Classic fm

The celebration of Classic FM’s 25th anniversary was met by a distinctly cool and critical article in the Telegraph. The writer complained that it blurred the distinction of classical music, the presenters were too anxious to stress that the listener should use music to relax, and the playlist was too repetitive.

I am  an admirer of Classic FM though not an apologist for it. It is true that some of the presenters can be banal and the adverts, particularly the one for dental implants, intrusively irritating. Equally David Mellor is not just an enthusiast, he is highly well-informed on all areas of classical music and through him I have acquired recordings that give me much pleasure.

My real beef with the gist of the Telegraph article is that it is cultural snobbery of the worst kind to suggest that Classic FM devalues and debases classical music. The great composer Erich Korngold, who produced many a vintage film score in the 1940s after fleeing Nazi Germany for Hollywood, was hailed by Gustav Mahler as a musical genius. Had Puccini or Verdi been around today they would surely be writing musicals as composers are no different from you or I or journalists – they need to make a living. Besides what is wrong with the stirring  score of 633 squadron by Ron Goodwin?

I recall an opera buff friend of mine in 1990 at the time of the Three Tenors worrying that it would introduce a grubby new audience of football yobs to opera as the concert given by the Tenors at the Roman Baths was part of the cultural exhibition of the World Cup host nation Italy. The fact is that opera is as much for the corporate as the musically sophisticated. I can equally remember a Malaysian friend I knew saving her hard earned pennies for the most basic seat at Covent Garden and me asking my cousin, who worked for a well known American bank which took up rows of opera seats, that should they ever be any unused she would so appreciate one.

I tend to use Classic FM music for uplifting background music. My favourite presenter is John Suchet, who has written an acclaimed biography of Beethoven, so no uneducated disc jockey there. The other day on his peak-time show at 9 am he played a large slice of Mozart’s Requiem – a sad but deeply moving piece and hardly one would describe as popular like the Lark Ascending of Vaughan Williams.

Perhaps my single greatest motivation for listening to Classic FM is that is not the BBC. Auntie has lost its bearings as a public broadcasting corporation with too many presenters imposing their own agenda of promoting women in sport, diversity and feminist issues. They effectively steamrollered commercial pop radio out of existence so raise a glass to good young 25 year old Classic FM, with its audience figures of 5.8m, for standing up to them.