There was an article in the FT yesterday, continuing the press coverage of Radio 3's 'worst ever Proms season' listening figures. Considering that the journalist was all at sea dealing with the subject ("Do you think you could just talk me through ..?") he picked up on some valuable points. As well as giving FoR3 a mention and some quotes, he also got a couple of good comments from Richard Steinetz, a former artistic director of HCMF, and a word from the editor of Classical Music, which made our stance not seem isolated.
What I liked: He quoted Helen Boaden (Director of Radio) as saying that R3 was "incredibly different" from CFM ... :-) Yes, quite incredible.
He mentioned criticism of "trivialising chat" and for overplaying lighter composers from Johann Strauss II to George Gershwin (NB 'overplaying' the key word)
The quote: “It’s been going downhill rather a long time,” said Richard Steinitz, former artistic director of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. “The highly repetitive programming and narrowing of repertoire is a great shame.”
The quote: 'One in six of Radio 3’s pieces is longer than 15 minutes, the station says, compared with fewer than one in 30 of Classic FM’s.' One in six? So five in six are less than 15 minutes long? How much less?
Thanks for including my quote that the new controller 'would have the chance to "reappraise what a cultural network should be doing" '. Correct: that's what I said and would stick by.
Cf: “My message would be . . . do reveal things that we don’t know. That was very much Lord Reith’s remit,” said Mr Steinitz.
Finally, the writer said that the new controller could take some comfort from the fact that Radio 3 had long been criticised for 'excessive populism':
'One of his predecessors, Stephen Hearst, bickered with academics in the early 1970s who resisted his attempts to cut down the hour and a half per day spent by erudite announcers making musicological introductions. And when he launched Your Concert Choice, with pieces of classical music chosen by listeners, senior BBC figures branded it a "populist disgrace" '. There's something about that last bit that reminds me of one of Bob Monkhouse's jokes: "They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian: well, they're not laughing now." O tempora, o mores!
What I liked: He quoted Helen Boaden (Director of Radio) as saying that R3 was "incredibly different" from CFM ... :-) Yes, quite incredible.
He mentioned criticism of "trivialising chat" and for overplaying lighter composers from Johann Strauss II to George Gershwin (NB 'overplaying' the key word)
The quote: “It’s been going downhill rather a long time,” said Richard Steinitz, former artistic director of the Huddersfield Contemporary Music Festival. “The highly repetitive programming and narrowing of repertoire is a great shame.”
The quote: 'One in six of Radio 3’s pieces is longer than 15 minutes, the station says, compared with fewer than one in 30 of Classic FM’s.' One in six? So five in six are less than 15 minutes long? How much less?
Thanks for including my quote that the new controller 'would have the chance to "reappraise what a cultural network should be doing" '. Correct: that's what I said and would stick by.
Cf: “My message would be . . . do reveal things that we don’t know. That was very much Lord Reith’s remit,” said Mr Steinitz.
Finally, the writer said that the new controller could take some comfort from the fact that Radio 3 had long been criticised for 'excessive populism':
'One of his predecessors, Stephen Hearst, bickered with academics in the early 1970s who resisted his attempts to cut down the hour and a half per day spent by erudite announcers making musicological introductions. And when he launched Your Concert Choice, with pieces of classical music chosen by listeners, senior BBC figures branded it a "populist disgrace" '. There's something about that last bit that reminds me of one of Bob Monkhouse's jokes: "They laughed when I said I wanted to be a comedian: well, they're not laughing now." O tempora, o mores!
And ignoring your very valid point re funding of orchestras etc.
(I also said it was lovely that he was discovering all the old songs from the past, like the Kinks' Waterloo Sunset and the Beatles' Blackbird (both on, with lots of others that week).
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