I Love Classical Music

I am in Italy at the moment, and have been listening from time to time to RAI’s classical music radio channel. It is wonderfully old-fashioned! Nothing but classical music - complete works, not excerpts - with at the beginning and end an announcer, speaking slowly and clearly, telling you what the music is/was and who the performers are/were. None of the guff you get on Radio 3 and Classic FM.

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ArishMell · 70-79, M

I avoid Classic FM, ,or any commercial station, because I can't be bothered with the ads, though I know it is the only way it can fund itself. Also because the listings in Radio Times show it rather too unadventurous, sticking to the tried and found safe. It's all good music but the format and play-lists on commercial stations have to please their sponsors.

That's a bit harsh on Radio Three though. It does play complete works, and many of them; but it also plays a huge amount of music that is new, even avant-garde, sometimes commissioned; or very early, or by the less-familiar composers - music no-one else will broadcast because they want only the familiar.

It's also actively helping support working composers and musicians, which I doubt Classic FM can do.

I wonder if the RAI is doing so - from what you say it might be in its remit.

MartinII · 70-79, M

@ArishMell I agree about Classic FM, which also rarely plays whole works. Radio 3 generally plays whole works between 1300 and 1630 and 1930 and 2130. None in the morning (don’t know about the middle of the night). Nearly half a century ago I used to listen to Radio 3 between 0700 and 0800 before going to work. If I was lucky, I might get, say, a Mendelssohn overture, a shortish concerto and a Haydn symphony before I had to leave to catch the train. Bliss!

Your points about new music etc are well-taken, though whether this is an appropriate use of TV licence-payers’ money is a topic for another day!