David Cheng wrote:

>One interesting change that I noticed in my listening attitude - I don't
>mind hearing just a movement of a piece in the iPod shuffle (I've set
>my default to random).  Something that drives me crazy on classical radio
>stations is now interesting to me when the Misere from Bach's b-minor
>Mass leads into an Ella Fitzgerald track which goes to a Nancarrow player
>piano study and then the finale of a Shostakovich quartet.  I suppose
>this appeals to me because I chose the music overall and I have a wider
>range of it, as opposed to the tired Warhorse Carousel that the radio
>stations spin endlessly.

What bothered me about classical radio stations playing single movements...
I use the past tense since I no longer listen to our local station as
they do just that now and have dumbed down their content...was that I
saw the function of a radio station in a way similar to how I view the
concert hall.  For me, radio was a concert hall, a place where the work
needed to be presented in the full context of the composer's intentions.
For me, broadcasting isolated movements is a bit like going to a performance
of favorite scenes from the plays of Albee.  While a single scene can
have a beginning and an end and make some sense isolated from the entire
story, such a presentation limits ones understanding of the context.  I
am reminded of how our notion of a musical has varied over the years.
At one time we had things like minstrel shows and revues.  Then there
was a time when a developed story line was central to a musical.  Now,
we seem to be moving back to revues.  I suppose one could make some
observation about attention spans of audiences and the like.

The only classical radio I listen to these days is the BBC.

On the other hand, I will listen to an isolated movement, but usually
it is only after I have listened to the entire work.  I am reminded of
a tape I put together many years ago.  It consisted of the fast movements
from the music of Ginastera...his fast movements are usually quite
animated.  I would play it when stuck in rush hour traffic!  If I couldn't
be going anywhere, at least the music was.  It seemed as contradictory
to me as the notion of "rush hour," ...with everyone in a hurry, yet,
moving slowly.

Karl