Music documentaries on BBC Radio
Not being a resident of the United Kingdom, it has taken quite a while for
me to realise the extent of the treasure trove that is BBC classical music.
More than time, it has required the program-on-demand facility that is iPlayer,
the radio section of which is available internationally (unlike the TV player
which is restricted to UK residents).
I’m sure there are many of you reading this, living in the UK, who will
be saying “oh, it was much better twenty/thirty/forty (insert appropriate
time period) years ago” but the Internet wasn’t invented then,
so it wasn’t accessible at all to me.
It isn’t so much the broadcast of the music itself that has impressed
me - my CD collection is large enough for me to be my own programmer - but
the spoken word programs about classical music, which have informed and educated
my listening and ever so gently expanded the rather limited boundaries of
my technical knowledge of music.
The programs are not all to be found on Radio 3, the BBC flagship of classical
music; three of the selections below are from Radio 4, the “speech station
for curious minds” (its own description).
On the basis that there will be other readers of Musicweb International who
don’t live in the UK and are similarly interested in knowing more about
the composers and the works to which they listen, I present for you some programs
to which I regularly listen (plus a bonus one from Len).
Along with the website link, I have indicated the period of time that each
new program is available on iPlayer: it varies from one week to at least a
year. The exception to this is Desert Island Discs, which are being made available
in downloadable form (as mp3) as well as being listenable online - there appears
to be no time limit.
Composer of the week (Radio 3)
An hour each day of the week dedicated to a single composer, with biographical
information and full performances, rather than brief excerpts. The chosen
composers are not just the usual suspects: recent weeks have been devoted
to Charles Koechlin, Samuel Coleridge-Taylor and John Adams.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnxf
Duration on iPlayer: 1 week
The early music show (Radio 3)
As the name suggests, we are in the Baroque period and earlier. Presented
by the singers Catherine Bott and Lucie Skeaping, each hour-long episode covers
a single topic, or a concert. Recent shows have included Louis XIV's 1683
competition to find his four new chapel composers, an interview with Harry
Bicket and a number of concerts from the 2012 York Early Music Festival.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tn49
Duration on iPlayer: 1 week
Discovering music (Radio 3)
This provides analysis of individual works, but not in such a detailed and
technical way that those, like me, without formal music training, become lost.
It was originally a 45 minute program in a weekly timeslot, with the presenting
duties shared. The conductor and presenter of some outstanding TV documentaries
Charles Hazlewood was one presenter. It is now 20 minutes long, presented
by Stephen Johnson, scheduled during the interval of concert broadcasts, and
generally features the work to be heard in the second half of the concert.
Recent episodes include Bruckner’s ninth symphony, Zemlinsky’s
opera A Florentine Tragedy, Lully’s religious works and Rachmaninov’s
Elegiac Trio.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tn54
Duration on iPlayer: at least a year, and past episodes still available
date back to October 2011 (at time of writing)
Music matters (Radio 3)
Its website describes the program as a magazine, and includes a diverse range
of interviews with notable performers, features on composers and discussion
of important topics in the classical world. It is 45 minutes duration and
presented by Tom Servis.
Recent episodes have included tributes to the late Hans W Henze and Elliott
Carter, a debate on ‘is classical music really for everyone?’
from Radio 3’s Free Thinking Festival of Ideas, an interview with Kent
Nagano and a feature on Kathleen Ferrier.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006tnvx
Duration on iPlayer: at least a year, and past episodes still available
date back to October 2011 (at time of writing)
Twenty minutes (Radio 3)
Another magazine program, but covering all of the arts. Recent music-related
programs have included the early music broadcasters, the pastoralist school
of British composers dealing with the aftermath of WW1, the influence of Miles
Davis and why we sing to ourselves. As you might have guessed, the show lasts
twenty minutes!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006ts4r
Duration on iPlayer: at least a year, and past episodes still available
date back to 2009 (at time of writing)
Desert island discs (Radio 4)
An institution in British radio that has been running for more than 75 years,
the invitee gets to choose eight pieces of music (of any genre) plus a book
and a luxury item to take with them to the mythical desert island. The BBC
has begun to release downloadable versions of the program sating back to at
least the 1950s so far. The musical selections are very brief excerpts for
copyright reasons, but the real reason to include it here are the composers
and performers who have been guests over the years. At the time of writing,
there are 135 tagged as Classical Music. A few examples to whet your appetites:
Sir Adrian Boult, Vernon Handley, Jacqueline du Pre, Sir Arthur Bliss, Lady
Susana Walton, Kirsten Flagstad, Sir Charles Mackerras …
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/features/desert-island-discs
Duration: unlimited, and also available as downloads
Tales from the stave (Radio 4)
My personal favourite, but unfortunately the only one on this list not to
be a weekly program. The presenter Frances Fyfield delves into the archives
of various institutions, such as the British Library, to examine the original
manuscripts of great musical masterpieces. With her are prominent musicologists
and performers, who are like children in a lolly shop, when faced with these
“holy relics”.
The six most recent episodes from a total of more than thirty (with some of
her guests in brackets):
- Mozart’s Don Giovanni (Simon Keenleyside, Jane Glover)
- Parry’s I Was Glad (Jeremy Dibble)
- Handel’s Firework Suite (Christopher Hogwood)
- Britten’s Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra (Stueart Bedford)
- Hummel’s trumpet concerto (Alison Balsom)
- an apparently lost flute concerto of Vivaldi
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b007050r
Duration on iPlayer: at least a year
There are, I realise, other music-related programs that I haven’t mentioned,
but there is only so much time available to listen (particularly when the
BBC has so much great comedy on the radio as well!).
David Barker
Postscript
Len Mullenger has asked me to add one of his favourites to the list.
Desmond Carrington’s The Music Goes Round (Radio 2)
This is light music form the 1920s to the modern day, and each program has
a particular theme, the most recent being birds.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b006wr9d
Duration on iPlayer: one week