Ian Crisp writes:

>I've just watched the finals of this year's competition on BBC TV.
>Not all that many years ago, BBC TV showed heats and section finals in
>full as well as the concerto final, and all at early evening times.  This
>year, they showed section finals only, after 11pm, and the final from 5.30
>to 8.30.  The section finals don't show the players' full programmes any
>more, just edited extracts, and even those are broken up by interviews and
>film clips about the musicians' home lives and hobbies etc..  And the BBC
>aren't dumbing down, no, of course not, how could you possibly suggest such
>a thing . . .

I remember the 1982 contest final was shown "live" on BBC1 (the mainstream
TV channel) at 8pm in the evening on a Sunday.  Those were the days!  The
Falklands War was about to explode into life and that was the night the
Royal Marines re-took South Georgia.  News came through in the middle of
the Piano Concerto and a discreet caption appeared beneath the picture:
"South Georgia recaptured".  That was all.  Nothing else.  No news flash,
no breaking in, just the music.  "Rejoice, Rejoice," from M.  Thatcher had
to wait for the news at 11pm when the concert had ended.

Still, at least the BBC still mounts the contest every two years and does
cover all the heats, albeit when too many people will be thinking about
going to their beds.

Guy Johnstone (the cello winner) was the right one to win the overall title
and US listers may be interested to know that, though British, he studied
(studies?) at the Eastman School.  Certainly a name to watch.  The contest
has produced quite a number of players who have made excellent careers
Freddy Kempf, Natalie Klein, Caroline Dale (the cellist who dubbed du Pre
in the recent film), Emma Johnson, Claire Briggs (principal horn with the
CBSO) Michael Hext (principal trombone with the LPO).

Tony Duggan, England.
Mahler survey:
http://www.musicweb.force9.co.uk/music/Mahler/