BBC R3 presenter calls for composer quotas
NewsThe Radio 3 DJ Kate Molleson, who is promoting a book about neglected composers, has used her platform at the Edinburgh Book Festival to press BBC managers to diversify their classical output.
‘The fact is that we do need help along the way in order to shift things along,’ she said. ‘Personally I don’t mind quotas. I feel that there is an idea that if you are being chosen because of quotas then your work is not good enough to be there, which isn’t necessarily true.’
Radio 3 has already committed to a 50-50 male-female balance for living composers.
The BBC, as a public body funded by its users, has a duty to exercise fairness and sound judgement in its selections.
What about the gay/straight balance?
The trans female/trans male balance?
The black/white/biracial balance?
The tall/short balance?
The Christian/Jewish/atheist/Buddhist/Hindu/other balance?
The fire sign/earth sign/water sign/air sign balance?
The slutty/virginal balance?
The athletic/non-athletic balance?
The sharp dresser/shlubby dressr balance?
I could go on.
I haven’t read her book. Slipped disc mentions only “a book about neglected composers”. So where is the problem? And female composers definitely need some help.
However: where are the Dutch, Belgian, French, Italian, German, Swiss, Turkish, Brazilian, Icelandic, Indian, English, Georgian, Armenian, Russian, Swedish, Norwegian…..composers/”compositrices” (‘ ca. 18th – 20th century)who hardly ever get a chance to be heard & performed?
How patronising can you get? Women composers ‘need some help’? How about composing listenable music?
She probably hasn’t heard of any of them. The problem with most R3 presenters these days (most, but not all, I hasten to add) are that they are appallingly ignorant.
I am clearly not as educated as you, Gareth, but I’ve always found the R3 presenters to be insightful, extremely knowledgeable and entertaining!
I wish you could have listened to R3 in the 1970s when it was truly informative.
Indeed, you do.
I think the phenomena of asking “What about…” is called Whatabotism.
The dictionary says that Whataboutism is the technique or practice of responding to an accusation or difficult question by making a counteraccusation or raising a different issue.
On a slightly deeper level, whatabotism (sic) is often intended to point out hypocrisy, which understandably does not get a good reaction when it hits too close to home.
…or about replying to an inane question with a far more pertinent one.
Here’s an idea — presenter quotas, which means we can finally be rid of white, upper middle class, mediocre, small-minded, exhaustingly ambitious Kate Molleson.
I am shocked that such a vitriolic and uncalled-for attack on Kate Molleson should gain so many thumbs-up. The first four words of Zoidberg’s post would be fine as a joke but the rest is just plain spiteful.
Freedom of thought and speech. Deal with it.
Freedom of speech is fine, but if you are going to attack someone in a personal way – which Zoidberg does – there should be an opportunifty for the other side to defend themselves. NL: has Molleson been asked to contribute to this discussion?
@Carac: If she feels strongly enough about it, she will reply.
Well to be fair Kate Molleson has previous in dishing out some very nasty and personal reviews in her previous incarnation. Mind you she’s not alone in that
@Donna: We would expect nothing less of a caring BBC leftard.
Speaking of dishing out nasty and personal views…..
I had the misfortune of being “interviewed” by her once. Nasty, ignorant, small human being, without a scruple. Hangs out with the right people, though.
How true.
In Edinburgh she is very selective about who she associates with.
If they don’t help advance her career…
Frankly there’s probably nothing wrong with that. A lack of quotas didn’t prevent me
spending my entire career playing 90% crap contemporary music by wannabe male composers who were never heard from again, so why not give the girls a chance. They can’t be any worse and might well be a whole lot better.
Perhaps I missing something, but aren’t wannabe male composers a subset of girls?
No, just a subset of musicians.
Exactly. Ditto conductors. I’ve never seen or played for a woman conductor who was any worse than the average white male conductor. It’s also interesting to give emerging composers a chance too. Classical music really needs fresh voices.
@WIS: I didn’t need to be preached to or lectured in order to fall in love with the music of Lili Boulanger. Pure class.
And watch the audience get even smaller!
Thank you for a balanced comment. I, too, have been appalled by the lack of character or musical quality of most contemporary music, be it classical(?), popular, or, especially, church music.
She should also turn her attention to the relentless way in which Radio 3 presenters insist to their audiences that what they have just heard is stupendous, amazing, superlative, mindblowing, sensational and out-of-this-world, having extolled in advance all the virtues of the work(s) in question. Thank heavens the gushing Katie Derham with her simpering adulation of every guest she ever interviewed for Proms Extra has been consigned to a minor role and the programme itself to the dustbin. The replacements are no better. Clive Myrie was completely out of his depth interviewing Yuja Wang with one insane question after another; he managed within one sentence to turn Mäkelä (clearly, with no understanding of diacritics) into Makkeler and then Makahlah. The BBC has become a laughing stock.
Were the questions “insane” or inane (or both)?
The book is a much less exciting read than the blurb would suggest. And it is based on a number of disconnects and specious assumptions to boot. Who exactly are the “gatekeepers” of classical music? As for Galina Ustvolskaya, she is hardly a sidelined composer; her piano sonatas have gone into the repertory.
I’d like to ask this woman if she things there are any bad (or mediocre) female (or indeed black, trans or whatever) composers. And who gets to decide?
Anyone who listens regularly can’t fail to have noticed that they are operating quota systems already.
This is a fabulous idea. But a/b test it against normal programming and follow the money. Then we’ll have proof through ratings data and advertising revenue that the world simply has little to no real interest in the low quality ramblings of Florence Price, the appallingly insipid Chevalier St. George, or the reasonably attractive but “diet-Dvorak” Coleridge-Taylor. There are valid reasons we don’t listen much to them, or to Ferdinand Ries, or Salieri..or..I could go on. Test it. And follow the money.
After almost 50 years of regular concert and opera going I am bored to death by programs that have not changed one bit in half a century.
Yes, Mozart and Beethoven, Schubert and Schumann, Rossini and Verdi, Brahms and Dvorak are all wonderful composers, and I have all their works, usually several times over, among my 15.000 CDs. And they should be played, obviously.
But there should also be some space for the composers you mentioned. It won’t kill anyone to broaden their horizon just the tiniest little bit.
This September one of the opera houses close to where I live (Weimar) will start their season with an unknown piece by Joachim Raff. I am thrilled to pieces to have the chance to hear it!
Broaden away. On your own dime and time. Concert broadenings should come and be driven as a result of the innate curiosity of the artist, and not a totalitarian writ that “white man bad, black woman”. You have no idea how little involvement you’re getting from an artist who agrees to perform low-quality music just to satisfy the woke nonsense and secure a date.
Unfortunately, my own dime does not allow me to hire my own symphony orchestra. Therefore, I have to deal with whatever the orchestras and opera houses in my area offer.
And last time I looked, Joachim Raff was a (sadly neglected) white man. So, spare me the “white man bad” nonsense. I never said anything remotely like it. Try to keep an open mind to new experiences, novel and radical as that idea might sound.
(You don’t need to buy an orchestra…just the recording?)
Raff, except for his lovely vacations, is mediocre. He’s all yours.
Careful with your targets. Joachim Raff is actually really good, even if his physical persona is currently unfashionable among cretins.
Well said re Florence Price. As the white liberal establishment tries to atone for its (imaginary) guilt, she’s everywhere now. Pleasantly mediocre. Talk about the Empress’ new clothes!
The good thing about Radio is you can turn it off.
“I feel that there is an idea that if you are being chosen because of quotas then your work is not good enough to be there, which isn’t necessarily true.”
Your feeling is wrong. Quotas are for loosers. These days, people are standing on their heads to find good music by neglected composers. An amount of unfairness will always be there. I can think of a dozen Haydn symphonies that should’ve been performed regularly. Not to mention Bach cantatas, most of them unknown to the audience. But, that’s life.
I recall an article in High Fidelity magazine years ago which made similar arguments, but the author damaged her cause by listing among the woman composers she wanted us to hear more from, the name of Karen Khachaturian (whose sonata was recorded by both Oistrakh and Heifetz, among others).
A subsequent letter to the editor mildly pointed out that Karen was Aram’s NEPHEW. So abruptly we no longer needed to hear more from Karen Khachaturian. That’s the risk you run when quality is not the deciding factor.
As far as I can see the most underrepresented group in Classical Music management today are the vast majority of people who are bored witless by diversity and inclusion quotas and would rather just talk about merit.
We all need to make our voices heard. Write to your local orchestras and radio stations. “No. More.!!!”
I heartily agree.
Hey Donna a word of advice. If you don’t understand something but it appears lots of other people do, it may not be the smartest move to critique THEIR intelligence.
For all the pretentious music connoisseurs who are so much against equality in music (and not only). Let me assure you that you will never distinguish between a male or a female piece listening to it without knowing the composer’s name.
It’s only your misogyny that sticks out.
To paraphrase Milton Friedman – what ‘equality’ in music means in practice is A and B telling C and D what they should listen to.
It has never worked in any sphere and ultimately will never work in music, so get off your pseudo high horse while you can.
Radio remains, far and away, the most important entry point for exposure to musical literature. Its reach is more vast than the concert hall, the classroom or your own recording collection. The program curators of classical music have a challenging mission to put 1,000 years of history before a listening public — a literature that includes symphonic, chamber, choral, operatic, art song, keyboard and more. It’s got to cover the standard repertoire as well as the lesser explored corners of the literature.
But beyond the radio playlist, there’s a wider world of listening for the musically curious and virtually endless opportunity for self-curating on platforms like YouTube and Idagio. So rather than lament the limits of radio, which will never be representative of the entire literature, go exploring. If you’re unsatisfied by radio’s offerings, there’s probably more music to hear than you can fit into a lifetime of listening.
The world of opera and classical music continues apace in its efforts to commit suicide. Only the woke care about these things and they are not the ones paying the bills.
This smacks of hubris from Kate Molleson. The only quota that we need is one that delivers 100% music of quality, regards of who wrote it. It is surely not beyond the combined wit of the Radio 3 producers to act as informed gatekeepers in this regard.
BBC radio 3 is slowly but surely dying. Most presenters are bland, too talkative and playing repertoire that’s often just unlistenable. Petroc is an exception but the rest seem to come straight out of the quota pool. Plus, why not have a dedicated jazz programme in the afternoon rather than keeping zillions of BBC orchestras in post playing ‘challenging’ repertoire. And what about world music, the BBC completely ignores African music of which there is a huge variety. Why not fill the afternoon schedule with world music rather shoving it into late night slots when most people don’t listen. Radio 3 will have to be careful not letting the whiff of quota driven mediocrity and narrow focus become the stench of its own demise.
There’s already a quota. In NYC, there are about 50 rap/hip hop stations. There is only one classical music station.
Artificial choice by quota is never a good idea, in any circumstance.
I understand you are blind to the quota already exists – in favor of men.
Genetic selection is sheer madness.
Because selecting only men is not madness….
Norman might have helpfully given us the title of the book: ‘Sound Within Sound: Opening Our Ears to the 20th Century’ by Kate Molleson; published by Faber (£18.99). There’s a piece about it in The Guardian (and no doubt elsewhere) – https://www.theguardian.com/books/2022/jul/04/sound-within-sound-by-kate-molleson-review-a-challenge-to-the-gatekeepers-of-classical-music
I think this previous post says it all…
https://slippedisc.com/2021/06/i-dont-want-people-telling-me-which-music-i-may-listen-to/
Classical Music as a thriving art and industry is obviously dying a protracted death. (I read SlippeDisc every Sunday and it gets shorter by the week.) All this equity nonsense is a big part of its demise. Art is an elite endeavor, and excellence should be its SOLE criterion.