Re: GG: First symphonies, now classical radio

[Kate Clunies-Ross <goldbergs@TALK21.COM>]

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>From: Mary Jo Watts <mwatts@RCI.RUTGERS.EDU>

>
> So my question is to everyone on the list-- where DID you first hear
> "serious" music?  I'm supposing that non-Americans have a bit of an
> advantage.

Well, as far as classical music on the radio goes, here in the UK we have
BBC Radio 3, which is devoted to "serious music".  We also have Classic FM,
which (we are constantly being told) is one of the most popular commercial
adio stations ever, with x million listeners each week.....Well, it
certainly idoes seem a very popular station, and it seems to demonstrate
there _is_ still an audience for "serious" music on the radio. of a sort.
Its fine IF you want background  "musical wallpaper"  and  _don't_  mind
endless repetitions of the same few pieces from their "Hall of Fame" that
listeners vote for each year ; and also if you dont feel frustrated  (as
Bruce petherick described in his post) by hearing just one movement of a
work all on its own!

Oh .....  and  although Classic FM  plays plenty of recordings by musicians
who are no longer with us, they seem totally  oblivious of the fact that
there was once a great Canadian pianist, name of Glenn Gould.......!  So if
anyone from CFM is reading this:    PLEASE.........!

And how did I first hear 'serious' music? Difficult to say. I guess it was
always around  when I was a  little kid, altjough there were no musicians in
my immediate family except for a bassoonist cousin I did not often see.  I
remember listening to  The Sorverer's Apprentice when very small, and being
scared by the idea of all those brooms coming to life; this was before I saw
Disney's Fantasia, which disappointed me because I hated the idea of the
apprentice being none other than Mickey Mouse. But what remained most in my
memory  of Fantasia  was the opening Toccata and Fugue, and later those
gaudy dinosaurs plodding across a burning landscape to Stravinsky.
I also  remember   that  a friend of my elder sister played  Brittens "Young
Persons Guide to the Orchestra" when I was quite small, which fascinated me
; and that the first LP I ever bought with  my pocket money was Holst's
"Planets". I was considered weird at school: I was never into the pop music
of the time.

Kate