R3 in Concert one-stop shop

[Ein Heldenleben]

Advanced warning for a concert from last night due to be broadcast on the 18th April. https://www.bbc.co.uk/symphonyorches...2-e605bce614f1

Second half was Vaughan Williams' Job. I love this magical piece and it received a marvellous performance from the BBCSO and Brabbins.

The first half was the premier of Iain Bell's Beowulf for tenor, narrator, large orchestra and choir. The piece takes us through the familiar tale in a leisurely 45 minutes. It was beautifully played and the chorus performed heroics. Charles Styles was decent but a little underpowered as Stuart Skelton's replacement in the tenor role. The music was vapid and utterly unmemorable in an undemanding fashion with the occasional sub-Britten flourishes. It overstayed its welcome by about 43 minutes by my calculation. The contrast with the inspiration in the second half could hardly be greater.

I was not previously familiar with Bell but his career seems to be going well with commissions all over the place. The BBC deemed him worth a major premier and much (10 sessions) rehearsal time. Judging by the whoops and hollers after, he has an enthusiastic fan club. I'd be interested in other's views, am I missing something here?

Yes well I forgot about your warning until I heard the first few bars. Oh dear - your criticisms are spot on. The thing about Birtwistle’s Gawain is that , even if you don’t care for his music , he creates a wholly convincing sound world for the grim tale. But this got nowhere that. I bailed after 15 mins and listened to an excellent Britten War Requiem from Brabbins in 2015 on Through The Night. Now that’s more like it. Both Britten and Birtwistle just create more interesting chords to put it at its most basic.

[JasonPalmer]

Nice concert this evening, clarinet quintets

[JasonPalmer]

Live from st martins this evening, have been looking forward to this concert.

[JasonPalmer]

Enjoying the concert from gateshead tonight, used to visit gateshead when a student at newcastle university. Interesting place, the north. Enjoyed a country walk in kent countryside wednesday, i prefer kent. Village life and a nearby fast train to london. Best of both worlds. Radio 3 concerts unite us.

[Bryn]

Looking forward to hearing another performance of Miller's Viola Concerto tonight, following its premiere with Ilan Volkov in charge of the orchestra. This time it's John Storgårds's turn, again with Lawrence Power as soloist.

[JasonPalmer]

i am listening now, two people from the forum listening to radio 3 at the same time.....

[Bryn]

i am listening now, two people from the forum listening to radio 3 at the same time.....

Surprised to find I do not know the Sibelius Tempest Suite No 2.

[JasonPalmer]

I have a terrible memory for music but forunately i let radio 3 choose my playlist, i save so much time and effort of hunting for specific recordings.

[Pulcinella]

Tippett tonight:

Concerto for double string orchestra
A child of our time

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001lkmv

[Pulcinella]

Tippett tonight:

Concerto for double string orchestra
A child of our time

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m001lkmv

Streamed sound kept dropping out here (possibly problems this end, though everything else internet related seemed ok) so might go the Sounds route.
Wasn't that taken with the Concerto though, particularly compared to his recording of it.

[silvestrione]

Streamed sound kept dropping out here (possibly problems this end, though everything else internet related seemed ok) so might go the Sounds route.
Wasn't that taken with the Concerto though, particularly compared to his recording of it.

The 'sprung' rhythms didn't quite take off, did they?
A good performance of 'A Child of Our Time', I thought, though I'm no judge of singers. The work is still so impressive: I found myself wondering, did Tippett have anything else to say? Are his later works footnotes to it? The answers, on reflection, are 'yes' and 'no', but it did give me pause...

[antongould]

The 'sprung' rhythms didn't quite take off, did they?
A good performance of 'A Child of Our Time', I thought, though I'm no judge of singers. The work is still so impressive: I found myself wondering, did Tippett have anything else to say? Are his later works footnotes to it? The answers, on reflection, are 'yes' and 'no', but it did give me pause...

Enjoyed A Child Of Our Time very much ..

[Pulcinella]

Enjoyed A Child Of Our Time very much ..

Glad about that; you probably heard that they were off to record it for Chandos.
A bit surprised to hear that, as Chandos already have a version in their catalogue, with Hickox conducting (though I see that that's from 1992; how time flies!).
I didn't think it quite worked either, though.

[Master Jacques]

Glad about that; you probably heard that they were off to record it for Chandos.
A bit surprised to hear that, as Chandos already have a version in their catalogue [...]

One of the great things about Chandos, is their willingness to put rival versions of 20th century classics into the field: I'm specially thinking of their Bax catalogue, which features two complete symphonic cycles (Thomson and Handley) as well as multiple versions of the best-known tone poems and some of the chamber repertoire. Where would we be without them?

[JasonPalmer]

I like the look of this evenings concert, will try squeeze in some listening between chiodcare duties.