Clash of the classics

摘要

For Radio 3, anniversaries are pegs on which the fabric of classical music programming can be hung. Last year, as Benjamin Britten was born in 1913, we had a rather exhausting 'Aldeburgh weekend' to celebrate him. Verdi and Wagner were both born in 1813, so there were special seasons for them too. Once an anniversary has been done to death, sometimes to a point where you think you'll never want to hear that composer's music again, Radio 3 will hustle listeners along to the next one. Immediately after 'Britten 100' came relentlessly-repeated trailers inviting us to the celebrations of 'Wagner 200'.