The 2025 Survey of Classical Music on R3

[hmvman]

Steve Reich will be 90 later this year so he'll probably feature more prominently. A Composer of the Week in October maybe?

[LMcD]

I rather think those of us who share your taste for the above are likely to get Piston, so to speak....

[Retune]

I was actually putting a table together of a selection of composers who had less than 50 works/chunks broadcast in 2025 & Ligeti was amongst them. Table is below, those in bold are the lowest numbers since I began in 2009.

There was always going to be a marked drop after the 'centenary boost', but a shame to see Ligeti quite so low.

One of the bigger surprises to me in the seldom played table is JC Bach. Will we have to wait until his tercentenary in 2035 for a Johann Christian revival?

[smittims]

I love JCB but he doesn't tick any diversity boxes so Radio 3 aren't interested. Let's start a rumour that his mother was a Senegalese slave, or that he was really a girl, made to dress as a boy , then he/she'll be Composer of the Year!

[Ian Thumwood]

I love JCB but he doesn't tick any diversity boxes so Radio 3 aren't interested. Let's start a rumour that this motherwas a Senegalese slave, or that he was really a girl, made to dress as a boy , then he/she'll be Composer of the Year!

I claim my prize. You are really Richard Littlejohn.

Were you rubbing your hands over the thighs of your courdorys when you typed that ?

[smittims]

I've no idea who Richard Littlejohn is, nor what a 'courdory' is (no, don't bother to tell me) but do please be careful to avoid unwanted personal remarks (known as ad hominem). It's in the House Rules. Just a polite reminder.

My post was intended as a gently-humorous satire of Radio 3's policy of choosing composers to broadacst. No living person was criticised.

[esmondo]

Personally I would love to see more Chadwick, Carter, Diamond, Fine, Harbison, Hanson, Harris, Mennin, Paine, Persichetti, Piston, Riegger, Rorem, Schuman, Sessions & Zwilich, but somehow I think that is wishful thinking.

I also confidently predict a total absence of Morton Feldman.

[Tapiola]

I love JCB but he doesn't tick any diversity boxes so Radio 3 aren't interested. Let's start a rumour that this motherwas a Senegalese slave, or that he was really a girl, made to dress as a boy , then he/she'll be Composer of the Year!

Must you persist with this tired old trope of yours? As a friend of young Senegalese people who have made a name for themselves in my part of the world since their immigration here, I am just glad they do not read these pages. Gently-humorous indeed...

[smittims]

Thank you for your comments, Tapiola.

There was once a composer whose mother was a Senegalese slave, and this fact alone, regardless of the quality of his music (which in my opinion is negligible) has resulted in its repeated broadcast on Radio 3 while other composers of much more merit are ignored. My comment was a satire on Radio 3's policy. No disrespect was intended to anyone from Senegal.

Humour is often a gentler way of calling out hypocrisy and 'virtue-signalling' than a direct accusation . I don't like a lot of the humour I see on these forums but I don't complain about it.

[Ein Heldenleben]

Thank you for your comments, Tapiola.

There was once a composer whose mother was a Senegalese slave, and this fact alone, regardless of the quality of his music (which in my opinion is negligible) has resulted in its repeated broadcast on Radio 3 while other composers of much more merit are ignored. My comment was a satire on Radio 3's policy. No disrespect was intended to anyone from Senegal.

Humour is often a gentler way of calling out hypocrisy and 'virtue-signalling' than a direct accusation . I don't like a lot of the humour I see on these forums but I don't complain about it.

If you’re referring to Chevalier St. Georges then I think the word “negligible” is overly harsh and he deserves the odd play - which he gets. I could just as easily argue that the BBC as a whole consistently underplays the works of Charlie Parker which are , in my view worth much more of an outing than some of the classical composers played incessantly like Jenkins, Einaudi etc.etc.
With classical composers from a minority , especially African , there is also the historical interest factor - people aren’t aware that they even existed. I once commissioned a film on the ex -slave and violinist Joseph Emidy not out of some wokeist principle but because I thought people would find the subject interesting.

[adventsnore]

Playing music by composers with less-common histories adds much to the music Context and aesthetic experience are mutually generative. Arguably, what do the notes matter? How could BBC3 decide what to play just looking at notated music? It simply isn't enough information, which is why we rely on composers' reputations to qualify music. So who composed music, who has played it since, and who has heard it matters plenty.

If I doubted that representation matters, it would have been bulldozed at the Royal Academy's exhibition of paintings by black American artist Kerry James Marshall. The galleries filled - filled - with people and artworks that formerly haven't been given a place there. Representation is for the people who are represented, not those already sitting beside their radio, satisfied with their inheritance of classical music.

However, it has aesthetic rewards for me too. I get tingles knowing the impact of playing this music today. When I see Louise Farrenc's name on my DAB I throw open the window and say "Folks, listen! Good symphony, right? Let's grab hold of our futures like Louise and make something good."

[Ein Heldenleben]

Playing music by composers with less-common histories adds much to the music to me. Context and aesthetic experience are mutually generative. Arguably, what do the notes matter? How could BBC3 decide what to play just looking at notated music? It simply isn't enough information, which is why we rely so desperately on composers' reputations to qualify music. So who composed them, and who has played their music since, and who has heard them matters plenty.

If I had any doubt that representation matters, it was bulldozed at the Royal Academy's exhibition of paintings by black American artist Kerry James Marshall. The galleries filled - filled - with people and artworks that formerly haven't been given a place there. Representation is for the people who are represented, not those already sitting beside their radio, satisfied with their inheritance of classical music.

However, I also find it has huge sensory and aesthetic rewards. I get tingles knowing the impact of playing this music today and thinking about it being composed. When I see Louise Farrenc's name on my DAB I throw open the window and say "Folk, listen! Good symphony, right? Let's take hold of our own futures like Louise and make something good."

As always when there’s a push to broaden the range of artists that get a public airing or viewing you get pieces of good quality and others that aren’t quite up to the mark. I read a lot of contemporary fiction - a lot is not worth re reading but probably once a month a new (to me that is ) author emerges that’s worth pursuing. I would agree re Farrenc.

[smittims]

I was interested by what you say in your first paragraph, adventsnore ( I couldn't quite follow what you were saying in your second, and as to the third, I'll attempt to answer that later).

I was intrigued because you seem to take an opposite view of music from the one I've always taken ,and which all my life I've found other listeners take. You ask: 'what do the notes matter?' Well, I think they are everything. The quality of the music, as music, irrespective of who the composer was or where he came from , as all-important to my opinion of it . Biographical information is of supplemetary interest but it wouldn't influence my regard for the work . For instance, I wouldn't think that a piece was better or deserved to be heard more because of some biographical detail (such as sex, nationality, political or reigious beliefs or racial origin) if the music itself wasn't good as music in its own right.

Now: your third paragraph. If I've understood you correctly, I have felt the same thrill of discovery and joy in hearing an unfamiliar work .But all too often it is by a composer neglected or even totally ignored by Radio 3 . ( I could give long list but I won't here,as I'm not promoting their music in this post) and I resent Radio 3 claiming to give us 'the best classical music' when they ignore so much excellent music for no good reason and broadcast so much that is inferior in quality, solely because its composer belonged to some minority they want to be seen promoting , regardless of the quality of the music as music. .

[LMcD]

Playing music by composers with less-common histories adds much to the music Context and aesthetic experience are mutually generative. Arguably, what do the notes matter? How could BBC3 decide what to play just looking at notated music? It simply isn't enough information, which is why we rely on composers' reputations to qualify music. So who composed music, who has played it since, and who has heard it matters plenty.

If I doubted that representation matters, it would have been bulldozed at the Royal Academy's exhibition of paintings by black American artist Kerry James Marshall. The galleries filled - filled - with people and artworks that formerly haven't been given a place there. Representation is for the people who are represented, not those already sitting beside their radio, satisfied with their inheritance of classical music.

However, it has aesthetic rewards for me too. I get tingles knowing the impact of playing this music today. When I see Louise Farrenc's name on my DAB I throw open the window and say "Folks, listen! Good symphony, right? Let's grab hold of our futures like Louise and make something good."

I have a BBC MM CD of music by female composers that includes her fine Clarinet Trio.

[hmvman]

Coming back to an earlier point, it does seem strange that J.C. Bach has featured so little on R3. I would've thought his tuneful music ideal for the station's 'new' audience!