# Radio 3



## Hazel

I really envy you all in UK with your Radio 3. Right now I am listenting to Louise Fryer's program with the Florestan Trio playing Haydn's Piano Concerto in E flat and Dvorak playing I truthfully know not what. Piano, of course, but I missed out on the title.


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## Sebastien Melmoth

Kudos to BBC3. If you're listening on the internet, here are a couple of other good stations:

http://www.kusc.org/

http://www.kdb.com/

http://www.kcbx.org/

http://www.kpfk.org/

http://www.ijpr.org/SectionIndex.asp?SectionID=1013


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## Hazel

True, Sebastian. We even have a good one here in St Louis but I want my radio on with classical music all day. As it is, I have to remember to tune in these internet stations and I get so busy that I totally forget until it is too late. 

Moreover, BBC gives us extra - explanations of music, tidbits about the authors and the performing artists, etc. BBC is great from my viewpoint. Such quality! I enjoy their news also although our NPR station does a good job there. Just no classical music.


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## Delicious Manager

The great thing is that you can listen to BBC Radio 3 online anywhere in the world now (as long as your country doesn't block the BBC!).

Click the *Radio 3 homepage* and then click *Listen Live* near the top, right-hand corner.

The Dutch station *Radio 4* is also very good.

Or, probably easier, you can access most of Europe's classical music stations on the *listenlive* site.


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## Hazel

Delicious Manager said:


> The great thing is that you can listen to BBC Radio 3 online anywhere in the world now (as long as your country doesn't block the BBC!).
> 
> Click the *Radio 3 homepage* and then click *Listen Live* near the top, right-hand corner.
> 
> The Dutch station *Radio 4* is also very good.
> 
> Or, probably easier, you can access most of Europe's classical music stations on the *listenlive* site.


**I didn't know about that. I'll have to check it out. Thank you. I am only bemoaning not having a classical music radio station here. Then, I could just turn it on of a morning and let it go. Radios do not run out of memory like computers do. Right?


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## Argus

Delicious Manager said:


> The great thing is that you can listen to BBC Radio 3 online anywhere in the world now (as long as your country doesn't block the BBC!).
> 
> Click the *Radio 3 homepage* and then click *Listen Live* near the top, right-hand corner.
> 
> The Dutch station *Radio 4* is also very good.
> 
> Or, probably easier, you can access most of Europe's classical music stations on the *listenlive* site.


The iPlayer is a very useful tool. I like listening to The Late Junction but it's on quite late (23:15-01:00). Actually all of my favourite R3 programmes are on at that time. iPlayer means I've got a week to listen to each programme at my leisure.


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## Polednice

Personally, having never grown up around people using a radio, I've only started using it (online) recently, and it's not as much of a habit as I'd like it to be. Because of that, I find it particularly useful that Radio 3 has a number of podcasts that I can just have appear in my usual bunch of RSS feeds, though a number of them seem to be on 'trial'.


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## Hazel

With BBC controlling so many stations, they can bring you great variety and you can choose the area that you want to hear about. Here, where every station is individually-owned, many of them are almost duplicates of each other. Rock and roll and other latest forms of music or preaching. That's about it.


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## Chris

The unmissable Radio 3 slot is Saturday mornings 0900 to 1215. This is mostly reviews of new recordings but also has Building a Library which recommends a recording of a featured work. You don't actually buy the recommendation, which will probably be something from the 1950s, but it's educational. This Week's Composer, weekdays 1200 repeated 2200, is also good....usually....but this week it's middle and late Stravinsky which is proving to be hard work for some of us.


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## sospiro

And they usually have an opera 'Live from the Met' on Saturday evenings. This Saturday it's _Lucia di Lammermoor_.


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## Toccata

Chris said:


> The unmissable Radio 3 slot is Saturday mornings 0900 to 1215. This is mostly reviews of new recordings but also has Building a Library which recommends a recording of a featured work. *You don't actually buy the recommendation, which will probably be something from the 1950s, but it's educational. *This Week's Composer, weekdays 1200 repeated 2200, is also good....usually....but this week it's middle and late Stravinsky which is proving to be hard work for some of us.


What one might do instead is wait until the Monday following the broadcast, when at around 11.15 am they play the Building a Library (BAL) recommended work usually in its entirety, and then simply tape it for personal use. I've done this quite a lot of the past 5 years or so, and have built quite a decent set of recordings for free.

The commentary and analysis on "CD Review" (of which the BAL section is a part) by Andrew McGregor is usually first rate. It's generally far more imformative on classical music, and how to go about judging the merits of different recordings, than any other source that I know. I've been an avid fan of "CD Review" for many years, and most of the material in my collection owes its origin to this programme.

Another excellent programme is the Sunday afternoon spot "Discovering Music", where a well-known piece is dissected and explained. Last Sunday's work was Stravinsky's Symphony of Psalms.

I also like "Composer of the week", but my favourite programme is "Classical Selection" from 10-12 am weekdays, when they play whole works by good performers. I'm also keen on the "Through The Night ", which is a great source of music by lesser known baroque/classical/romantic composers, albeit mainly performed by lesser known artists recorded at live concerts or made specifically for radio broadcast.

The "Breakfast" programme, however, from 7-10 am still attracts some negatice comment from R3 devotees. It has changed over the years to look more like Classic FM.

I listen to more classical music on R3 than I do from CD, and I only listen to R3. If I'm abroad I rely on R3 for listening enjoyment, and sometimes to help prevent homesickness on longish trips. I only ever bother listening to the BBC for news. I wouldn't like to be anything other than British!


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## Chris

Toccata said:


> The "Breakfast" programme, however, from 7-10 am still attracts some negatice comment from R3 devotees. It has changed over the years to look more like Classic FM.


The evening rush hour program is worse. The presenters forget they are middle aged musicology graduates and try to sound like disc jockeys. It's like your dad dancing at the school disco.


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## Toccata

Chris said:


> The evening rush hour program is worse. The presenters forget they are middle aged musicology graduates and try to sound like disc jockeys. It's like your dad dancing at the school disco.


You're right.

I forgot to mention that I love Penny Gore. Don't tell my wife.


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## Almaviva

Great thread. 

Here in the US the way to go is satellite radio. I listen to Met Radio most of the time on Sirius but there are other channels for other classical genres as well. Met Radio plays several complete operas daily from their extensive archives, and in between the complete ones, there are several highlights throughout the day.

Question - do you all know of any way to watch BBC4 online for those who don't live in the UK? I'm often jealous of this TV station's excellent opera documentaries; we have nothing like this in the US.


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## Sid James

Delicious Manager said:


> Click the *Radio 3 homepage* and then click *Listen Live* near the top, right-hand corner.


Thanks for the link, I am listening "live" as I type. But I tried to get into the Florestan Trio playing Dvorak and it said "not available in your area."


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## Hazel

Andre said:


> Thanks for the link, I am listening "live" as I type. But I tried to get into the Florestan Trio playing Dvorak and it said "not available in your area."


That is strange, Andre. Usually (I thought), "not available in your area" refers to all foreign countries. I listened to the Florestan Trio again yesterday afternoon. It does go back several days. I think it is on last Monday's schedule. I can never get the current day. Always previous days. Is that what you tried?


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## mamascarlatti

Andre said:


> Thanks for the link, I am listening "live" as I type. But I tried to get into the Florestan Trio playing Dvorak and it said "not available in your area."


I've just tried it in NZ and it works here.


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## Argus

Almaviva said:


> Great thread.
> 
> Here in the US the way to go is satellite radio. I listen to Met Radio most of the time on Sirius but there are other channels for other classical genres as well. Met Radio plays several complete operas daily from their extensive archives, and in between the complete ones, there are several highlights throughout the day.
> 
> Question - do you all know of any way to watch BBC4 online for those who don't live in the UK? I'm often jealous of this TV station's excellent opera documentaries; we have nothing like this in the US.


There was an hour and a half long documentary about Parsifal on BBC4 last night. If you can get iPlayer over there, give it a shot. I only watched the start, and it seemed focussed more on the Grail and it's portrayal through time (including Monty Python and Indiana Jones) but I'm sure it moved onto the actual opera later.


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## Hazel

Argus said:


> There was an hour and a half long documentary about Parsifal on BBC4 last night. If you can get iPlayer over there, give it a shot. I only watched the start, and it seemed focussed more on the Grail and it's portrayal through time (including Monty Python and Indiana Jones) but I'm sure it moved onto the actual opera later.


Two days ago, I was listening to BBC 3. They were doing a commentary about Dvorak and his American music. Oh! I wish I understood British English! Anyway, it cut out with a note that iPlayer was having problems. I never know whether it is "them" or "me" when such happens. I just gave up. Shall try again today, perhaps.


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