The ministry of silly talks


BBC Radio 3 presenters seem to earn bonuses for the number of times they use certain buzz words. Currently there is a big incentive on the word live. This is presumably in a futile attempt to differentiate the network from its close relative Classic FM which broadcasts fewer concerts.

Just now we had Radio 3 classical jock Sarah Walker telling us that we had been listening to "Wilhelm Kempff live in concert".

How many times have you heard a pianist dead in concert?

RIP the art of the animateur.

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Comments

Halldor said…
"How many times have you heard a pianist dead in concert?"

Didn't Percy Grainger play a posthumous Prom in the late 80s?

So that's once, at least...
1:21 pm
Pliable said…
Halldor, there is also a much more serious story relevant to this post which you may well know.

In November 1993 the great Russian pianist Tatiana Nikolayeva had a cerebral haemorrhage while playing Shostakovich's 24 Preludes and Fugues and died nine days later.

Tatiana Nikolayeva had given the first performance of the Preludes and Fugues 41 years earlier. Her 1987 Melodiya recording of them is essential to any CD collection, but currently seems to be unavailable -

http://www.amazon.com/24-Preludes-Fugues-Piano-Shostakovich/dp/B000001HBQ
6:01 pm
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