Europe has a whole network of state-run cultural radio stations. These are tax-payer funded on the theory that unless the taxpayer funds them, no such programing will be undertaken by anyone. Taxpayer lays out the money in the interest of culture, but also of variety: to make sure that there are other radio formats out there than the usual tired two commercial formats: top-ten and all-news.
It seems therefore a little ironic when all these tax-payer funded broadcasters broadcast the same thing all at the same time. Yet this is what happened last night: BBC3 (London), Antena2 (Lisbon), PR2 (Warsaw), Radio France Musique (Paris) and OE1 (Vienna) all played Bellini's Somnambula from the Met. A case of programing laziness, I am sure -- why produce something of our own when here is something ready-made? -- yet, European state-run radio-stations as tools of Yankee cultural domination? Sarko sees it and does not thunder?
Kudos to Nord-deutche Rundfunk Kultur who refused to participate in the general group-do. Instead of taking the easy way out -- just flipping the switch and subcontracting -- they put on an interesting program on the rediscovery of ancient music, Bach especially, in the nineteenth century, and about the important role Brahms played in the rediscovery and popularization of Bach's cantatas.
I couldn't help wondering, all the while, that both Brahms and Mendelssohn obviously had the good taste to recognize Bach's beauty and importance; yet, neither the sufficient talent to compose anything remotely comparable; nor perhaps sufficient objectivity to look at their own work and ask themselves why they bothered. Or -- did they, after a day spent composing, revising and copying their own work look at what they produced and say to themselves: hot damn, this isn't working, is it?
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