BBC Proms

BBC Proms News – Thursday 21 December

Welcome to a special festive edition of the BBC Proms newsletter.  If you’ve been suffering from Proms deprivation since the 2006 season ended in September, we have good news! Tune in to Radio 3 over the holidays to catch repeat broadcasts of selected highlights from this year. And don’t forget that each programme will be available for 7 days after broadcast via the BBC Radio Player.

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LINKS
Proms website: www.bbc.co.uk/proms
Radio 3: www.bbc.co.uk/radio3
www.bbc.co.uk/music
Keep in touch with the Proms on the move. Join our text club and visit the Proms WAP site:
more details at www.bbc.co.uk/proms/textclub

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PROMS REPEATS
24 December 2006: 1830-2015
Handel, arr. Mozart: Alexander’s Feast
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/0108.shtml#prom24
English Concert, Andrew Manze

25 December 2006: 2200-2400
Mozart: Violin Concertos, Sinfonia Concertante, Symphony No. 29
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/1308.shtml#prom40
UBS Verbier Festival Chamber Orchestra, Maxim Vengerov

26 December 2006: 2315-2400
Mozart: Rondo, Sonata in A, Fantasia in D minor
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/1708.shtml#prom46
András Schiff

27 December 2006: 1930-2130
Shostakovich: The Golden Age, Schnittke: Viola Concerto, Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 ‘Pathétique’
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/1808.shtml#prom47
Yuri Bashmet, LSO, Valery Gergiev

27 December 2006: 2200-2400
Michael Haydn: Requiem, Mozart: Mass in C minor
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/0708.shtml#prom33
King’s Consort, Robert King

28 December 2006: 1930-2130
Szymanowski: Violin Concerto No. 1, Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/0209.shtml#prom65
Frank Peter Zimmermann, Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle

28 December 2006: 2200-2400
Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 34 & 38, Piano Concerto No. 24
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/2808.shtml#prom59
Salzburg Mozarteum Orchestra, Ivor Bolton

29 December 2006: 1930-2130
Debussy: Preludes, Kyburz: Noesis, Mozart: Symphonies Nos. 25 & 40
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/0109.shtml#prom64
Berliner Philharmoniker, Sir Simon Rattle

31 December 2006: 2145-2400
Last Night of the Proms – Prokofiev, Elgar, Wood, Parry
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/0909.shtml#prom73
Dmitry Hvorostovsky, Viktoria Mullova, BBC Singers, BBC Symphony Chorus & Orchestra, Mark Elder

1 January 2007: 1930-2145
Rossini, Donizetti, Falla, Chabrier and Latin American songs
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/2507.shtml#prom15
Juan Diego Flórez, BBC Concert Orchestra, Barry Wordsworth

1 January 2007: 2215-2400
The Great Venetians
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/2607.shtml#prom17
Monteverdi Choir, Sir John Eliot Gardiner

2 January 2007: 1930-2130
Henze: Five Messages for the Queen of Sheba, Shostakovich: Symphony No. 7 ‘Leningrad’
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/2908.shtml#prom60
Orchestre National de France, Kurt Masur

2 January 2007: 2200-2400
Late Night Steve Reich, including Drumming
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/1008.shtml#prom37
Colin Currie, Richard Benjafield, Sam Walton, Joby Burgess, Antoine Bedewi, Adrian Spillett, Dave Jackson, Owen Gunnell, Andrew Cottee, Rowland Sutherland, Synergy Vocals

3 January 2007: 1930-2130
Ives: Symphony No. 2, Chopin: Piano Concerto No. 1
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/3008.shtml#prom61
Lang Lang, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Leonard Slatkin

3 January 2007: 2200-2400
Henze: Voices
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/0108.shtml#prom25
London Sinfonietta, Oliver Knussen

4 January 2007: 1930-2130
Mozart: Symphony No. 35 in D major ‘Haffner’, Mass in C minor
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/0809.shtml#prom72
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, Sir Charles Mackerras

4 January 2007: 2200-2400
Mozart: Serenade ‘Eine kleine Nachtmusik’, Thamos, King of Egypt
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/0209.shtml#matinee
OSJ Voices, Orchestra of St. John’s, John Lubbock

5 January 2007: 1930-2130
Beethoven: Symphony No. 5, Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/0409.shtml#prom67
The Philadelphia Orchestra, Christoph Eschenbach

8 January 2007: 1930-2105
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10, Bruch: Violin Concerto
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/0709.shtml#prom71
Joshua Bell, Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Daniele Gatti

9 January 2007: 1930-2110
Stravinsky: Violin Concerto, Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 4
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/2608.shtml#prom56
Gil Shaham, NDR Symphony Orchestra, Christoph von Dohnányi

10 January 2007: 1930-2105
Mahler: Symphony No. 2 ‘Resurrection’
www.bbc.co.uk/proms/whatson/0609.shtml#prom70
London Symphony Chorus, BBC Symphony Chorus & Orchestra, Bernard Haitink

Next year’s Proms season will be announced on Wednesday 25 April.
BBC Proms website: www.bbc.co.uk/proms

A very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from all of us at the BBC Proms team.

(Posted by Scott Gowans)

OSU Sports on WOSU Radio? What gives?

            As audience advocate for WOSU, I receive constant responses and suggestions regarding programming. Most recently, there has been a strong response to Ohio State University sports being broadcast on our 820 AM station.

Our positioning statement for our AM station is “WOSU 820: All day NPR news station.” That is the statement that most accurately reflects the programming broadcast, but it is not a brand (a fixed stance on the kind of programming we offer).  It is understood that organizations take artistic license with positioning statements.  Take Wal-Mart for example.  “Lowest Prices Always” or Target “Expect More, Pay Less.”  While these statements are factual most of the time, they are not true all of the time.  Sometimes, as with our sports broadcasts and Bluegrass Ramble, we choose to enhance our programming with other offerings that are not always news-oriented.

            The sports broadcasts on 820 AM fill less than 2% of programming a year.  Out of 8,760 total broadcast hours, sports programming takes up approximately 136 of those hours.   It may seem that men’s ice hockey, baseball, and women’s basketball take up more time than that because the broadcasts air in a concentrated six month period. Our AM station chooses to air these broadcasts to offer listeners seasonal coverage of local popular sports.

            Many listeners have expressed both pleasure and displeasure with the sports broadcasts. We hear form listeners on both sides of the fence.  The most frequent frustration seems to be the pre-emption of regular NPR programming.  Because of the unpredictable nature of most sports, sometimes other programming is preempted in order to accommodate them. More often than not, the preempted broadcasts can be found on NPR’s web site, www.npr.org, where listeners can hear programs in their entirety at their convenience.

            WOSU uses its sports broadcasts to give those who cannot attend home or away games the opportunity to hear them on the radio. For fans like Lori, who has no internet access, and Sara in Durango, CO, hearing coverage of Ohio State baseball games on the radio is their way to keep up-to-date on their favorite sports. The Ohio State athletics program has a large fan base which our sports broadcasts seek to address as a licensee of The Ohio State University.

            Our station co-brands with WBNS 1460 AM as recognition for the sports commentary they provide us.  This service provides income for WOSU as we receive funding from OSU per our contract with them, as well as from 1460 AM for making their commentary available to our listeners.

            WOSU hopes to attract audiences of all demographics with a wide array of programming options, although we remain loyal to our core audience.   OSU sports is merely one of the avenues we are pursuing.  “All Things Considered,” it is a very small avenue, at best. 

 

The year in Classical Music

Here are the recordings we have most enjoyed this year at ArkivMusic.

Our selections include the familiar — a great Beethoven 9th, exquisite
Brahms Violin Sonatas, an excellent Copland Rodeo; less famous works by
famous composers: thrilling Tchaikovsky Dances and Overtures, heavenly
Marin Marais, Vivaldi’s sublime opera Griselda ; and, as usual, wonderful
discoveries such as Mirian Conti’s disc of Piano Music from Argentina
and a real keyboard gem from Mozart’s contemporary, Joseph Martin Kraus.

More highlights from the complete list are below. (You may also wish
to browse the year’s top choices from the New York Times, the
Philadelphia Inquirer, Gramophone magazine, or the New Yorker’s music
critic, Alex Ross.)

• Beethoven: Triple Concerto, Septet /Shaham, Bronfman, Zinman —
• Even if this budget-priced disc were listed at five times the cost,
• it would be a bargain.
• Sibelius: Complete Symphonies / Segerstam, Helsinki Philharmonic —
• This is a major Sibelius event in superbly clear, rich recorded
• sound. It’s as fine a Sibelius cycle as any available.
• Boccherini: Fandango, etc / Savall, Le Concert Des Nations —
• Boccherini’s music always is full of charm; Jordi Savall and Alia
• Vox have turned these pieces into a great listening experience.
• Ravel: Daphnis Et Chloé / Myung-whun Chung, L’Orchestre
• Philharmonique – This new recording belongs among the great ones.
• It has everything: beautiful playing, gorgeous sonics, and a real
• feel for the ballet’s magical atmosphere.
• Brahms: The Piano Concertos / Chailly, Freire, Gewandhaus — For
• Brahms playing that treats the music as a living, spontaneous
• event, you can’t do better than this spectacular achievement.
• Vivaldi: Griselda / Spinosi, Lemieux, Ensemble Matheus — The arias
• here are sometimes wildly joyful, sometimes wrenchingly mournful,
• but uniformly beautiful. Spinosi directs this rarely-heard opera as
• if dancing on hot coals.
• Looking South – Piano Music From Argentina / Mirian Conti — This
• is a thrilling new experience, “expressing the Argentine soul in
• sound.”
• Mahler: Symphony No 6, Piano Quartet / Eschenbach, Philadelphia
• Orchestra – This Mahler Sixth is really extraordinary. No
• Mahlerian will want to miss it.
• The Journey / Leon Fleisher — The follow-up to Leon Fleisher’s
• extraordinary release Two Hands, matching solo piano works rarely
• recorded with the beautiful, melancholy touch that Leon Fleisher
• brings to popular works.
• Stokowski: Symphonic Transcriptions / Serebrier — Can they be as
• good as Stokokowski’s originals? Yes, they can. An unqualified
• triumph.

Please visit our complete listing of Favorite Classical Recordings of 2006.

And don’t forget, ArkivMusic Gift Certificates are available and always
arrive on time!

As always, I thank you for your support and love of Classical Music.

Eric Feidner
President, ArkivMusic.com
www.ArkivMusic.com

(posted by Scott Gowans)