Helen Wallace questions why classical music had slipped off the agenda for general arts reporting.
I’ll never forget that particular episode of a popular arts review show. A member of the critics panel had chosen Rossini’s William Tell Overture as their object of desire. The conversation went as follows: ‘Wow! It’s great, isn’t it?’ ‘Yeah. Saw that on a film once.’ ‘It’s got – such – momentum!’ ‘Yeah, it’s… unstoppable!’ ‘Yeah’. Ends.
Rossini’s burst of ebullience had stumped the lot of them. There was no one there with an ability to give a dramatic context, a historical or political perspective or to unpick how the composer achieved his masterly feat.
No wonder art music is such a rare subject on the general arts review programme, be it on radio or television, BBC, Channel 4 or Sky. There’s never a talking head who can talk about it. At the end of March, BBC Four’s Review Show bit the dust (the final incarnation of the Late Review/Newsnight Review) just as Director General Tony Hall announced a big new commitment to the arts. One can only hope that a new format review show emerges from the ashes which breaks the mould... Keep reading on BBC Music Magazine
I’ll never forget that particular episode of a popular arts review show. A member of the critics panel had chosen Rossini’s William Tell Overture as their object of desire. The conversation went as follows: ‘Wow! It’s great, isn’t it?’ ‘Yeah. Saw that on a film once.’ ‘It’s got – such – momentum!’ ‘Yeah, it’s… unstoppable!’ ‘Yeah’. Ends.
Rossini’s burst of ebullience had stumped the lot of them. There was no one there with an ability to give a dramatic context, a historical or political perspective or to unpick how the composer achieved his masterly feat.
No wonder art music is such a rare subject on the general arts review programme, be it on radio or television, BBC, Channel 4 or Sky. There’s never a talking head who can talk about it. At the end of March, BBC Four’s Review Show bit the dust (the final incarnation of the Late Review/Newsnight Review) just as Director General Tony Hall announced a big new commitment to the arts. One can only hope that a new format review show emerges from the ashes which breaks the mould... Keep reading on BBC Music Magazine