, and the cast features Charles Lawson, Harry Towb, Seainin Brennan and Patrick O'Kane.
BBC SINGERS
The BBC Singers are currently on tour in Mexico with conductor Odaline de la Martinez. On their travels, they will be performing music ranging from Thomas Tallis to Judith Bingham. To follow their journey, go to the BBC Singers website www.bbc.co.uk/singers where the BBC Singers' producer and intrepid explorer Michael Emery is keeping an account of their trip in his online diary.
http:\\www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
As ever, I hope you enjoy this varied and distinctive line-up of programmes.
Best wishes
Roger Wright
September 6th 2006: BBC Annual Report 2005-2006
The BBC Governors' Annual Report for the year 2005-06 was published in July. The review for Radio 3 reported that reach was 'broadly stable', last year's weekly reach being 2 million as was this year's. In fact, last year's weekly average was 2.045 million and this year's was 2.013 million – the second lowest since RAJAR introduced its new methodology in 1999 and the lowest since 2000-01. The percentage of the population listening was given as 4.1% (more accurately, 4.08%), rescued by a fairly strong fourth quarter. This compared with 4.2% the previous year (4.19%). This year's percentage figure was, by a small margin, the lowest ever under RAJAR's current methodology.
The Beethoven Experience and A Bach Christmas were singled out as two highlights, 'indeed two of the highlights of the BBC's year' and the controversy over the Beethoven symphony downloads was dwelt on at some length. Harold Pinter's collaboration with James Clarke was the only arts/speech programme mentioned and highlights of the Proms were 'Placido Domingo and Ravi Shankar'.
Cost: it has been difficult over the past few years to understand what exactly has happened to individual station's costs since the basis for the calculation has been altered at least twice. In recent Annual Reports the cost for the current year has been given, with the previous year's alongside for comparison. It would appear that Radio 3's cost has gone down for four consecutive years, by an estimated 7.4%, and certainly by more than 5% in the past three years. This is in contrast to the other music stations (analogue and digital) which have seen their budgets rise. Radio 4's is slightly up on the period and only Five Live's has decreased, though its budget fluctuates from year to year more than any of the others.
Since 1997 Radio 3's expenditure has been:
('adjusted' indicates a change in the basis for calculation)
1997-1998 £63 m
1998-1999 £62 m
1999-2000 £64 m
2000-2001 £54 m
2001-2002 £53.0 m (adjusted to £31.0 m)
2002-2003 £30.2 m (adjusted to £32.8 m)
2003-2004 £32.1 m
2004-2005 £32.0 m
2005-2006 £31.1 m
Radio 3 is the third most (and least!) expensive of the five analogue network stations (Radio 1 £17.7 m, Radio 2 £24.1 m, Radio 3 £31.1 m, Radio 4 £71.4 m, Five Live £48.9 m). It is the most expensive of the music stations, though it has no digital counterpart: Radio 1 + 1Xtra cost £23.4 m and Radio 2 + 6 Music cost £28.5 m which is not so far below the cost of Radio 3.
Output hours by genre:
There have been no dramatic changes this year compared with last. For the first time in a while, the comparative figures quoted for the preceding year coincide, reassuringly, with the corresponding figures as published in last year's Annual Report.
News has gone down marginally from 80 hours to 75 hours which may reflect the fact that bulletins have been slightly shortened. Last year, for the first time, the bulletins in Morning on 3 and In Tune were included in the total; until then, mystifyingly, they had been omitted leaving a reported 18/19 hours of news per year (or 3 minutes per day), representing the 1pm bulletin. We drew attention to this anomaly two years running though whether that had anything to do with the subsequent inclusion of all bulletins is debatable.
Drama has been steadily decreasing and was at it lowest ever at 89 hours, compared with 106 hours in 2002-03.
The figure for arts has always been a mess and it has been virtually impossible to work out what is included under this heading. In the Annual Report for 2003-04 there were a reported 169 hours; the following year this rose to 315 hours but the comparative figure for 2003-04 was given as 298 hours instead of 169. One explanation could be that the concert interval talks had previously been omitted and were now included under arts (in reality, some are arts, some are musical).
Children's programming has risen to 99 hours (more than drama), its highest ever. This is a lot more than would be accounted for by Making Tracks and it's not clear what other programmes have been included in this figure.
The full table is (last year's figure in brackets):
Music (music genres are not separated) 8,073 (8,068)
News bulletins 75 (80)
Drama (Drama on 3, The Wire) 89 (93)
Arts (Night Waves, The Verb, Sunday Feature, Twenty minutes, Between the Ears) 309 (315)
Religion (Choral Evensong?, Belief?) 59 (67)
Children's (mainly Making Tracks) 99 (86)
Presentation (announcements, trailing) 56 (51)
Total hours 8,760
It has been hard for the BBC to ignore Radio 3 over the last year: Beethoven, Bach, music downloads have raised the profile inside and outside the BBC. It's no bad thing if the BBC becomes more aware that Radio 3 matters.
The Beethoven Experience and A Bach Christmas were singled out as two highlights, 'indeed two of the highlights of the BBC's year' and the controversy over the Beethoven symphony downloads was dwelt on at some length. Harold Pinter's collaboration with James Clarke was the only arts/speech programme mentioned and highlights of the Proms were 'Placido Domingo and Ravi Shankar'.
Cost: it has been difficult over the past few years to understand what exactly has happened to individual station's costs since the basis for the calculation has been altered at least twice. In recent Annual Reports the cost for the current year has been given, with the previous year's alongside for comparison. It would appear that Radio 3's cost has gone down for four consecutive years, by an estimated 7.4%, and certainly by more than 5% in the past three years. This is in contrast to the other music stations (analogue and digital) which have seen their budgets rise. Radio 4's is slightly up on the period and only Five Live's has decreased, though its budget fluctuates from year to year more than any of the others.
Since 1997 Radio 3's expenditure has been:
('adjusted' indicates a change in the basis for calculation)
1997-1998 £63 m
1998-1999 £62 m
1999-2000 £64 m
2000-2001 £54 m
2001-2002 £53.0 m (adjusted to £31.0 m)
2002-2003 £30.2 m (adjusted to £32.8 m)
2003-2004 £32.1 m
2004-2005 £32.0 m
2005-2006 £31.1 m
Radio 3 is the third most (and least!) expensive of the five analogue network stations (Radio 1 £17.7 m, Radio 2 £24.1 m, Radio 3 £31.1 m, Radio 4 £71.4 m, Five Live £48.9 m). It is the most expensive of the music stations, though it has no digital counterpart: Radio 1 + 1Xtra cost £23.4 m and Radio 2 + 6 Music cost £28.5 m which is not so far below the cost of Radio 3.
Output hours by genre:
There have been no dramatic changes this year compared with last. For the first time in a while, the comparative figures quoted for the preceding year coincide, reassuringly, with the corresponding figures as published in last year's Annual Report.
News has gone down marginally from 80 hours to 75 hours which may reflect the fact that bulletins have been slightly shortened. Last year, for the first time, the bulletins in Morning on 3 and In Tune were included in the total; until then, mystifyingly, they had been omitted leaving a reported 18/19 hours of news per year (or 3 minutes per day), representing the 1pm bulletin. We drew attention to this anomaly two years running though whether that had anything to do with the subsequent inclusion of all bulletins is debatable.
Drama has been steadily decreasing and was at it lowest ever at 89 hours, compared with 106 hours in 2002-03.
The figure for arts has always been a mess and it has been virtually impossible to work out what is included under this heading. In the Annual Report for 2003-04 there were a reported 169 hours; the following year this rose to 315 hours but the comparative figure for 2003-04 was given as 298 hours instead of 169. One explanation could be that the concert interval talks had previously been omitted and were now included under arts (in reality, some are arts, some are musical).
Children's programming has risen to 99 hours (more than drama), its highest ever. This is a lot more than would be accounted for by Making Tracks and it's not clear what other programmes have been included in this figure.
The full table is (last year's figure in brackets):
Music (music genres are not separated) 8,073 (8,068)
News bulletins 75 (80)
Drama (Drama on 3, The Wire) 89 (93)
Arts (Night Waves, The Verb, Sunday Feature, Twenty minutes, Between the Ears) 309 (315)
Religion (Choral Evensong?, Belief?) 59 (67)
Children's (mainly Making Tracks) 99 (86)
Presentation (announcements, trailing) 56 (51)
Total hours 8,760
It has been hard for the BBC to ignore Radio 3 over the last year: Beethoven, Bach, music downloads have raised the profile inside and outside the BBC. It's no bad thing if the BBC becomes more aware that Radio 3 matters.
September 1st 2006: The Controller's Monthly Note for September
Hello and welcome to the latest Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
THIRD PROGRAMME ANNIVERSARY
September is an important month for us on Radio 3 – it's is the 60th anniversary of the Third Programme, which started broadcasting on September 29th, 1946. The Third Programme formed the model for many other stations based around music and the arts, including both our own Radio 3 and similar stations across the world. We're marking this long history but also looking towards the future: on the evening itself, Friday 29th, we have an evening dedicated to the anniversary. There's a special In Tune, presented by Sean Rafferty, and containing music heard on the opening night in 1946. We also have a BBC Symphony Orchestra concert, featuring the world premiere of a Radio 3 commission by Jonathan Dove, and performed by the counter tenor David Daniels – this recalls the memorable performance by Alfred Deller on the opening night. We also look at Radio 3 as a major commissioner of new music and survey the changing cultural landscape over the past sixty years. On the following day, we have a Between the Ears which captures the key moments in cultural broadcasting since 1946, in Three and the Third. Around the anniversary weekend, we will have short commentaries from performers, cultural figures and listeners, telling us what their landmarks have been over the past sixty years.
LISTEN UP!
This unique celebration of orchestral music-making starts at the anniversary and runs throughout October. It is a reminder of the continuing vitality of the UK 's musical and cultural life brought to you by the station – more than 30 British orchestras are represented in our broadcast every evening throughout the month and over 20 living British composers are featured. This is the second Listen Up! Festival and will also include a celebration of non-professional orchestral life which is also so important to our musical health. There is too much to mention in this note so I will tell you more next month.
Go to the Listen Up! website @: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/listenup/
HUNGARY 1956
Another major anniversary is that of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956. We are devoting the evening of September 28th to looking back at that event and its impact. Kirsty Lang, who was BBC World correspondent in Budapest, will also examine the effect of Hungarian immigration; what makes Hungarians distinctive thinkers; and how the uprising was seen by the rest of the world. There's also an interesting story about the Soviet and Hungarian water-polo teams meeting in a highly symbolic 'battle' in the Melbourne Olympics later in the year…
THE PROMS
As I write, the Proms are still continuing towards the inevitable climax of the Last Night! On the way we have a number of exceptional events, including a pair of Mozart celebrations in his anniversary year. Late in the evening of Monday 4th we can hear the Camerata Salzburg perform music by Mozart and Haydn with the violinist Leonidas Kavakos. They are performing the first of Mozart symphonies, dating from 1764, and written for London at the age of eight! And there's much more mature Mozart later in the week, on Friday, the UK premiere of Robert Levin's completion of the C minor Mass. I am looking forward to this revitalised version of a familiar work, as Sir Charles Mackerras conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. And on September 9th for the Last Night, the final party itself under the direction of Mark Elder, we have a Russian theme with a Shostakovich overture, and the Prokofiev second violin concerto, played by Viktoria Mullova.
For more information go to the Proms website @: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/
LEEDS AND EDINBURGH
The music of course carries on after the Last Night! We quickly turn ourselves around to present our coverage of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Leeds International Piano Competition. From Edinburgh , you can hear a cycle by different orchestras of the Beethoven and Bruckner symphonies side by side – it promises to be a fascinating juxtaposition of these two master symphonists. That starts on Monday 11th. And later in the month, Sarah Walker presents three consecutive evenings from Leeds (21st-23rd), including the live concerto finals with Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra. As always, we are promised a high standard of music-making from this well established competition. So do join us to hear who will be the new talent of 2006.
For more information go to Radio 3's Edinburgh Festival website @:http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/edinburgh2006/index.shtml
COMPOSER OF THE WEEK
And further afield, don't forget The Venetians as Composer of the Week, starting on the 18th; using a number of important architectural landmarks, this series charts the importance of Venice as a city which has inspired composers through the centuries. In a varied week, we move from the Gabrielis to Wagner, Stravinsky and Britten.
For more information go to the Composer of the Week website @: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/cotw/
As always, I trust you will find much to enjoy!
Best wishes
Roger Wright
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/
Dear All
THIRD PROGRAMME ANNIVERSARY
September is an important month for us on Radio 3 – it's is the 60th anniversary of the Third Programme, which started broadcasting on September 29th, 1946. The Third Programme formed the model for many other stations based around music and the arts, including both our own Radio 3 and similar stations across the world. We're marking this long history but also looking towards the future: on the evening itself, Friday 29th, we have an evening dedicated to the anniversary. There's a special In Tune, presented by Sean Rafferty, and containing music heard on the opening night in 1946. We also have a BBC Symphony Orchestra concert, featuring the world premiere of a Radio 3 commission by Jonathan Dove, and performed by the counter tenor David Daniels – this recalls the memorable performance by Alfred Deller on the opening night. We also look at Radio 3 as a major commissioner of new music and survey the changing cultural landscape over the past sixty years. On the following day, we have a Between the Ears which captures the key moments in cultural broadcasting since 1946, in Three and the Third. Around the anniversary weekend, we will have short commentaries from performers, cultural figures and listeners, telling us what their landmarks have been over the past sixty years.
LISTEN UP!
This unique celebration of orchestral music-making starts at the anniversary and runs throughout October. It is a reminder of the continuing vitality of the UK 's musical and cultural life brought to you by the station – more than 30 British orchestras are represented in our broadcast every evening throughout the month and over 20 living British composers are featured. This is the second Listen Up! Festival and will also include a celebration of non-professional orchestral life which is also so important to our musical health. There is too much to mention in this note so I will tell you more next month.
Go to the Listen Up! website @: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/listenup/
HUNGARY 1956
Another major anniversary is that of the Hungarian Uprising in 1956. We are devoting the evening of September 28th to looking back at that event and its impact. Kirsty Lang, who was BBC World correspondent in Budapest, will also examine the effect of Hungarian immigration; what makes Hungarians distinctive thinkers; and how the uprising was seen by the rest of the world. There's also an interesting story about the Soviet and Hungarian water-polo teams meeting in a highly symbolic 'battle' in the Melbourne Olympics later in the year…
THE PROMS
As I write, the Proms are still continuing towards the inevitable climax of the Last Night! On the way we have a number of exceptional events, including a pair of Mozart celebrations in his anniversary year. Late in the evening of Monday 4th we can hear the Camerata Salzburg perform music by Mozart and Haydn with the violinist Leonidas Kavakos. They are performing the first of Mozart symphonies, dating from 1764, and written for London at the age of eight! And there's much more mature Mozart later in the week, on Friday, the UK premiere of Robert Levin's completion of the C minor Mass. I am looking forward to this revitalised version of a familiar work, as Sir Charles Mackerras conducts the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment. And on September 9th for the Last Night, the final party itself under the direction of Mark Elder, we have a Russian theme with a Shostakovich overture, and the Prokofiev second violin concerto, played by Viktoria Mullova.
For more information go to the Proms website @: http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/
LEEDS AND EDINBURGH
The music of course carries on after the Last Night! We quickly turn ourselves around to present our coverage of the Edinburgh International Festival and the Leeds International Piano Competition. From Edinburgh , you can hear a cycle by different orchestras of the Beethoven and Bruckner symphonies side by side – it promises to be a fascinating juxtaposition of these two master symphonists. That starts on Monday 11th. And later in the month, Sarah Walker presents three consecutive evenings from Leeds (21st-23rd), including the live concerto finals with Mark Elder and the Hallé Orchestra. As always, we are promised a high standard of music-making from this well established competition. So do join us to hear who will be the new talent of 2006.
For more information go to Radio 3's Edinburgh Festival website @:http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/edinburgh2006/index.shtml
COMPOSER OF THE WEEK
And further afield, don't forget The Venetians as Composer of the Week, starting on the 18th; using a number of important architectural landmarks, this series charts the importance of Venice as a city which has inspired composers through the centuries. In a varied week, we move from the Gabrielis to Wagner, Stravinsky and Britten.
For more information go to the Composer of the Week website @: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/cotw/
As always, I trust you will find much to enjoy!
Best wishes
Roger Wright
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/
August 1st 2006: The Controller's Monthly Note for August
Hello and welcome to the latest Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
BBC PROMS
The Proms is now well under way but we are not even half way through the season yet! There have been welcomes and farewells, as we have greeted Jirí Belohlávek as the incoming chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and given our best wishes to Barry Wordsworth and Richard Hickox on leaving their positions at the BBC Concert Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. We hope you have enjoyed the music-making so far. For me, some of the highlights have been the sublime performance of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto by Julian Bliss at the Queen's 80th birthday Prom, and the thrilling music of Gabrieli and other Venetians, directed by John Eliot Gardiner with the musicians scattered around the arena. It's remarkable that such music can have so powerful an effect in a building as unlike St Mark's Venice as it is possible to imagine – the only common factor being the humidity at this time of year! It was also fun to have the choruses of rabblers at last Saturday's Voices Prom day, using the hall to great effect.
I'm particularly excited about tomorrow's concert (August 2nd – Prom 26) when we have the rare experience of an Elgar first performance. It's his Pomp and Circumstance March No. 6; this new work has been constructed by Anthony Payne from the composer's sketches – including one page on which Elgar himself has written 'jolly good'. As a reminder of the range of the Proms there is the prospect of another thrilling premiere next week on August 10th with Ilan Volkov directing the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a BBC commission James Dillon's piano concerto, Andromeda, with Noriko Kawai as the soloist. I have always regarded Dillon as one of the most powerful compositional voices in British music and this score looks like a fascinating addition to the piano and orchestra repertoire.
It's always a pleasure that the Proms season provides the opportunity to hear some of the leading American orchestras in live concerts. Many of them are rarely heard on the airwaves even in the US, so we're delighted to present them to you live. On August 24th we welcome the Minnesota Orchestra with its Chief Conductor, Osmo Vänskä. Apart from their performance of Mahler's Fifth Symphony, it will be good to hear music from Osvaldo Golijov, whose music has made such a strong impact on audiences recently. We also welcome a very popular Proms regular, Sir Andrew Davis, with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on August 30th; he is joined by Lang Lang to perform Chopin's First Piano Concerto. And bringing us a fresh take on some standard repertoire, we welcome the Philadelphia Orchestra with Christoph Eschenbach for the fifth symphonies of both Beethoven and Tchaikovsky on September 4th. You might also like to find some new ways of interacting with the Proms as Radio 3 listeners. You can have your own reviews of concerts posted on the BBC website by accessing http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/reviews/.
And if you want to keep in touch throughout the rest of the season, you can sign up for the mailing list at http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/mailinglist/, or use your mobile phone to receive daily updates by texting PROMS CLUB to 83111 (normal text rates apply). And don't forget that the Proms, like all Radio 3 output, are available for a week after broadcast through the BBC Radio Player.
STRAVINSKY
We have a Russian flavour this week, as the Composer of the Week at midday is Stravinsky, and our Lunchtime Concerts from the City of London Festival are postcards from St Petersburg with the Brodsky Quartet, the Gould Piano Trio, Frederick Kempf and Joan Rodgers. Next week, we spend our lunchtimes in Ireland at the West Cork Chamber Festival, and this is complemented by a rare chance to immerse ourselves in the music of a Vaughan Williams' pupil, the Welsh composer Grace Williams, the centenary of whose birth falls this year. She had a very individual voice, and her highly melodic style was criticised for being out of step with the trends of the day. The week brings her music alive as Donald Macleod visits South Wales to meet some of the people who knew her. We also present some new recordings of Williams' work specially recorded for Radio 3 – the Violin Concerto, choral pieces from the BBC Singers, and some songs performed by Jeremy Huw Williams. From August 15th, we start our annual visits to the Edinburgh International Festival for three weeks of concerts from the Queen's Hall.
TALKS & PODCASTS
I find that one of the stimulating things about our summer broadcasting is the chance to hear features on a wide selection of subjects. Immediately after the evening Proms relays you can hear a range of documentaries, reflecting something of the serendipity of Radio 3. We can visit Timbuktu; find out about the Cold War in Mozambique; visit a composer in Elizabethan England; rediscover Brecht; or discover the role of Islamic philosophers in preserving classical sources – that's just a small selection of the topics covered. You can also sample our Arts Podcast (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/speechanddrama/podcasts.shtml), called Arts Talk; you don't need to possess an MP3 Player, since you can simply listen to this weekly round-up on your computer.
ANDY KERSHAW
In the same spirit of travel to unusual places, one of our most intrepid Radio 3 voyagers, Andy Kershaw, presents an on-location programme from Algeria with sessions recorded in Algiers, Oran, the Kabilian Mountains, and deep in the heart of the Sahara Desert. As Andy says, 'I'd wanted to visit Algeria from the moment I first heard Rai music in 1986, and it never stands still. Algerian music is always changing, innovating, picking up and adapting new tricks and ideas." Do listen out on Sunday August 6th for this unique programme from this extraordinary country.
For those of you who are taking a break at this time of the year, I hope you are having or will have an enjoyable time.
Roger Wright
Go to the Radio 3 website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/
BBC Radio 3|Radio 3 Schedule|BBC Radio Player|Message Boards
Dear All
BBC PROMS
The Proms is now well under way but we are not even half way through the season yet! There have been welcomes and farewells, as we have greeted Jirí Belohlávek as the incoming chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra and given our best wishes to Barry Wordsworth and Richard Hickox on leaving their positions at the BBC Concert Orchestra and BBC National Orchestra of Wales. We hope you have enjoyed the music-making so far. For me, some of the highlights have been the sublime performance of the Mozart Clarinet Concerto by Julian Bliss at the Queen's 80th birthday Prom, and the thrilling music of Gabrieli and other Venetians, directed by John Eliot Gardiner with the musicians scattered around the arena. It's remarkable that such music can have so powerful an effect in a building as unlike St Mark's Venice as it is possible to imagine – the only common factor being the humidity at this time of year! It was also fun to have the choruses of rabblers at last Saturday's Voices Prom day, using the hall to great effect.
I'm particularly excited about tomorrow's concert (August 2nd – Prom 26) when we have the rare experience of an Elgar first performance. It's his Pomp and Circumstance March No. 6; this new work has been constructed by Anthony Payne from the composer's sketches – including one page on which Elgar himself has written 'jolly good'. As a reminder of the range of the Proms there is the prospect of another thrilling premiere next week on August 10th with Ilan Volkov directing the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra in a BBC commission James Dillon's piano concerto, Andromeda, with Noriko Kawai as the soloist. I have always regarded Dillon as one of the most powerful compositional voices in British music and this score looks like a fascinating addition to the piano and orchestra repertoire.
It's always a pleasure that the Proms season provides the opportunity to hear some of the leading American orchestras in live concerts. Many of them are rarely heard on the airwaves even in the US, so we're delighted to present them to you live. On August 24th we welcome the Minnesota Orchestra with its Chief Conductor, Osmo Vänskä. Apart from their performance of Mahler's Fifth Symphony, it will be good to hear music from Osvaldo Golijov, whose music has made such a strong impact on audiences recently. We also welcome a very popular Proms regular, Sir Andrew Davis, with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra on August 30th; he is joined by Lang Lang to perform Chopin's First Piano Concerto. And bringing us a fresh take on some standard repertoire, we welcome the Philadelphia Orchestra with Christoph Eschenbach for the fifth symphonies of both Beethoven and Tchaikovsky on September 4th. You might also like to find some new ways of interacting with the Proms as Radio 3 listeners. You can have your own reviews of concerts posted on the BBC website by accessing http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/reviews/.
And if you want to keep in touch throughout the rest of the season, you can sign up for the mailing list at http://www.bbc.co.uk/proms/mailinglist/, or use your mobile phone to receive daily updates by texting PROMS CLUB to 83111 (normal text rates apply). And don't forget that the Proms, like all Radio 3 output, are available for a week after broadcast through the BBC Radio Player.
STRAVINSKY
We have a Russian flavour this week, as the Composer of the Week at midday is Stravinsky, and our Lunchtime Concerts from the City of London Festival are postcards from St Petersburg with the Brodsky Quartet, the Gould Piano Trio, Frederick Kempf and Joan Rodgers. Next week, we spend our lunchtimes in Ireland at the West Cork Chamber Festival, and this is complemented by a rare chance to immerse ourselves in the music of a Vaughan Williams' pupil, the Welsh composer Grace Williams, the centenary of whose birth falls this year. She had a very individual voice, and her highly melodic style was criticised for being out of step with the trends of the day. The week brings her music alive as Donald Macleod visits South Wales to meet some of the people who knew her. We also present some new recordings of Williams' work specially recorded for Radio 3 – the Violin Concerto, choral pieces from the BBC Singers, and some songs performed by Jeremy Huw Williams. From August 15th, we start our annual visits to the Edinburgh International Festival for three weeks of concerts from the Queen's Hall.
TALKS & PODCASTS
I find that one of the stimulating things about our summer broadcasting is the chance to hear features on a wide selection of subjects. Immediately after the evening Proms relays you can hear a range of documentaries, reflecting something of the serendipity of Radio 3. We can visit Timbuktu; find out about the Cold War in Mozambique; visit a composer in Elizabethan England; rediscover Brecht; or discover the role of Islamic philosophers in preserving classical sources – that's just a small selection of the topics covered. You can also sample our Arts Podcast (http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/speechanddrama/podcasts.shtml), called Arts Talk; you don't need to possess an MP3 Player, since you can simply listen to this weekly round-up on your computer.
ANDY KERSHAW
In the same spirit of travel to unusual places, one of our most intrepid Radio 3 voyagers, Andy Kershaw, presents an on-location programme from Algeria with sessions recorded in Algiers, Oran, the Kabilian Mountains, and deep in the heart of the Sahara Desert. As Andy says, 'I'd wanted to visit Algeria from the moment I first heard Rai music in 1986, and it never stands still. Algerian music is always changing, innovating, picking up and adapting new tricks and ideas." Do listen out on Sunday August 6th for this unique programme from this extraordinary country.
For those of you who are taking a break at this time of the year, I hope you are having or will have an enjoyable time.
Roger Wright
Go to the Radio 3 website at http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/
BBC Radio 3|Radio 3 Schedule|BBC Radio Player|Message Boards
July 21st 2006: Poor DAB
A fortnight ago listeners accessing Radio 3 via DAB radios noticed a clear degradation in the sound quality of the music. 'Some instruments sounded distorted', 'absolutely dire', 'the DAB sounded dreadful', 'it's rubbish', 'miserable situation', 'can't believe how bad the sound is on DAB', 'at worst it is distortion of a kind not experienced for years and unlistenable unless through a table radio', 'most music now sounds incredibly nasty', 'I was listening this evening on DAB. It sounded terrible', 'the quality wasn't great at 192kbps. Now it's just impossible to listen to', and so on. This was in the week before the Proms were due to begin.
Listeners also noticed that the bit rate had been reduced from the normal 192kbps to 160kbps, something which happened before, but only when there was a major sporting event being covered on Radio Five Live Sports Extra. This time, instead of returning to 192kbps after a few hours, the bit rate remained at 160kbps with the resulting very poor sound quality. A check on Five Live Sports Extra revealed that, although it was not covering any sporting event, it was relaying a continuous trail for Five Live.
A check on recording data showed that the reduction had apparently taken place on the morning of Thursday 6 July. Two weeks later the situation remains the same. Many listeners have written in and emailed with complaints and received a standard reply which gave no indication as to whether the reduction was permanent or not. It pointed out that Radio 3 still had the highest bit rate of any other BBC station (true, just), and 'significantly higher' than any commercial stations (untrue – Classic FM also transmits at 160kbps).
Compensating improvements had been made, we were told, so that the reduction was 'almost indistinguishable' from the higher bit rate (this was monumentally untrue).
It 'explained' that the BBC held the rights to broadcast many big sporting events on Radio Five Live Sports Extra and the preferences of different audiences had to be balanced. One point it failed to acknowledge was that Five Live Sports Extra was not covering any sporting events at the time: it was running a non-stop, repeating station trail for Five Live, and that was what was apparently taking up the bit rate normally allocated to Radio 3 – a bit rate which made all the difference between acceptable sound quality and distortion.
FoR3 has sent in complaints to various BBC managers. The only reply so far received – from the Controller of Radio 3 – says that he has no responsibility for this but has forwarded our letter. We await the standard reply telling us what we already know, including what we know to be untrue.
There appears to be no conception at the BBC (except, certainly, with the Controller of Radio 3) of the kind of high quality audio needed for a full appreciation of classical music. Broadcasts on DAB car radios and kitchen portables, free of 'hiss and crackle' are not in any way comparable to the sound quality needed for music broadcasts on Radio 3.
Facts:
Listeners also noticed that the bit rate had been reduced from the normal 192kbps to 160kbps, something which happened before, but only when there was a major sporting event being covered on Radio Five Live Sports Extra. This time, instead of returning to 192kbps after a few hours, the bit rate remained at 160kbps with the resulting very poor sound quality. A check on Five Live Sports Extra revealed that, although it was not covering any sporting event, it was relaying a continuous trail for Five Live.
A check on recording data showed that the reduction had apparently taken place on the morning of Thursday 6 July. Two weeks later the situation remains the same. Many listeners have written in and emailed with complaints and received a standard reply which gave no indication as to whether the reduction was permanent or not. It pointed out that Radio 3 still had the highest bit rate of any other BBC station (true, just), and 'significantly higher' than any commercial stations (untrue – Classic FM also transmits at 160kbps).
Compensating improvements had been made, we were told, so that the reduction was 'almost indistinguishable' from the higher bit rate (this was monumentally untrue).
It 'explained' that the BBC held the rights to broadcast many big sporting events on Radio Five Live Sports Extra and the preferences of different audiences had to be balanced. One point it failed to acknowledge was that Five Live Sports Extra was not covering any sporting events at the time: it was running a non-stop, repeating station trail for Five Live, and that was what was apparently taking up the bit rate normally allocated to Radio 3 – a bit rate which made all the difference between acceptable sound quality and distortion.
FoR3 has sent in complaints to various BBC managers. The only reply so far received – from the Controller of Radio 3 – says that he has no responsibility for this but has forwarded our letter. We await the standard reply telling us what we already know, including what we know to be untrue.
There appears to be no conception at the BBC (except, certainly, with the Controller of Radio 3) of the kind of high quality audio needed for a full appreciation of classical music. Broadcasts on DAB car radios and kitchen portables, free of 'hiss and crackle' are not in any way comparable to the sound quality needed for music broadcasts on Radio 3.
Facts:
-
The bit rate required for the best sound quality is 256kbps (and some foreign stations do transmit at that level).
-
A BBC Research and Development White Paper, written in 1994 and published in 2003, reads: "A value of 256 kbit/s has been judged to provide a high quality stereo broadcast signal. However, a small reduction, to 224 kbit/s is often adequate, and in some cases it may be possible to accept a further reduction to 192 kbit/s, especially if redundancy in the stereo signal is exploited by a process of `joint stereo' encoding (i.e. some sounds appearing at the centre of the stereo image need not be sent twice). At 192 kbit/s, it is relatively easy to hear imperfections in critical audio material."
This confirms what many listeners felt – that Radio 3's normal bit rate of 192kbps was considered the minimum necessary for high quality stereo reproduction.
-
There was no announcement of any kind about the reduction in the bit rate, which suggests at least a hope, if not an expectation, that few people would notice; and no information as to whether it is to be permanent has yet been given, creating the suspicion that it will be permanent but the BBC is not willing to admit this.
-
The explanation given to those who complained was inaccurate and inadequate, with no mention made of the apparent reason for the bit rate reduction – the Five Live continuous trail. To sacrifice audio quality of Radio 3 in order to relay a continuous, looped station trail seems to call for some sort of justification which is not as yet forthcoming.
-
DAB at 160kbps degrades the quality of Radio 3 so much that an FM tuner – technology which is now forty years old – sounds better.
-
The BBC's website still says: "…a good digital radio hi–fi set-up produces stunning sound." Few Radio 3 listeners with such equipment would agree with this now.
-
Many people have invested in high quality DAB equipment, with a roof aerial, to get the best possible sound. At 160kbps there is no way they will get acceptable sound quality. They have been conned.
July 1st 2006: The Controller's Monthly Note for July
Hello and welcome to the latest Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
TOSCA
We begin the month with high drama: Puccini's Tosca from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, its first new production of this opera for 40 years. Unsurprisingly, it seems to be a complete sell-out in the theatre, so Radio 3 provides you with a unique chance to experience the production.
Conductor Antonio Pappano will be leading a cast of outstanding operatic talent, as Angela Gheorghiu plays the heroine Tosca; Marcelo Alvarez appears in the role of her lover, Cavaradossi, and baritone Bryn Terfel is Baron Scarpia, the Chief of Police.
It's been said that the tragic part of Tosca is made for Gheorghiu, but this will be the first time she has appeared on the stage in this role. Definitely an occasion not to miss live on the evening of July 1st!
DELIUS IN BRADFORD
Throughout 2006 we have had a continuing theme of British music, and July starts with a special opportunity to appreciate the music of Delius from his home city of Bradford. In six concerts from the St George's Hall, starting on July 3rd, we will be broadcasting a wide range of his music. Tasmin Little has been championing his works in recent years, and she is directing this week-long festival. The music of Delius will be explored in the context of his influences and contemporaries. Delius brings a continental voice to British music, but his music is complemented by our Vaughan Williams symphony cycle which is running throughout Afternoon Performance – also starting on Monday 3rd with his choral Sea Symphony.
ARTISTS' CRAWLS
I have always been amused by the story of Kemp's Jigg, the story of the Elizabethan actor who danced his way from London to Norwich. It's good to see that we are equally energetic as our forebears: on Boxing Day 2005, performance artist Mark McGowan started his epic crawl from Southwark to Canterbury, but you can hear it on Saturday July 1st at 10.40pm. He recorded the adventures of his pilgrimage on mini-disc, and a radio producer met him along the way to monitor his progress. His audio diary entries, in which he proclaims his artistic (and athletic) integrity are juxtaposed with events from the increasingly farcical journey. Unlike Kemp, he probably will not receive an annual payment from the mayor of his destination! Of course, this programme is best appreciated on a walkman while crawling around your locality, but it might also prove pleasant in an armchair!
LLANGOLLEN EISTEDDFOD
One of the best known and longest-running music festivals is held each year in Llangollen. It has created a unique meeting place for choirs from around the world, and has even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the way in which is draws cultures and people together. Aled Jones visits the Eisteddfod for a live broadcast on the evening of Sunday July 9th, as our programme The Choir features visiting choirs from all parts of the globe. The special guest is Terry Waite who has done much to promote the Eisteddfod's role in bringing cultures together.
WOMAD
We find ourselves in the open-air once more at WOMAD, with a great line-up of artists, including the Malian superstar Salif Keita and the Latin sound of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Our coverage starts on the 28th and accompanying us on our visit will be Lucy Duran, Andy Kershaw, Andrew McGregor and Fiona Talkington. For the first time Radio 3 has its own broadcast stage, hosted by Fiona Talkington and Serena Dankwa; we're promoting intimate acoustic performances by some of WOMAD's top names, plus some UK musicians who are making their WOMAD and Radio 3 debuts.
BBC PROMS
And lastly, but certainly not least, the Proms! it is always difficult to know which events to mention. Clearly, the First Night on July 14th is a big moment for all of us, since it marks the arrival of Jirí Belohlávek as the BBC SO's new Chief Conductor. Appropriately enough, on this occasion, we celebrate Mozart in his anniversary year and we will also hear the music of Dvorák. The Te Deum in the programme was the work with which Dvorák launched his own new position as director of New York's National Conservatory of Music over 100 years ago.
On Tuesday 18th Glyndebourne comes to the Proms with Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, directed by Ivan Fischer. Friday July 21st will sadly now be a memorial to the recently departed Ligeti, as the Northern Sinfonia perform his Ramifications. The 22nd and 23rd provide two opportunities for children to enjoy the Proms experience, as the BBC Philharmonic performs in the Blue Peter Proms. And late on the evening of the Wednesday 26th, we travel to the golden age of Venice in the company of John Eliot Gardiner for Gabrieli and Monteverdi.
For something more extensive than my brief notes, join us on Radio 3 on the evening of Thursday July 13th, when we are presenting a special Proms Preview, with music and opinion about the whole season.
As always, you'll find details of all Radio 3's programmes at the Radio 3 website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
We hope you find much to enjoy on Radio 3.
With best wishes
Roger Wright
Dear All
TOSCA
We begin the month with high drama: Puccini's Tosca from the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, its first new production of this opera for 40 years. Unsurprisingly, it seems to be a complete sell-out in the theatre, so Radio 3 provides you with a unique chance to experience the production.
Conductor Antonio Pappano will be leading a cast of outstanding operatic talent, as Angela Gheorghiu plays the heroine Tosca; Marcelo Alvarez appears in the role of her lover, Cavaradossi, and baritone Bryn Terfel is Baron Scarpia, the Chief of Police.
It's been said that the tragic part of Tosca is made for Gheorghiu, but this will be the first time she has appeared on the stage in this role. Definitely an occasion not to miss live on the evening of July 1st!
DELIUS IN BRADFORD
Throughout 2006 we have had a continuing theme of British music, and July starts with a special opportunity to appreciate the music of Delius from his home city of Bradford. In six concerts from the St George's Hall, starting on July 3rd, we will be broadcasting a wide range of his music. Tasmin Little has been championing his works in recent years, and she is directing this week-long festival. The music of Delius will be explored in the context of his influences and contemporaries. Delius brings a continental voice to British music, but his music is complemented by our Vaughan Williams symphony cycle which is running throughout Afternoon Performance – also starting on Monday 3rd with his choral Sea Symphony.
ARTISTS' CRAWLS
I have always been amused by the story of Kemp's Jigg, the story of the Elizabethan actor who danced his way from London to Norwich. It's good to see that we are equally energetic as our forebears: on Boxing Day 2005, performance artist Mark McGowan started his epic crawl from Southwark to Canterbury, but you can hear it on Saturday July 1st at 10.40pm. He recorded the adventures of his pilgrimage on mini-disc, and a radio producer met him along the way to monitor his progress. His audio diary entries, in which he proclaims his artistic (and athletic) integrity are juxtaposed with events from the increasingly farcical journey. Unlike Kemp, he probably will not receive an annual payment from the mayor of his destination! Of course, this programme is best appreciated on a walkman while crawling around your locality, but it might also prove pleasant in an armchair!
LLANGOLLEN EISTEDDFOD
One of the best known and longest-running music festivals is held each year in Llangollen. It has created a unique meeting place for choirs from around the world, and has even been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize for the way in which is draws cultures and people together. Aled Jones visits the Eisteddfod for a live broadcast on the evening of Sunday July 9th, as our programme The Choir features visiting choirs from all parts of the globe. The special guest is Terry Waite who has done much to promote the Eisteddfod's role in bringing cultures together.
WOMAD
We find ourselves in the open-air once more at WOMAD, with a great line-up of artists, including the Malian superstar Salif Keita and the Latin sound of the Spanish Harlem Orchestra. Our coverage starts on the 28th and accompanying us on our visit will be Lucy Duran, Andy Kershaw, Andrew McGregor and Fiona Talkington. For the first time Radio 3 has its own broadcast stage, hosted by Fiona Talkington and Serena Dankwa; we're promoting intimate acoustic performances by some of WOMAD's top names, plus some UK musicians who are making their WOMAD and Radio 3 debuts.
BBC PROMS
And lastly, but certainly not least, the Proms! it is always difficult to know which events to mention. Clearly, the First Night on July 14th is a big moment for all of us, since it marks the arrival of Jirí Belohlávek as the BBC SO's new Chief Conductor. Appropriately enough, on this occasion, we celebrate Mozart in his anniversary year and we will also hear the music of Dvorák. The Te Deum in the programme was the work with which Dvorák launched his own new position as director of New York's National Conservatory of Music over 100 years ago.
On Tuesday 18th Glyndebourne comes to the Proms with Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte, directed by Ivan Fischer. Friday July 21st will sadly now be a memorial to the recently departed Ligeti, as the Northern Sinfonia perform his Ramifications. The 22nd and 23rd provide two opportunities for children to enjoy the Proms experience, as the BBC Philharmonic performs in the Blue Peter Proms. And late on the evening of the Wednesday 26th, we travel to the golden age of Venice in the company of John Eliot Gardiner for Gabrieli and Monteverdi.
For something more extensive than my brief notes, join us on Radio 3 on the evening of Thursday July 13th, when we are presenting a special Proms Preview, with music and opinion about the whole season.
As always, you'll find details of all Radio 3's programmes at the Radio 3 website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
We hope you find much to enjoy on Radio 3.
With best wishes
Roger Wright
May 31st 2006: RAJAR: The Unanswered Question
Last quarter's RAJAR listening figures (January – March 2006) completed the set for the year 2005 – 2006 which will be the subject of the next Annual Report, due out in the next few weeks. The quarter itself showed something of a recovery, with reach averaging 2.099 million per week (4.251% of the listening population), and the Radio 3 listeners' average weekly listening at almost 6.7 hours.
The year has been unpredictable, with two poor quarters (the first quarter hit the lowest reach ever at 1.913 million) alternating with two better ones. Taking the year as a whole, reach averaged 2.013 million (4.077%), down on the previous year (2.045 million and 4.185%); and that year was itself down on the year before (2.174 million and 4.493%); so. after 'peaking' in March 2004, there has been a downward trend over the past two years.
Radio 3's total listening hours for last quarter were good, seemingly in line with the overall rising trend in radio listening. People in the UK now listen to radio, on average, for 23.8 hours per week, almost two hours longer than in March 1999 (in spite of the wider facilities for On Demand listening which does not appear in the RAJAR figures). However, the year as a whole showed no clear upward trend: this was the sole quarter during the year when total Radio 3 listening exceeded a weekly average of 13 million hours.
The most striking fact is that since RAJAR's current methodology was introduced in January 1999, only one year, 2000 – 2001, has had a lower weekly average reach than the one just ended; and the percentage of the population listening to Radio 3 is at its lowest. As usual, we pose the question: if such programmes as World Routes, Late Junction, Andy Kershaw etc. having been drawing new listeners to Radio 3, why have the listening figures not gone up? We say that changes in the scheduling and presentation have caused many listeners to desert Radio 3 for good. The Controller has never addressed this fact though we shall continue to press him on the point.
The year has been unpredictable, with two poor quarters (the first quarter hit the lowest reach ever at 1.913 million) alternating with two better ones. Taking the year as a whole, reach averaged 2.013 million (4.077%), down on the previous year (2.045 million and 4.185%); and that year was itself down on the year before (2.174 million and 4.493%); so. after 'peaking' in March 2004, there has been a downward trend over the past two years.
Radio 3's total listening hours for last quarter were good, seemingly in line with the overall rising trend in radio listening. People in the UK now listen to radio, on average, for 23.8 hours per week, almost two hours longer than in March 1999 (in spite of the wider facilities for On Demand listening which does not appear in the RAJAR figures). However, the year as a whole showed no clear upward trend: this was the sole quarter during the year when total Radio 3 listening exceeded a weekly average of 13 million hours.
The most striking fact is that since RAJAR's current methodology was introduced in January 1999, only one year, 2000 – 2001, has had a lower weekly average reach than the one just ended; and the percentage of the population listening to Radio 3 is at its lowest. As usual, we pose the question: if such programmes as World Routes, Late Junction, Andy Kershaw etc. having been drawing new listeners to Radio 3, why have the listening figures not gone up? We say that changes in the scheduling and presentation have caused many listeners to desert Radio 3 for good. The Controller has never addressed this fact though we shall continue to press him on the point.
May 30th 2006: The Controller's Monthly Note for June
Hello and welcome to the latest Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
I hope you have had a relaxing and enjoyable bank holiday weekend.
TCHAIKOVSKY
Here on Radio 3, we have just have begun our cycle of Tchaikovsky symphonies with Gianandrea Noseda, who is conducting the BBC Philharmonic and the Kirov Orchestra. If you missed the first instalment on Monday night, with the Kirov Orchestra and the 3rd and 4th symphonies, you will have the chance to listen again on the BBC Radio Player. Noseda continues with the remainder of the symphonies tonight and on Friday.
FRENCH OPERA
Listen out for an unusual operatic experience on the evening of June 3rd, when we have a rare performance of the only opera by the French Baroque composer Jean-Marie Leclair. He was a violinist and dancer who composed his only opera, Scylla and Glaucus, at the age of 50. The pastoral tale of unrequited love was recorded in the most appropriate venue, the opulent Royal Theatre in the Palace of Versailles, where the French monarchs enjoyed stylish entertainment. This performance features Les Talens Lyriques under their director Christophe Rousset.
SCHUMANN AND HEINE
On Wednesday and Thursday June 7th and 8th, we have another of our special mini-seasons. On this occasion it is two evenings celebrating the poetry of Heinrich Heine, so frequently set to music by Robert Schumann – both died 150 years ago this year. Song forms the central point of the evenings, as we hear classic recordings of the songs (featuring – among others – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Fritz Wunderlich), and hear the singers give their personal views of performing the songs. The first evening has been recorded in Germany, with Iain Burnside visiting places associated with the artists, including Dusseldorf, Cologne, Bonn and the Lorelei rock. And in between, we have five short episodes of a newly commissioned drama by Hattie Naylor, which takes as its starting point the only meeting between Schumann and Heine in Munich in 1828.
BETWEEN THE EARS
On Saturday 3rd June in our experimental radio slot, Sir Paul McCartney and Martin Scorsese explore the world of Albert Maysles who created a revolution in documentary film-making in the US in the '60s. He developed 'direct cinema' in films such as What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA from 1964. An interview with Albert Maysles was recorded in the Dakota Building where John Lennon was killed, and McCartney and Scorsese provide their reminiscences.
And on a rather different note… Listeners to Radio 3 on Wednesday afternoons are familiar with the words of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer from our regular Choral Evensong. Between the Ears on Saturday 24th explores some of the less frequented byways of this book which defined both the English language and worship for generations. In 1662 sickness, infant mortality and the prospect of sudden death were ever-present. These Occasional Offices marked the human path from the 'wretchedness of this world into the everlasting joy of the Kingdom of Heaven' and have been given a fascinating examination in this feature…
BREAKFAST WITH MUGABE
From the Royal Shakespeare Company we bring you the production of this play, first performed late last year. The play is set in 2001. President Mugabe and his wife are holed up in the State House in Harare. Mugabe believes he is being stalked by an ngozi or bitter spirit – the murderous ghost of a long-dead comrade – and turns to a white psychiatrist for help. Fraser Grace's new play presents the relationship between the black president and his white psychiatrist. You can hear this on the evening of Sunday 4th . It is preceded by a special edition of The Choir surveying the choral music scene in South Africa – a pair of linked but contrasting programmes!
BEETHOVEN
And to mark the end of the month, we have an important Beethoven marathon – a rather short one in comparison with our complete Beethoven this time last year! However, it will be a great experience to follow Paul Lewis' journey through the thirty-two piano sonatas, beginning in these four concerts. This young British pianist created a lot of interest recently with his Schubert cycle, and his Beethoven has attracted a huge and positive response and I feel sure they will be performanes to treasure. Our broadcasts start on June 27th .
As always, you'll find details of all Radio 3's programmes at the Radio 3 website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
I hope you will find much to enjoy!
With best wishes
Roger Wright
Dear All
I hope you have had a relaxing and enjoyable bank holiday weekend.
TCHAIKOVSKY
Here on Radio 3, we have just have begun our cycle of Tchaikovsky symphonies with Gianandrea Noseda, who is conducting the BBC Philharmonic and the Kirov Orchestra. If you missed the first instalment on Monday night, with the Kirov Orchestra and the 3rd and 4th symphonies, you will have the chance to listen again on the BBC Radio Player. Noseda continues with the remainder of the symphonies tonight and on Friday.
FRENCH OPERA
Listen out for an unusual operatic experience on the evening of June 3rd, when we have a rare performance of the only opera by the French Baroque composer Jean-Marie Leclair. He was a violinist and dancer who composed his only opera, Scylla and Glaucus, at the age of 50. The pastoral tale of unrequited love was recorded in the most appropriate venue, the opulent Royal Theatre in the Palace of Versailles, where the French monarchs enjoyed stylish entertainment. This performance features Les Talens Lyriques under their director Christophe Rousset.
SCHUMANN AND HEINE
On Wednesday and Thursday June 7th and 8th, we have another of our special mini-seasons. On this occasion it is two evenings celebrating the poetry of Heinrich Heine, so frequently set to music by Robert Schumann – both died 150 years ago this year. Song forms the central point of the evenings, as we hear classic recordings of the songs (featuring – among others – Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau and Fritz Wunderlich), and hear the singers give their personal views of performing the songs. The first evening has been recorded in Germany, with Iain Burnside visiting places associated with the artists, including Dusseldorf, Cologne, Bonn and the Lorelei rock. And in between, we have five short episodes of a newly commissioned drama by Hattie Naylor, which takes as its starting point the only meeting between Schumann and Heine in Munich in 1828.
BETWEEN THE EARS
On Saturday 3rd June in our experimental radio slot, Sir Paul McCartney and Martin Scorsese explore the world of Albert Maysles who created a revolution in documentary film-making in the US in the '60s. He developed 'direct cinema' in films such as What's Happening! The Beatles in the USA from 1964. An interview with Albert Maysles was recorded in the Dakota Building where John Lennon was killed, and McCartney and Scorsese provide their reminiscences.
And on a rather different note… Listeners to Radio 3 on Wednesday afternoons are familiar with the words of the 1662 Book of Common Prayer from our regular Choral Evensong. Between the Ears on Saturday 24th explores some of the less frequented byways of this book which defined both the English language and worship for generations. In 1662 sickness, infant mortality and the prospect of sudden death were ever-present. These Occasional Offices marked the human path from the 'wretchedness of this world into the everlasting joy of the Kingdom of Heaven' and have been given a fascinating examination in this feature…
BREAKFAST WITH MUGABE
From the Royal Shakespeare Company we bring you the production of this play, first performed late last year. The play is set in 2001. President Mugabe and his wife are holed up in the State House in Harare. Mugabe believes he is being stalked by an ngozi or bitter spirit – the murderous ghost of a long-dead comrade – and turns to a white psychiatrist for help. Fraser Grace's new play presents the relationship between the black president and his white psychiatrist. You can hear this on the evening of Sunday 4th . It is preceded by a special edition of The Choir surveying the choral music scene in South Africa – a pair of linked but contrasting programmes!
BEETHOVEN
And to mark the end of the month, we have an important Beethoven marathon – a rather short one in comparison with our complete Beethoven this time last year! However, it will be a great experience to follow Paul Lewis' journey through the thirty-two piano sonatas, beginning in these four concerts. This young British pianist created a lot of interest recently with his Schubert cycle, and his Beethoven has attracted a huge and positive response and I feel sure they will be performanes to treasure. Our broadcasts start on June 27th .
As always, you'll find details of all Radio 3's programmes at the Radio 3 website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
I hope you will find much to enjoy!
With best wishes
Roger Wright
May 1st 2006: The Controller's Monthly Note for May
Hello and welcome to the latest Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
Thanks for your positive reactions to our Wagner Ring in a Day, and to the day of English Music last Sunday. We enjoy planning these specials, and it good to hear from you that they are well received!
May is another busy month on Radio 3.
METROPOLITAN OPERA
On the evening of Saturday 6th, we end our series of broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera. Unusually, we finish with a Baroque opera, Rodelinda by Handel – a feast of singing, as Renée Fleming and the countertenor Andreas Scholl, take the leading roles. During the interval you can hear about the social context in which the operas were written; our feature claims that opera singers (particularly castrati) were the footballers of their day – vast salaries and egos to match.
We hear more from the Metropolitan Opera later in the month, as the theatre says goodbye to its outgoing director, Joseph Volpe with a gala performance featuring a line-up which seems to include almost everyone who is anyone in the operatic world. As the plans now stand, Domingo, Fleming, Hampson, Heppner, Mattila, Pavarotti, and te Kanawa will all appear on the same stage – an operatic night to remember! Listen out for this extraordinary event on the evening of Tuesday 23rd and in the following Sunday Gala.
BRITISH OPERA HOUSES
We head towards the Royal Opera House on Saturday 13th for Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. It is based on Pushkin's novel of 1833, chosen by Tchaikovsky because of its 'intimate and powerful drama… which can touch me to the quick'. Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings the role of Eugene Onegin alongside Amanda Roocroft as Tatiana.
In the following week, Saturday 20th, we are at the English National Opera for the the first professional staging for nearly 50 years of Vaughan Williams' delightful comedy inspired by Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, Sir John in Love. "Have you ever heard so many tunes in one evening?" says Ian Judge, who directs the English National Opera's new production. Andrew Shore takes the title role of Falstaff, leading an all-British cast in this operatic rarity.
SPANISH CHURCH MUSIC
Miles away from the operatic stage, we celebrate a rather different culture in our week of Iberian church music in the Composer of the Week slot starting on May 8th. It features the writing of Victoria who worked both in Rome and in Spanish court circles and whose music is thought of as being suffused with Catholic mysticism – but there is a lot of politics there too! And in this packed month, the summer music festivals are making their first appearance: look out for the Lufthansa Festival which has two great Vivaldi concerts at the end of the month.
RPS MUSIC AWARDS
Do also listen out for the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards on Wednesday May 10th, an annual celebration of the classical music scene in the UK. The RPS Awards take place in collaboration with Radio 3, and celebrate a broad range of musicians, composers, writers, broadcasters and inspirational arts organisations. They are also completely international, the only qualification for an award being that the arts activity has taken place in the UK. There is a Radio 3 Listeners Award – whether you voted or not, you will be able to find out something about the taste of your fellow listeners. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/rpsawards06.shtml
THE CHOIR
Morten Lauridsen is one of those names which seems to be heard with increasing frequency on both side of the Atlantic. Over the last few years, he has established himself as one of America's most performed and best-loved choral composers with music of an extrordinary radiance. Some works have recently been recorded here by Stephen Layton and his choir Polyphony. In The Choir on May 7th you can hear Lauridsen talk to Aled Jones about his life, his influences and music. It's a fascinating insight into the work of a composer whose influences stretch from Palestrina to French cabaret.
MILES DAVIS
Over the weekend of May 26th to 27th, we are celebrating the legacy of one of the musical giants of the 20th century, by marking what would have been Miles Davis' 80th birthday. Jazz on 3 (on Friday at 2330) will feature a Miles Davis concert. On Saturday 27th, Discovering Music is included in the Davis tribute, as Geoff Smith examines the classic 1959 recording Kind of Blue – one of the most famous jazz records of all time – with the help of UK trumpeter Guy Barker. Jazz Record Requests (at 1700) will include many of Miles's best-known recordings and some rarities.
DOSTOEVSKY
In Drama on 3 on Sunday 7th we are broadcasting a new version by Lou Stein of The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Based on his novel of the same name, the play has a distinctly contemporary feel, with strong reminders of recent events in London and elsewhere. A group of dissidents and self-proclaimed revolutionaries are intent on subverting local political and social structures in a small provincial town in 1870s Russia. They wreak havoc in a dangerous and chaotic way, spurred on by a demonic and manipulative ringleader, Peter Verhovensky (played by Paul McGann). Stein's version departs from the expansiveness of the original novel and focuses on the psychology of the development of a dangerous local terrorist cell, seen through the eyes of a local journalist, Govorov (played by John Sessions). It also features originally composed music by award-winning composer Deirdre Gribbin.
THE JEWISH DISPORA
This weekend we begin a three-part series on Sunday evening, The Search for Sepharad. Dennis Marks travels across the Mediterranean in the footsteps of the Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. Travelling from Israel via Greece to Andalucia, he discovers a unique collaboration between Jews and Moslems which lasted half a millennium and a culture which still influences our lives today. These programmes are a search for the Sephardic diaspora – the Jewish communities who took root in Spain, North Africa and the near East, between the rise of Islam and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. They tell the story of ancient alliances between Moslem and Jewish societies across the trade routes of the Mediterranean, through the memories and experiences of scholars, writers, politicians, artists and tradespeople, from Seville and Salonika to Istanbul and Jerusalem.
As always, you'll find details of all Radio 3's programmes at the Radio 3 website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
With best wishes
Roger Wright
Dear All
Thanks for your positive reactions to our Wagner Ring in a Day, and to the day of English Music last Sunday. We enjoy planning these specials, and it good to hear from you that they are well received!
May is another busy month on Radio 3.
METROPOLITAN OPERA
On the evening of Saturday 6th, we end our series of broadcasts from the Metropolitan Opera. Unusually, we finish with a Baroque opera, Rodelinda by Handel – a feast of singing, as Renée Fleming and the countertenor Andreas Scholl, take the leading roles. During the interval you can hear about the social context in which the operas were written; our feature claims that opera singers (particularly castrati) were the footballers of their day – vast salaries and egos to match.
We hear more from the Metropolitan Opera later in the month, as the theatre says goodbye to its outgoing director, Joseph Volpe with a gala performance featuring a line-up which seems to include almost everyone who is anyone in the operatic world. As the plans now stand, Domingo, Fleming, Hampson, Heppner, Mattila, Pavarotti, and te Kanawa will all appear on the same stage – an operatic night to remember! Listen out for this extraordinary event on the evening of Tuesday 23rd and in the following Sunday Gala.
BRITISH OPERA HOUSES
We head towards the Royal Opera House on Saturday 13th for Tchaikovsky's Eugene Onegin. It is based on Pushkin's novel of 1833, chosen by Tchaikovsky because of its 'intimate and powerful drama… which can touch me to the quick'. Dmitri Hvorostovsky sings the role of Eugene Onegin alongside Amanda Roocroft as Tatiana.
In the following week, Saturday 20th, we are at the English National Opera for the the first professional staging for nearly 50 years of Vaughan Williams' delightful comedy inspired by Shakespeare's Merry Wives of Windsor, Sir John in Love. "Have you ever heard so many tunes in one evening?" says Ian Judge, who directs the English National Opera's new production. Andrew Shore takes the title role of Falstaff, leading an all-British cast in this operatic rarity.
SPANISH CHURCH MUSIC
Miles away from the operatic stage, we celebrate a rather different culture in our week of Iberian church music in the Composer of the Week slot starting on May 8th. It features the writing of Victoria who worked both in Rome and in Spanish court circles and whose music is thought of as being suffused with Catholic mysticism – but there is a lot of politics there too! And in this packed month, the summer music festivals are making their first appearance: look out for the Lufthansa Festival which has two great Vivaldi concerts at the end of the month.
RPS MUSIC AWARDS
Do also listen out for the Royal Philharmonic Society Music Awards on Wednesday May 10th, an annual celebration of the classical music scene in the UK. The RPS Awards take place in collaboration with Radio 3, and celebrate a broad range of musicians, composers, writers, broadcasters and inspirational arts organisations. They are also completely international, the only qualification for an award being that the arts activity has taken place in the UK. There is a Radio 3 Listeners Award – whether you voted or not, you will be able to find out something about the taste of your fellow listeners. http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/classical/rpsawards06.shtml
THE CHOIR
Morten Lauridsen is one of those names which seems to be heard with increasing frequency on both side of the Atlantic. Over the last few years, he has established himself as one of America's most performed and best-loved choral composers with music of an extrordinary radiance. Some works have recently been recorded here by Stephen Layton and his choir Polyphony. In The Choir on May 7th you can hear Lauridsen talk to Aled Jones about his life, his influences and music. It's a fascinating insight into the work of a composer whose influences stretch from Palestrina to French cabaret.
MILES DAVIS
Over the weekend of May 26th to 27th, we are celebrating the legacy of one of the musical giants of the 20th century, by marking what would have been Miles Davis' 80th birthday. Jazz on 3 (on Friday at 2330) will feature a Miles Davis concert. On Saturday 27th, Discovering Music is included in the Davis tribute, as Geoff Smith examines the classic 1959 recording Kind of Blue – one of the most famous jazz records of all time – with the help of UK trumpeter Guy Barker. Jazz Record Requests (at 1700) will include many of Miles's best-known recordings and some rarities.
DOSTOEVSKY
In Drama on 3 on Sunday 7th we are broadcasting a new version by Lou Stein of The Possessed by Fyodor Dostoevsky. Based on his novel of the same name, the play has a distinctly contemporary feel, with strong reminders of recent events in London and elsewhere. A group of dissidents and self-proclaimed revolutionaries are intent on subverting local political and social structures in a small provincial town in 1870s Russia. They wreak havoc in a dangerous and chaotic way, spurred on by a demonic and manipulative ringleader, Peter Verhovensky (played by Paul McGann). Stein's version departs from the expansiveness of the original novel and focuses on the psychology of the development of a dangerous local terrorist cell, seen through the eyes of a local journalist, Govorov (played by John Sessions). It also features originally composed music by award-winning composer Deirdre Gribbin.
THE JEWISH DISPORA
This weekend we begin a three-part series on Sunday evening, The Search for Sepharad. Dennis Marks travels across the Mediterranean in the footsteps of the Sephardic Jews expelled from Spain in 1492. Travelling from Israel via Greece to Andalucia, he discovers a unique collaboration between Jews and Moslems which lasted half a millennium and a culture which still influences our lives today. These programmes are a search for the Sephardic diaspora – the Jewish communities who took root in Spain, North Africa and the near East, between the rise of Islam and the fall of the Ottoman Empire. They tell the story of ancient alliances between Moslem and Jewish societies across the trade routes of the Mediterranean, through the memories and experiences of scholars, writers, politicians, artists and tradespeople, from Seville and Salonika to Istanbul and Jerusalem.
As always, you'll find details of all Radio 3's programmes at the Radio 3 website: http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
With best wishes
Roger Wright
March 1st 2006: The Controller's Monthly Note for March
Hello and welcome to the latest Controller's Monthly Note
Dear All
The two great anniversaries of 2006 again feature prominently this month, with a good deal of live music-making. At the very end of the month, we have a Mozart piano concerto marathon from the Bridgewater Hall, Manchester. All 27 concertos, including those for multiple pianos, will be performed. Barry Douglas, the artistic director of this event, has invited an international cast of soloists including Kathryn Stott, Jean-Philippe Collard and Freddy Kempf. A group of Manchester's orchestras – both professional and student – will be taking part: the Hallé, the Royal Northern College, the BBC Philharmonic, the Manchester Camerata, together with Barry Douglas's Camerata Ireland.
The complete cycle of concertos will be broadcast in a single week starting in Sunday Gala on 26th March and each subsequent evening in Performance on 3. Rather like the recent Shostakovich symphony cycle, this represents a really creative partnership between the performing groups in that dynamic musical city.
Shostakovich
Following the great success of the Shostakovich symphonies project we're now giving you the chance to hear the quartets, the more private side of his musical output. Between March 12th to 17th Sunday Gala and Performance on 3 will take us on this extraordinary journey through some of the most intimate music of the last century. All fifteen string quartets will be broadcast from specially recorded concerts given by two young string quartets – the Aviv Quartet and the Jerusalem Quartet.
Ring in a Day
Our listeners have responded positively to our recent intense artistic experiences here at Radio 3. Following the success of Bach and Beethoven last year, we have just announced the highlights of our Spring schedule, and are now looking forward to arguably the most concentrated eighteen hours ever broadcast!
You may already have read about Wagner's Ring in a Day, of which more next time. Perhaps you might like to blank this Bank Holiday (Easter Monday, 17th April) out in your diary and invite Wagner-loving friends to experience the marathon with you, or if you are near London you might like to join us during the day at the Royal Opera House where we will screen the Bayreuth performance of Die Walküre. Perhaps we should give a prize for the most imaginative way of spending the day. more on The Ring next month.
Confucius
You may have caught some of our short reflections on Confucius during the last week; if you found them interesting do tune in for our Sunday Feature, Goodbye Confucius on March 5th. China expert Rana Mitter explores how Confucius is being rehabilitated in today's China as ancient sage, contemporary business guru and tourist attraction. The nation's ancient philosopher is now being promoted as a possible solution to the country's 21st-century dilemmas.
Drama Highlights
We have a particularly striking drama double-bill the following Sunday, as Drama On 3 features Swan Song by Anton Chekhov followed by The History Boys by Alan Bennett. The Chekhov captures all the pain and self-delusion of an elderly Russian actor struggling to come to terms with his enforced retirement: he will never act again. In the new production of Chekhov's brilliant short play translated by Michael Frayn, Paul Scofield will star alongside Alec McCowen. And then, the National Theatre's sell-out production of the 2005 Olivier Award-winning Best New Play comes to radio with Richard Griffiths in his Olivier Best Actor role. Griffiths plays Hector, a romantic motorbike-riding maverick English teacher with a habit of quoting poetry, who is devoted to the passing on of knowledge and a love of literature to his beloved unruly boys. Clearly an evening to settle down and enjoy two special trips to! the theatre!
Night Waves on Religion in Society
Religious issues influence our lives and world view in ways we might never have anticipated in the 21st century. We have moved beyond the world of private faith to a world in which religion is strongly defining the societies in which many of us live. From March 13th, Night Waves undertakes its largest scale project, as it spends an entire week examining this phenomenon – from the Turkish middle class, and what has been described as Islamic Calvinism to how the Chinese authorities are attempting to devise a moral framework for their new breed of so-called 'Little Emperors'. We also look at Evangelical Christianity in the United State and in conclusion discuss the reasons for the resurgence of religion on the world stage.
Featured concert
As well as offering analyses of contemporary issues, in programmes like Night Waves, we also exist simply to bring you wonderful musical performance, not least our specially recorded concerts. So let me close this note by bringing to your attention a chance to hear Mark Padmore performing Schubert's great song cycle Winterreise together with pianist Roger Vignoles in a recent recording from Wigmore Hall. That's in Sunday Gala on March 5th. It was a wonderful occasion, and one which we are delighted to share with you all.
As always, you can find more details of all our programmes – together with opportunities to listen again to virtually the whole of Radio 3's schedule for seven days after broadcast – by visiting the Radio 3 website: www.bbc.co.uk/radio3.
With best wishes
Roger Wright
January 3rd 2006: All that Bach
For ten days, up to the afternoon performance on Christmas Day of the Christmas Oratorio, Radio 3's airwaves were filled with nothing but what became known as ABC – A Bach Christmas. Everything that survives of the great man's work was heard: cantatas, suites, oratorios, concertos, organ works, harpsichord works, chorales, mostly in live performances and with interviews, mini features (the so-called 'Bach bites') and reminiscences to add context and some breathing space between the works.
The special messageboard set up on the Radio3 website rapidly clocked up even more messages than the well used Beethoven Experience board did back in June as new 'posters' appeared in their hundreds to add their views. And the listeners' verdict? There were two opinions, both held with varying degrees of vehemence: 1) Brilliant and 2) Awful. And virtually every individual aspect of the event met with similar divided opinions: Angela Hewitt? Brilliant and Awful. Glenn Gould? Brilliant and Awful. Bach on piano, Bach on harpsichord – both were the sole possibility. Ten days? Too long and too short. Such is life.
The Controller reported that he had received thousands of emails, 98% favourable. More accurately, if less precisely, that probably meant 'the large majority of them favourable'. The evidence of the messageboard suggested that, compared with the Beethoven week, a rather bigger percentage was in some degree unhappy this time, 15% at least. However, the antis also divided between those who 'didn't like' Bach, harpsichords, organs, cantatas etc, and those who, on the contrary, loved it all, but the non-stop broadcasting made it impossible for them to listen to more than a small fraction and they would have preferred a less concentrated presentation.
The final word, however, has to lie with the majority 'Ayes': there's no arguing with those who declared that the experience extended their knowledge and deepened their understanding of the music; nor is there any denying the level of enthusiasm which the event engendered, not merely among regular Radio 3 listeners but among Bach lovers in the country too, and that has to be good.
Nevertheless, with Easter Monday (April 17th) designated Wagner Day – 16 hours devoted to the complete Ring cycle – perhaps the question should be asked as to why 'total immersion' is now preferred to the magisterial projects, extending over many months, which were made up of focused, self-contained programmes and which have not been heard since Nicholas Kenyon's Sounding the Century back in 1999.
The special messageboard set up on the Radio3 website rapidly clocked up even more messages than the well used Beethoven Experience board did back in June as new 'posters' appeared in their hundreds to add their views. And the listeners' verdict? There were two opinions, both held with varying degrees of vehemence: 1) Brilliant and 2) Awful. And virtually every individual aspect of the event met with similar divided opinions: Angela Hewitt? Brilliant and Awful. Glenn Gould? Brilliant and Awful. Bach on piano, Bach on harpsichord – both were the sole possibility. Ten days? Too long and too short. Such is life.
The Controller reported that he had received thousands of emails, 98% favourable. More accurately, if less precisely, that probably meant 'the large majority of them favourable'. The evidence of the messageboard suggested that, compared with the Beethoven week, a rather bigger percentage was in some degree unhappy this time, 15% at least. However, the antis also divided between those who 'didn't like' Bach, harpsichords, organs, cantatas etc, and those who, on the contrary, loved it all, but the non-stop broadcasting made it impossible for them to listen to more than a small fraction and they would have preferred a less concentrated presentation.
The final word, however, has to lie with the majority 'Ayes': there's no arguing with those who declared that the experience extended their knowledge and deepened their understanding of the music; nor is there any denying the level of enthusiasm which the event engendered, not merely among regular Radio 3 listeners but among Bach lovers in the country too, and that has to be good.
Nevertheless, with Easter Monday (April 17th) designated Wagner Day – 16 hours devoted to the complete Ring cycle – perhaps the question should be asked as to why 'total immersion' is now preferred to the magisterial projects, extending over many months, which were made up of focused, self-contained programmes and which have not been heard since Nicholas Kenyon's Sounding the Century back in 1999.
October 28th 2005: RAJAR figures take the pressure off
After the previous quarter's dire RAJAR figures, this last quarter (Proms quarter) has seen enough of a rally to take the pressure off for the moment. Reach/audience was 2.067 million (4.186% of the population), listening was 12.711 million hours, a share of 1.186% of total radio listening hours.
Average reach over the last seven Proms quarters, 1999 – 2005, is 2.074 million, the current result being the third lowest, though close to the average. Only 1999 and 2000 were lower, the better results had all been more recent. The percentage reach this time was 4.186% of the 15+ listening population, fractionally higher than in 2000. The percentage reach for 1999, 2000 and 2005 is markedly below the next lowest, 2001. The average percentage over the seven years is 4.266%.
As always, the relatively small numbers involved means individual figures are not wholly reliable (and inclined to be volatile). The overall trend in listening since 1999 has shown something of a rise in audience when the new programming was introduced but that has fallen away over the last eighteen months: there are now no more people listening to R3 than there were before the introduction of Late Junction, Andy Kershaw, World Routes, Stage & Screen and Brian Kay's Light Programme, and other adjustments to the schedule (the extension of Mixing It and the rescheduling of the jazz programmes).
The question still remains: if R3 has attracted 'many new listeners' for the new programmes, as is claimed, why is the reach not substantially greater? The BBC never answers this question, from which we may infer that they know that in the wake of at least four years of complaints, dissatisfied listeners have deserted the station. It appears that the BBC doesn't care as long as other listeners are being drawn in for non-arts programmes, much of whose content FoR3 is questioning. Whereas Radio 3 previously made the arts available to all, the concern now is to make them accessible to all. The ethos of the old Third/Radio 3, which called for commitment and concentration, has been replaced by programming which in style and content expects less of the audience. Accessible to some listeners, unlistenable to others, 'inclusive' to new listeners, excluding old ones. And the listeners who are dissatisfied are the ones whose interests lie at the very heart of what Radio 3 is supposed to be about.
Average reach over the last seven Proms quarters, 1999 – 2005, is 2.074 million, the current result being the third lowest, though close to the average. Only 1999 and 2000 were lower, the better results had all been more recent. The percentage reach this time was 4.186% of the 15+ listening population, fractionally higher than in 2000. The percentage reach for 1999, 2000 and 2005 is markedly below the next lowest, 2001. The average percentage over the seven years is 4.266%.
As always, the relatively small numbers involved means individual figures are not wholly reliable (and inclined to be volatile). The overall trend in listening since 1999 has shown something of a rise in audience when the new programming was introduced but that has fallen away over the last eighteen months: there are now no more people listening to R3 than there were before the introduction of Late Junction, Andy Kershaw, World Routes, Stage & Screen and Brian Kay's Light Programme, and other adjustments to the schedule (the extension of Mixing It and the rescheduling of the jazz programmes).
The question still remains: if R3 has attracted 'many new listeners' for the new programmes, as is claimed, why is the reach not substantially greater? The BBC never answers this question, from which we may infer that they know that in the wake of at least four years of complaints, dissatisfied listeners have deserted the station. It appears that the BBC doesn't care as long as other listeners are being drawn in for non-arts programmes, much of whose content FoR3 is questioning. Whereas Radio 3 previously made the arts available to all, the concern now is to make them accessible to all. The ethos of the old Third/Radio 3, which called for commitment and concentration, has been replaced by programming which in style and content expects less of the audience. Accessible to some listeners, unlistenable to others, 'inclusive' to new listeners, excluding old ones. And the listeners who are dissatisfied are the ones whose interests lie at the very heart of what Radio 3 is supposed to be about.
The Controller's Monthly Note for October
Dear All
October is a varied month for opera on Radio 3. You might have caught the spectacular, energetic broadcast premiere of Gerald Barry's opera, The Bitter Tears of Petra van Kant last Saturday. Well, we continue this month with two visits to the Royal Opera House for contrasting works: this Saturday we have a live broadcast of Nielsen's Maskarade, a lively comedy with a typical operatic plot in which one of the main characters falls in love with a girl at a masked ball – not quite the choice that his father might have made for him. As a marked contrast, on October 29th we are broadcasting Wagner's Siegfried from Covent Garden – the 'Ring' cycle begun last season continuing with the third opera in Keith Warner's new production. It is conducted by Antonio Pappano, with John Treleaven, John Tomlinson and Lisa Gasteen in the major roles. And Wagner lovers will also be able to hear Tristan and Isolde from the Bastille in Paris, on the previous Saturday – October 22nd.
If you are looking for music from earlier centuries in the Radio 3 schedule, you can listen to two events from the Tetbury Festival on Wednesday 11th and Friday 13th; in the first, the King's Consort perform church music by Pergolesi and Scarlatti, including the famous Pergolesi Stabat Mater. Two days later we have an all-Bach programme performed by the tenor Mark Padmore
October is a varied month for opera on Radio 3. You might have caught the spectacular, energetic broadcast premiere of Gerald Barry's opera, The Bitter Tears of Petra van Kant last Saturday. Well, we continue this month with two visits to the Royal Opera House for contrasting works: this Saturday we have a live broadcast of Nielsen's Maskarade, a lively comedy with a typical operatic plot in which one of the main characters falls in love with a girl at a masked ball – not quite the choice that his father might have made for him. As a marked contrast, on October 29th we are broadcasting Wagner's Siegfried from Covent Garden – the 'Ring' cycle begun last season continuing with the third opera in Keith Warner's new production. It is conducted by Antonio Pappano, with John Treleaven, John Tomlinson and Lisa Gasteen in the major roles. And Wagner lovers will also be able to hear Tristan and Isolde from the Bastille in Paris, on the previous Saturday – October 22nd.
If you are looking for music from earlier centuries in the Radio 3 schedule, you can listen to two events from the Tetbury Festival on Wednesday 11th and Friday 13th; in the first, the King's Consort perform church music by Pergolesi and Scarlatti, including the famous Pergolesi Stabat Mater. Two days later we have an all-Bach programme performed by the tenor Mark Padmore