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Christopher Webber wrote:
>There's an increasing feeling that good things (e.g. the notable Weill
>premiere on Sunday night) get through by default, but they are still
>happening often enough to suggest that Nicholas Kenyon is doing his best
>to succeed where King Canute failed.
Nick Kenyon has managed to retain control of the Proms until 2003 so his
influence will clearly be felt there for some time. Whether he is given
the resources he needs remains to be seen, of course.
I think an acid test of the BBC's commitment to "high art" (and I make
no apologies EVER for using such a term, neither for using the term
"elitist" which I take to be a compliment) will be in its treatment of the
orchestras. The BBC maintains five orchestras spending more on them than
the Arts Council. The last time they tried to nobble them it brought about
the first Musicians Union strike in living memory.
A small voice inside me does caution that there are probably people reading
all this who are wondering what we are all complaining about. BBC Radio 3
still broadcasts classical music 24 hours a day every day and will go on
doing so. I suppose we should be grateful when there are places where
such a thing is only dreamed of. You just had to have grown up in what
Christopher rightly calls the great days of Radio 3. This is not just
"Golden Ageism", I think.
Tony Duggan
Staffordshire, United Kingdom.
scribble@dial.pipex.com
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