BBC Radio at 90

[aeolium]

With the current celebrations of the 90th anniversary of BBC radio, I thought it would be worth having a thread in which listeners mentioned some of the broadcasts which have made a great impression on them over the years (perhaps a maximum of 5 in any one post!) - they can be any kind of radio broadcasts, whether heard as archive repeats or for the first time.

To start the ball rolling, here are five of mine, which strangely don't include any concert or opera broadcasts (though I'm sure some will come to my mind eventually):

Robert Simpson's talk early-1970s on Beethoven's Fidelio
The first broadcast of Samuel Beckett's Not I with Billy Whitelaw as the speaker - absolutely spell-binding
Giles Cooper's radio play Mathry Beacon
Tom Stoppard's radio play The Dog It Was That Died

and for a piece of live journalism I thought the late Peter Jones' radio commentary on the unfolding Heysel stadium disaster was an astonishing tour-de-force, possibly the best example of commentary reacting to an unpredictable event I have heard.

[cloughie]

With the current celebrations of the 90th anniversary of BBC radio, I thought it would be worth having a thread in which listeners mentioned some of the broadcasts which have made a great impression on them over the years (perhaps a maximum of 5 in any one post!) - they can be any kind of radio broadcasts, whether heard as archive repeats or for the first time.

To start the ball rolling, here are five of mine, which strangely don't include any concert or opera broadcasts (though I'm sure some will come to my mind eventually):

Robert Simpson's talk early-1970s on Beethoven's Fidelio
The first broadcast of Samuel Beckett's Not I with Billy Whitelaw as the speaker - absolutely spell-binding
Giles Cooper's radio play Mathry Beacon
Tom Stoppard's radio play The Dog It Was That Died

and for a piece of live journalism I thought the late Peter Jones' radio commentary on the unfolding Heysel stadium disaster was an astonishing tour-de-force, possibly the best example of commentary reacting to an unpredictable event I have heard.

Listen with Mother that introduced me to the Berceuse from Faure's Dolly Suite at the age of probaly about 3!

[DublinJimbo]

• The live broadcast of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem.
• A programme in the early or mid 60's devoted to Messiaen's organ music. The introductions were wonderfully informative, and the music revelatory, especially to someone who was not particularly 'into' the organ outside church. I had never heard of Messiaen before this, the name stuck in my memory, and I began to explore his output as a result of this programme. To this day, my greatest musical experience was attending a packed-out performance of the Turangalîla Symphony during the Dublin Festival of 20th Century Music with Messiaen present.
• Live broadcasts from the Bayreuth Festival. I planned the rest of my day around the broadcast times, with meal breaks coinciding with intervals in Bayreuth and am hour or so of solitude in preparation for the broadcast.
• John Peel (?) devoting his entire programme to the release on record of Evita, including extended extracts. I was in the middle of home decoration at the time and simply had to down tools.
• Non musically, Alistair Cooke's Letter from America broadcasts.

[Serial_Apologist]

Phew - it would seem absurd to try to single out concerts, recitals...

As far as R3 is concerned, I'd just mention the great series "A Land Without Music?" - part of the bigger Fairest Isle series from 1995 iirc - as not only reminding me that in a welcome age of multiculturalism I had no need to foresake my own social and cultural roots, and that, indeed, those same roots were an awful lot richer and enriching than I'd ever given them credit for being.

[Russ]

Normi Noël's play No Background Music (R4 Friday Play, 2 Sep 2005)

[salymap]

I obviously have dozens of musical memories but would like to start with my childhood memories - radio was still a teenager when I was very young.

Henry Hall's Guestnight. My first memory of the Radio Orchestra

ITMA Tommy Handley and co, making fun of the war and cheering us up

Much Binding in the Marsh with Richard Murdoch, Kenneth Horne and Sam Costa

Letter from America with Alistair Cooke

Music Magazine - the original programme.

The Private Life of Hilda Tablet - and more satirical programmes of that kind, but I've had my five. Oh sorry six.

[EdgeleyRob]

Phew - it would seem absurd to try to single out concerts, recitals...

As far as R3 is concerned, I'd just mention the great series "A Land Without Music?" - part of the bigger Fairest Isle series from 1995 iirc - as not only reminding me that in a welcome age of multiculturalism I had no need to foresake my own social and cultural roots, and that, indeed, those same roots were an awful lot richer and enriching than I'd ever given them credit for being.

[Lateralthinking1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OUS9htHp580

[subcontrabass]

Gilbert Harding reading Doctor Murke's Collection of Silences .

[vinteuil]

Basil Lam's lectures on Plainsong and the rise of European Music in ? 1978

Hans Keller's lectures on the Beethoven qtts.

Isaiah Berlin's lectures on Freedom and on Romanticism. Is it my imagination, or did he do a Radio 3 talk on Hamann?

[aeolium]

Isaiah Berlin's lectures on Freedom and on Romanticism. Is it my imagination, or did he do a Radio 3 talk on Hamann?

I found those lectures intensely interesting too, vinteuil. This website mentions a 2-part talk on Hamann, though it's not clear whether it was broadcast on R3. What treasures there are among those items! I would like to hear again the recollections of conversations with Anna Akhmatova (on R4 originally!)

[Serial_Apologist]

Basil Lam's lectures on Plainsong and the rise of European Music in ? 1978

1400

[LeMartinPecheur]

1400

What about 1100-1300? I don't much appreciate SA just leonin' to perotin' out 1400 as if there was no decent music before 2 o'clock

EDIT After the excellent Early Music Show I might even suggest he's been Binge'n...

[Thropplenoggin]

Basil Lam's lectures on Plainsong and the rise of European Music in ? 1978

Hans Keller's lectures on the Beethoven qtts.

Isaiah Berlin's lectures on Freedom and on Romanticism. Is it my imagination, or did he do a Radio 3 talk on Hamann?

Do you know if these are available to listen to anywhere, vinteuil?

EDIT: see this post here

[Gordon]

For Hans Keller talks and TV appearances see here:

https://www.google.co.uk/#q=Hans+Keller+BBC&hl=en&prmd=imvnso&source=univ&tbm=vid&tbo=u&sa=X&ei=1sWnUOiPD6bL0AXftoGgCQ&ved=0CDEQqwQ&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_cp.r_qf.&fp=939801687b704732&bpcl=38625945&biw=1093&bih=827

The meeting with Pink Floyd is interesting!!