UKC

So is today turning into a battle for the bank holiday listeners stuck with less than ideal weather.

From 9.30am Andrew McGregor will be presenting Radio 3's Record Review of the Century (until 7pm); whereas Classic FM has been running their usual poll of favourite music, The Hall of Fame, over the last few days, culminating the No1 choice at 9pm(?).

Is this a deliberate ploy by the BBC to try to win back some listeners from the apogee of popular classical music radio?

I admit to mainly listening to Radio 3, but find Classic FM a more sober fit for me later at night rather than the obscure stuff which appears on Night Tracks, etc.

What is your take on this?

Confirmed R3 bigot. I love the late night programmes. Until Spotify I was discovering most of my new music on Late Junction (albeit listening through the day on iplayer). 

Yes there is good stuff, but there are so many tracks that a teenager could produce with no interest or effort; and so much which is downright boring, and long tracks at that sometimes. You probably have a lot more time than the likes of me to waste on all the crap in order to mine the nuggets.

I know they have to draw the line somewhere, but confining it to 25 years will eliminate a large number of my favourite recordings... 😉

If I ever feel I merit a biography I’ll be sure to call you.

I agree. Nevertheless, we have to look forward (and back). Some recordings are for a sense of occasion, or what you grew up with. I still love the Vladimir Horowitz cheapo recordings which I bought as a student, for instance. Again, I love Bruckner's 9th symphony with the NY Philharonic and Bernstein, and I only bought it as it was in a clear out sale, and I didn't know the piece, so I thought that I would educate myself.

We're all going to have disagreements about choices on there today. For instance I wasn't that impressed by the violinist Radavulic (or whatever his name) at the proms (he's more interested in his hair), yet they had a disc of his on (Roots), and it seemed to be of a better quality, though it did sound overproduced, which cannot be back to his roots.

At least there are a variety of informed views on this long series of programs. So I can take some new thoughts for where to look for recordings to listen to. For instance, I had forgotten about that Danish String Quartet album, which they played earlier.

Have been dipping in during the morning. The Leipzig/Chailly recording of the Brahms 4th was very impressive and just listening to the Building a Library of the Pathetique - Jonathan Biss. Wow, could live with that!