More Music on Radio 4?

[Crusoe]

On another board, recently, I saw a posting about the number of music programmes on Radio 4, suggesting that there should be more and I heartily agreed with it. There have been some fascinating music-related programmes on R4, over the years, particularly during “The Archive Hour”.

Music and radio are, it seems to me, inextricably linked. Music brings much to drama and drama brings much to music. “Grown up radio” must have an appreciation of music, to some extent.

And it is not a one-way street: the latest issue of The London Muscians' Collective's "Resonance" magazine is entirely dedicated to radio and includes an interview with renowned BBC Radio producers Piers Plowright and Alan Hall, an analysis of author/ playwright George Perec’s work for radio, an article about reactions provoked by radio (such as the panic caused by Orson Welles’ “War of the Worlds” and so on.

All of which rambling is supposed to suggest that music is vitally important in radio and I’d like to hear more interesting music-related programmes on Radio 4.

[Lawrence]

Crusoe said:

All of which rambling is supposed to suggest that music is vitally important in radio and I�d like to hear more interesting music-related programmes on Radio 4.

I recall the posting to which you refer (either Dr. Davjack or that rather troublesome character Little Billy Oxford).

Caught this yesterday whilst driving off to a meeting and thought it was wonderful.


11:30 Gloster Stuff
The composer and poet Ivor Gurney wrote from the trenches in Flanders of "making Musical History for England, and out of Gloster stuff". He was not alone in receiving musical inspiration from this particular landscape. Vaughan-Williams, Gerald Finzi, Gustav Holst and his great friend Herbert Howells were equally inspired and all contributed to defining the pastoral identity of early 20th century British music.

Naturalist Lionel Kelleway looks at why this part of England which takes in the Cotswold Escarpment, the Severn Vale, the Royal Forest of Dean, and the Malvern Hills was so special in creating a national identity for 20th century British music.

An old R4 poster, Greg Young, mentioned an interview that Helen Boaden had given in The Times and implied that this issue had to be addressed on R4, but I see little evidence of it - and we still hear Huw Edwards with all the classical and opera related material. It's clear that the new controller, Mr. Damazer, didn't grow up listening to Radio Caroline, Radio London, Radio 270 etc., so I doubt if the weighting in favour of classically-related programmes is likely to change. The new commissioning round occurred at R4 in April - but we shall see. Drama, in particular, fails abysmally in respect of interesting music content (all one ever hears is Coldplay). I nearly fell of my chair some months back when I heard John Martyn's Solid Air playing in the background of one play (also heard a bit of a Neil Young track in the same play).

I'd like to hear a programme about The Incredible String Band on R4 (including all their poetry etc). What a pity R4 doesn't employ any hippies.

[Nurse Duckett]

Lawrence said:

Caught this yesterday whilst driving off to a meeting .....

Drive? You mean there are roads and cars on this island!

[Crusoe]

Nurse said:

Drive? You mean there are roads and cars on this island!

Of course. We’re a resourceful bunch, here, you know. Although the cars leave a little to be desired: they’re very environmentally friendly but Fred Flintstone would feel quite at home in them .

[Captain Nudnick]

R4's raison d'être is the spoken word. R1, R2, R3 all play music (of varying quality) -- if you want music you know where to go for it...

[Crusoe]

Radio 4’s the place for intelligent speech, if you believe their website. All the same, all of the networks have their own particular style: all of the “music” stations carry some news, documentary and drama and/ or comedy strands. All of these stations bring their own character to bear on these programmes, just as R4 brings its character to music programmes.

Whilst I wouldn’t expect R4 to start having DJs play records, programmes about music form an interesting part of their varied output. Added to this is the fact that an audio only medium, such as radio, depends on all forms of sound to get its point across. There are times when part of this sound will be music: its clever use making a massive difference to any programme.

[Blind Pugh]

Crusoe said:

Music and radio are, it seems to me, inextricably linked.

hold on a minute, mate! let me write that down.... ;D

[Luxury Yacht]

Lawrence said:

Crusoe said:

What a pity R4 doesn't employ any hippies.

Oh, they do! Or at least they used to. I remember being called for an assessment by my boss' boss's boss on a day when I was wearing ripped jeans and a bright pink tie-dyed blouse.

Perhaps that's why I never got to be DG.

Anyway, re music progs on R4.

As people who know me will know, I'm not at all keen on jazz, but have always thought that maybe, one day, someone would come along who would play me some jazz I liked, and start me off on investigating, with enthusiasm, a new musical genre.

This weekend, Ken Clarke played me some Thelonious Monk on R4, and yes - I liked it.

Can any jazz fans explain why I should suddenly be taken with Thelonious Monk, rather than any other jazz musician?

I noted that the music played during today's new Classic Serial was acknowledged, for a change, as being provided by Mr Chris Leslie.

[Tiger Lil']

Lux I love love the new avatar - it may get painted 'pon a shell and sold on the south coast!

[Luxury Yacht]

tigerlily said:

Lux I love love the new avatar - it may get painted 'pon a shell and sold on the south coast!

Prolly better get permission off the original artist first

[Crusoe]

luxuryyacht said:

This weekend, Ken Clarke played me some Thelonious Monk on R4, and yes - I liked it.

Can any jazz fans explain why I should suddenly be taken with Thelonious Monk, rather than any other jazz musician?.

Well, as Mr Clarke pointed out, Theonious Monk didn’t really sound like an lot of other jazz musicians, having a “percussive” way of playing and also playing in a very “spartan”*, unadorned manner. I get the impression that his work isn’t universally liked by a lot of jazz fans.

Captain Nudnick may be able to give amore expert analysis




*Hmm automod doesn't let me say sparse.

[Luxury Yacht]

webb said:

Well, as Mr Clarke pointed out, Theonious Monk didn’t really sound like an lot of other jazz musicians, having a “percussive” way of playing and also playing in a very “spartan”*, unadorned manner. I get the impression that his work isn’t universally liked by a lot of jazz fans.

Oh, so I still don't actually like jazz? That's OK, then.

*Hmm automod doesn't let me say spbottom.

;D ;D

[Captain Nudnick]

Well Monk doesn't show off a prodigious technique, or 'play pretty' for the cocktail crowd, but he's a jazzer alright. You sometimes feel that he's digging for notes between those available on the piano keyboard (micro-tones). He's certainly individual... it occurs to me that he plays like Nina Simone sings...

[dulcinea]

captainnudnick said:

... it occurs to me that he plays like Nina Simone sings...

... love it nude nick...

just wonder if the yacht might warm to miles davis by listening to his interpretation of the concierto de aranjuez by rodriguez under the guise of 'sketches of spain' * which in turn might lead to 'kind of blue' (which i mentioned elsewhere)

* n.b. i am still amazed to think this was done in something like 36 hours...

p.s. i saw miles davis live and am really sorry i did... i do prefer his remote artistry to his vexacious [sic - i just decided this word should exist] personal appearance.... genius or not - i wish i could scratch that number from memory... which leads me neatly to another favourite easy listening [not as easy as listening as the ramsey lewis trio {makes even bell ringers dance!)] jazz album - ray charles's on the piano in 'genius after hours'... the CD goes by the title of 'the great ray charles'

[Crusoe]

Goodness, Dulcinea, you do pack a lot into one post.

dulcinea said:

just wonder if the yacht might warm to miles davis by listening to his interpretation of the concierto de aranjuez by rodriguez under the guise of 'sketches of spain' * which in turn might lead to 'kind of blue' (which i mentioned elsewhere)

You may be right, although I find it hard to imagine anyone disliking “Kind of Blue”, even if it does sound like jazz. And all the space Miles uses in his music is a bit like Monk.