Broadcast Music

Extract

The early repetition of new works of substance is all-important, if we are to come to grips with them. The BBC usually give us the opportunity of hearing the more interesting novelties at least once, but what they seem to lack is any guiding policy as to which works should be repeated, and which not, and the length of time that should elapse between one hearing and the next. Thus, Stravinsky's new Symphony No. 3 and Rubbra's 'cello Sonata have each had one performance to date, while the second performances of the new Bloch and Tippett Quartets were given only after an interval of many weeks. Contrariwise, Webern's last Cantata was heard twice in the same concert, while Bartók's third piano Concerto and Elizabeth Maconchy's fourth Quartet were repeated after intervals of, respectively, one and two days. It would require a more subtle intelligence than mine to discover any hint of system behind all this.