Why does Classic FM play loud music in the middle of the night?
If I can't sleep I might put on Classic FM in the middle of the night but sometimes I get amazingly loud marches and big symphonies when what I want is soothing music.
Maybe it's to keep shift workers and long distance lorry drivers awake!
Does Classic FM limit this to certain specific hours of the night?
Radio 4 seems to be the same. They play the National Anthem with the volume turned up to eleven at close down which is followed by the world service broadcasting which often contains tuneless tribal music at high volumes. And then there are the 5 minute snippets of church bells played at the most inappropriate times.
Try Jazz 24 on internet radio.
There are various classical stations on the net (Swiss Classical, Boston, etc) in addition to services like Spotify which have their own themed "radio" streams.
The trouble is they're all fiddly, especially in the middle of the night, compared to hitting a few big buttons on a real radio.
I have the opposite problem. The time I often listen to Classic FM is in late at night when, for example, I'm having a nice soak in a warm bath. At this time they always seem to play especially soporific music, especially adagio movements, and often bits of Vaughan Williams which are slow bland and, frankly, boring. I'd welcome their usual mix as I really don't want to go to sleep in the bath.
Surely you can overcome your problem simply by us> Why does Classic FM play loud music in the middle of the night? >
you could try listening to it.
I've not noticed that they make any kind of obvious decision, though of course they do have the odd programme that is supposed to be soothing much like other broadcasters do.
If you listen to the online or freeview feeds I often find that the dynamic range is better than on fm too. Other so called classical stations do odd things, namely R3. Jazz and weird improvised or electronic tuneless music is often around late in the night as well.
Also ofcourse the definition of Classic seems to have become anything with an orchestra that sounds rather big and is not James Last type. I do happen to think that some of his arrangements of classical pieces were very good though and it seems churlish to allow stuff like film scores and not play his pieces as he might shock horror use an electric instrument in some classics.
Music to me, is music. I tend to make no distinction really. There is the bubble gum pop kind we get on the radio , and there is the older or middle of the road stuff, and lots of there types, so I guess drawing the line is getting harder if that is what you want to do.
Brian
I've tried till I'm blue in the face.
I've tried till I'm blue in the face.
It's not really a question of volume. If a piece has wide dynamics or is particularly demanding listening then this makes it much less relaxing.
Clashing cymbals, rousing marches, full throttle orchestra, and so on are no good at night no matter what the volume.
+1
There also seems to be a tendency to play a lot of piano music, although that's usually Radio 3 rather than Classic FM. I often think that, particularly late at night, the piano should be moved to the percussion group! It also reminds me that its full name is "pianoforte", and it is much more the latter than the former at night.
I sometimes hear those quirky things on the World Service. It is definitely not what it used to be. I get equally tuneless tribal music on Radio 3 (around midnight I think).
Er, um, how would I hear the soothing classical music I want to listen to at that time? :)
Buy the score and read that - if you cann't read music then it's even more likely to bore you to sleep :-)
Alan
World Service is oddly for the world, not UK. And time zones for the English service obviously vary. As do tastes in music.
The national anthem on R4 is played after the shipping forecast - which I doubt is of much interest to you. Swap over to WS before those.
The news on the world service tends to be in depth and not just the light weight dumbed down "drop the dead donkey" stories that the BBC reports during the day and during prime time.
You forgot the fantastically boring "Sailng Bye" before the shipping forecast.
Pssst.... there's a dial on your radio you can adjust the volume with.
On the other hand, some piano pieces are soft and soothing such as Satie's Gym #1....
I like it. :)
Hope you listen out specifically for the bum note from the bass. ;-)
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