From the readers
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On An Emotional Note …
Paolo Hooke’s article on Yannick Nézet-Séguin in your August edition of Fine Music was most interesting. I would like to comment on the conductor’s reported statement: ‘Of course Brahms is a more important composer than Dvořák in terms of the development of tradition, but in terms of the enjoyment of listening to music in a concert hall, Dvořák is so much a folkloric Brahms … put him [Dvořák] on an ad, it has not the same appeal. These are over 100-year-old myths, which as classical musicians we have to fight against.’ This raises the whole question of why people go to symphony orchestra concerts, why programmers schedule certain works, and whether snobbery and prejudice play a part. Dr Edgar Bainton brought with him to Sydney the prejudices of the English tradition, that the pinnacle of classical music was Bach, Beethoven and Brahms.
Of course as with everything else, moderation is the key. As a diabetic I have to limit my intake of the sugar and chocolate of André Rieu, for example. The scientists have proved that music appeals to the most basic, primitive part of the brain, which also controls our emotions. Trying to force it onto the frontal lobes with more ascetic music goes against nature. I agree with Ravel’s statement that ‘Music must be emotional first, and intellectual second’, especially if it means that music without emotion is arid and barren. To me Dvořák’s music fills that criterion beautifully, and he is every bit as great as Brahms in the pantheon of classical music, if not greater.
Rex Benn
West Pymble
Our Nexus Continues …
I would like to give you some feedback on the delightful concert, good performances and superb Brahms. No wonder the audience was enraptured. I think that 2MBS has done a wonderful thing in establishing the Nexus - 2MBS Virtuosi group. First, it has provided a piano trio; something lacking among our local ensembles. Secondly, it is providing out-of-the-studio live music for music lovers. The Station Manager’s short introduction to each concert and the eye-catching 2MBS-FM poster, added to the quality of the ensemble, bring it home to people that MBS is very much more than just a broadcaster. Public broadcasting and public concerts are, I think, a suitable nexus in themselves. Thanks for what you are doing.
Martin Cooper
via email
Digital Dilemma
Will 2MBS be broadcasting on the new digital network? If not I will not bother to buy a digital radio. Thanks for a wonderful station.
Dr Josephine Wiseman
via email
[Editor’s note: Unfortunately 2MBS-FM will not be broadcasting in digital in the near future. The way digital radio was set up by the previous federal government made it extremely difficult for not-for-profit stations to participate due to its high cost.]
You Ain’t Gunna Like This
It seems a pity that in some areas you excel however in others you fall into utter mediocrity. I am pleased to hear that most of the presenters at 2MBS-FM take great pains to correctly pronounce both the composers' names and also the foreign words of titles. However I am very disappointed at the prevalence of ‘ums’, ‘rrrs’ and worst of all the dreaded ‘the next piece we’re gunna hear...’.
Gavin Preston
via email
Boston Car Party
This morning around 8.30am a piece was played by the Boston Orchestra, directed by Fiedler. It was a narrative about the end of a tune, or something similar. I only heard the last bits of it, and had some big laughs, but could not hear/note down the details as traffic was frantic. Can you please tell me what this piece was? I always listen to your station, and with much enjoyment. Thank you all at 2MBS-FM!
Helna Lindhout
via email
This morning I had the pleasure of listening to Allan Sherman and the Boston Pops Orchestra romp through a light-hearted look at classical music. The End of a Symphony kept me firmly planted on the driver’s seat until it finished. Once again, thank you for providing such an eclectic listening experience.
My radio is never off 2MBS-FM.
Sherrill Robinson
via email
Danke
Thank you for the wonderful Wagner and Friends program I have just listened to. And particular thanks to Barbara Brady for telling me about it. I am a lapsed 2MBS listener and would not have known about it without Barbara, whom I met at a new German class recently – what a great extra benefit from the German class! I will keep up with the rest of the series.
Thank you again.
Audrey Blunden
via email
On The Road To Discovery
Just a short note to say thanks. I enjoy listening to 2MBS in the car to and from work. I have discovered composers and pieces that I had not encountered before, thanks to you all.
Martin Farmer
via email
Presenters In The Stream …
When I listen online the music sounds fine but the announcers are all warbled. They sound like they are talking underwater. I do not have this problem with other online stations. I think the problem is at your end.
John Hughes
via email
We’re e-static
Congratulations on the revamped website! It's fantastic and provides exactly the information I need. I used to have a radio on my desk at work, tuned of course to 2MBS-FM, but there would always be lots of static. Now I can not only tune in on line but I can also find out what I'm listening to – without static. It certainly makes the working day less stressful (particularly when I'm listening to Shamistha and Catriona!). And I promise to renew my subscription this month!
Alex Walter via email
Voice Your Passion
What sad news the ABC gave us last week with the death of singing fanatic John Cargher and, presumably, the end of his programs. This news has stimulated my partner and I to email you to say how much we appreciate the amount of programming time 2MBS devotes to the singing voice, and to urge you to maintain this balance, or even to give us more! Our particular favourite programs are any opera you broadcast, both Saturday musicals programs (with presenters Keith Percival and Maureen Meers), the plentiful vocal content of Whirled Wide music, and Opera Highlights. We enjoy almost all music but the human voice, or voices, is our passion.
With good wishes to all at 2MBS.
Max Oliver via email
Cure for your Mondayitis
Yesterday's all-day concert was a joy to hear. Congratulations on a fresh and clever way of presenting works that are linked to a theme. I found it interesting and involving, and look forward to next Monday.
Marion von Adlerstein via email
Eine kleine Nacht Musik … think not
Thank you to all the wonderful programmers at 2MBS who give us so much variety and introduce us to music that we don’t hear in concerts and recitals. Like Gael Hammer (Letters, March) I too have discovered some favourites amongst lesser-known composers. I also fully agree with Kay Barlow (Letters, March) that the music is ‘99.9% wonderful’ but would like to mention my distaste for the so-called ‘music’ played between midnight and 3am from Tuesday to Friday mornings. For someone who works into the early hours of the morning, I would like to have ‘fine music’ not weird sounds, distorted or rambling speeches and excruciating ‘music’. I enjoy the film music that is played fortnightly but everything else gets turned off. How can 2MBS be called a fine music station when these noises are allowed to be broadcast!
William Johnson, Lidcombe
Seven year itch … no longer
Seven years ago I moved from Sydney (to Melbourne) and have greatly missed 2MBS-FM ever since, keenly tuning in whenever I make a return visit. I had listened to the station regularly since I was a high school student in the 1980s and later became a subscriber. My wife, Danielle Perini, had made several recordings with 2MBS-FM when she was a music student at Sydney University. I was thrilled to discover, only tonight, that 2MBS-FM now broadcasts online! This will completely change my day-to-day music experience and I am very excited about that. The programming at 2MBS-FM has always been excellent – it was very significant for my music education as a young man and it continues to be intelligent, interesting and varied. Now that the internet makes it easier to listen to radio stations from around the world, I have come to appreciate what a rare commodity 2MBS-FM is.
Tom Alves via email
Well, someone gives a ‘head-toss’!
Mr Brett raises an important point in the March edition of Fine Music, regarding why operatic singers can sing from memory whereas choristers require a full score in front of them. It is exactly the same with instrumental soloists and chamber musicians. Operatic singers and instrumental soloists are the elite of the musical performers. To prove this fact, they are required to engage in convoluted histrionics while they perform, with wild gestures and grimaces to convey their passion and total immersion in the music. In these circumstances it thus becomes impossible for them to read a note of the written music, with such manner of brow-beating and head-tossing in evidence.
Prue Madonna La Perouse