![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dougRadio 3 is broadcasting A Bach Christmas until Christmas: the entire works of J. S. Bach, continuously.
This is easily the best thing Radio 3 has done since it was the Third Programme, and quite possibly before that.
It seems churlish to mention quibbles with such a cornucopia of wonderfulness, but I will anyway:
(a) Too many spoken inserts. A bit of extended introduction where they tell you about the piece is excellent, but there are too many spoken 'features' that frankly aren't what I want from a music station.
(b) Too many messed-around later arrangements - e.g. the famous Toccata and Fugue in Dm played cheesily and Disney-stylee this morning by a full orchestra instead of on the organ.* There is a silver lining though - it shows that Bach is so good that even when it's not very good, it's still pretty good.**
(c) No downloads. When they did something similar for Beethoven earlier this year, Radio 3 had performances of all nine symphonies performed by the BBC Orchestra available for download as MP3s. These were, of course, hugely popular. Apparently the music industry complained vociferously, on the grounds that nobody in their right mind would now shell out cold hard cash for their crappy versions performed by the State Orchestra of Ruritania B Team to a live audience of asthmatics and bronchial patients in a broom cupboard. So the BBC caved in and agreed not to do it again. So the only downloads available for Bach*** are the spoken inserts I whinged about in (a). Bugger.
(d) When I try to fill the entire house with Bach by having all the radios going plus the digital satellite and web streaming versions, it doesn't really work because of the delays to the digital channels. I'd buy more radios, except every radio I've bought since about 1990 has crap reception.
(e) Nobody has yet taken the initiative to set up Radio Bach, which would continue broadcasting this stuff indefinitely so I could tune in the whole time. If so many millions are prepared to listen to Classic FM, which plays all sorts of rubbish composers, think how many would listen to 24-hour Bach FM? I know I would.
* Yes, I know, I know, there's dispute about what instrument it was originally composed for, and even whether J. S. Bach was the author. I'm prepared to accept decent guesses and variations, but that still doesn't mean the C20th Disney extended-orchestra is the right answer to anything. Actually, the best performance of this work in history was a re-scoring for four accordions and a tuba, performed by five buskers in the underpass between the Stedelijk and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to an audience of me and about three other passers-by.
** Yes, I know, I know, there are those who make a similar claim for sex.
*** Yes, I know, I know, you can capture the live web stream, but that's not really the point.
But these are tiny, minor complaints when weighed in the balance. Hooray for Bach, and Hooray for the good old BBC!
Edited To Add: Ooh! Just 20 min after I posted this they started playing the Toccata and Fugue in Dm on a decent organ and with a non-cheesy organist. Ace. Ooh! Ooh! And according to the website it's the St John Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music after that. Cor! I am Organ Morgan from Under Milk Wood.
This is easily the best thing Radio 3 has done since it was the Third Programme, and quite possibly before that.
It seems churlish to mention quibbles with such a cornucopia of wonderfulness, but I will anyway:
(a) Too many spoken inserts. A bit of extended introduction where they tell you about the piece is excellent, but there are too many spoken 'features' that frankly aren't what I want from a music station.
(b) Too many messed-around later arrangements - e.g. the famous Toccata and Fugue in Dm played cheesily and Disney-stylee this morning by a full orchestra instead of on the organ.* There is a silver lining though - it shows that Bach is so good that even when it's not very good, it's still pretty good.**
(c) No downloads. When they did something similar for Beethoven earlier this year, Radio 3 had performances of all nine symphonies performed by the BBC Orchestra available for download as MP3s. These were, of course, hugely popular. Apparently the music industry complained vociferously, on the grounds that nobody in their right mind would now shell out cold hard cash for their crappy versions performed by the State Orchestra of Ruritania B Team to a live audience of asthmatics and bronchial patients in a broom cupboard. So the BBC caved in and agreed not to do it again. So the only downloads available for Bach*** are the spoken inserts I whinged about in (a). Bugger.
(d) When I try to fill the entire house with Bach by having all the radios going plus the digital satellite and web streaming versions, it doesn't really work because of the delays to the digital channels. I'd buy more radios, except every radio I've bought since about 1990 has crap reception.
(e) Nobody has yet taken the initiative to set up Radio Bach, which would continue broadcasting this stuff indefinitely so I could tune in the whole time. If so many millions are prepared to listen to Classic FM, which plays all sorts of rubbish composers, think how many would listen to 24-hour Bach FM? I know I would.
* Yes, I know, I know, there's dispute about what instrument it was originally composed for, and even whether J. S. Bach was the author. I'm prepared to accept decent guesses and variations, but that still doesn't mean the C20th Disney extended-orchestra is the right answer to anything. Actually, the best performance of this work in history was a re-scoring for four accordions and a tuba, performed by five buskers in the underpass between the Stedelijk and Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam to an audience of me and about three other passers-by.
** Yes, I know, I know, there are those who make a similar claim for sex.
*** Yes, I know, I know, you can capture the live web stream, but that's not really the point.
But these are tiny, minor complaints when weighed in the balance. Hooray for Bach, and Hooray for the good old BBC!
Edited To Add: Ooh! Just 20 min after I posted this they started playing the Toccata and Fugue in Dm on a decent organ and with a non-cheesy organist. Ace. Ooh! Ooh! And according to the website it's the St John Passion with the Academy of Ancient Music after that. Cor! I am Organ Morgan from Under Milk Wood.