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Dundonnell
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« on: September 09, 2017, 03:45:41 pm » |
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Not English, Scottish :) I can also accept British since I am not a Scottish Nationalist ;) The phrase "English Music" is sometimes used (and I have used it myself on occasions!) when "British Music" would be more accurate and appropriate
To answer your main question,my impression-and I don't listen to as much on the radio as I once did-is that the BBC does not broadcast as many British symphonies as in the past. But there are many reasons for this. In past decades there was a group of British conductors who dedicated themselves to promoting British "symphonic music" and who were in a position to do so because they were either in charge of BBC regional orchestras (conductors like Sir Alexander Gibson, Bryden Thomson,Sir Edward Downes, to name but three) or were established and regular conductors of such orchestras (Vernon Handley, Norman Del Mar, Maurice Handford etc etc). They were supported by the BBC producers of the time. Even a conductor like Jerzy Maksymiuk-a Pole- would happily undertake a William Wordsworth symphony with the BBC Scottish SO if he wad asked to (probably because in Communist Poland one did as one was told to a greater extent ;)). These orchestras today are conducted by people who do not, understandably, carry the same torch. There are younger conductors who will perform such music IF they are asked to do so and are given the opportunity (Martyn Brabbins is the most obvious example but there are several others) and, to be fair, BBC Wales will give Daniel Jones and Grace Williams the odd continuing airing. And we had the Arnold Cooke Symphony No.6 for the first time not so long ago. But asking the BBC Philharmonic to do a retrospective of all the Arthur Butterworth symphonies? It's not going to happen....and why? "Box-office poison" would be the response; or, more likely, with a BBC orchestra, the producer would say "Arthur Butterworth? Never heard of him!".
Sorry, I am rambling again (And, for those who find my obsession with the symphony tedious and tiresome: well, I am sorry but I can only write meaningfully about subjects which interest me and which I know something at least about ;)).
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