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Ellen West - web producer | 18:00 UK time, Monday, 2 February 2009

It's unfortunate that the programme is being recorded tonight in London rather than Glasgow, for reasons that will be clear to anyone who tried to get to work in the capital this morning. I'm writing this from home, hoping that the buses are working tomorrow. Not so fortunate are the members of the team who have to get to and from the studio so that the show can go out tomorrow night. If the audience looks a little thin, you'll know the reason [we actually had to record without an audience in the end].

Despite the difficulties, it should be a great programme. In the first of two items about the hugely successful TV company HBO, Greg Dyke watches them clear the board at the Golden Globes and investigates how they have managed to combine financial and critical success. That's not to say there isn't a bit of an HBO backlash going on - I noticed a few comments in response to Charlie Brooker's column today to the effect that so many people were going on about series like The Wire and Deadwood that it was putting everyone else off. I know just what they mean; I hate the way people constantly go on about how elegant and funny Jane Austen's prose is. The only way to respond to such hype is to refuse to read the novels at all. I'm a few episodes into John Adams now and will have more to say on it later in the week.

Alfred BrendelAlfred Brendel photographed by Barbara Klemm

The second major item in the show is about the pianist Alfred Brendel's love of surrealism and the absurd and how that feeds into his poetry. We'll be marking Brendel's retirement as a performer with a special on 3 March, but tonight's programme should show an intriguing side to a great musician. There are a couple of other programmes about Brendel this week - the documentary Man and Mask tonight and Brendel in Performance tomorrow.

Comments

  • 1. At 11:24pm on 03 Feb 2009, cullet wrote:

    Great show tonight. I loved the cello and piano duet you played out with. Could you give the details please? Are the two performers giving concerts in the uk? Will they be on tv again? I hope so. Thanks.

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  • 2. At 10:17am on 04 Feb 2009, EllenW-web_producer wrote:

    Hi cullet, glad you enjoyed it.

    The performance was by Brendel's son, Adrian Brendel, on cello and his protege Kit Armstrong on piano. They played Mendelssohn's Sonata for Cello and Piano No 1 in B Flat Major. This is of course the 200th anniversary of Felix Mendelssohn's birth and you can find out much more at the Radio 3 website, where he is one of their composers of the year.

    Not sure when they will next be playing in the UK.

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  • 3. At 12:19pm on 04 Feb 2009, caslates wrote:

    Is there a transcript of this show - I'd love a copy of Alfred Brendel's poem "Sense & Nonsense".

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  • 4. At 5:19pm on 04 Feb 2009, robert382 wrote:

    Hi ! Will the "special" on Alfred Brendel on March 3 be featuring his farewell Concert in Vienna last December ?. I just think this man is so special, and his interpretation of the Classics is quite unique. Thank you BBC Culture Show for bringing Alfred Brendel to a wider audience than the normal concert-going afficianados.
    Also nice to know he has a wry sense of the absurd !

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  • 5. At 8:29pm on 04 Feb 2009, ryanadams101 wrote:

    I was hoping for so much more from the HBO piece last night. It could have been truly interesting, but instead was a glossy puff piece which didn't give any real illumination to how HBO became what it is today. Once upon a time, it was a slightly seedy extended cable option in the US. Now it's the creative force behind the best television in the world--how did they make the leap?

    Dyke also set it up as a contrast between UK and US shifts in TV power, but didn't follow through with any actual comparisons. As the man who did have a huge influence on four of the five terrestrial channels, isn't he the one who should be answering some of the difficult questions? He's certainly no wilting flower and would have been able to stand up to them.

    I hope part two isn't as thin as this one. The prospects were so strong that it deserves to be revisited if that happens to be the case.

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  • 6. At 08:58am on 05 Feb 2009, EllenW-web_producer wrote:

    Thanks for the comments

    @ caslates
    We can't print a transcript of the poem for copyright reasons (well, we could if we paid a fee, but I'm afraid we're husbanding our budget quite carefully). You can listen again on iPlayer though, and we'll also be putting the item up on the site next week.

    @ robert382
    We weren't in Vienna to film Brendel's farewell concert, but I'll check whether we're using footage from another source.

    @ ryanadams101
    Thanks for the feedback. There's only so much you can fit into a 10-minute overview, but you'll find that the item on Alan Ball next week is more focussed. Have you watched the interview between Greg Dyke and Tom Hooper (director of John Adams) on our website? They talk a lot more about HBO's transformation from a network known for Hollywood films and boxing to what it is today, and it seems that HBO identified an audience that was prepared to pay for great content and pursued quality relentlessly.

    Have a watch and let me know what you think.

    Ellen

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  • 7. At 9:51pm on 08 Feb 2009, toki1612 wrote:

    Hi, Just saw the show on i-Player.
    Great show and so good to see Alfred play. Please feature more footage on 3rd of March. I am wondering if it's possible to find out the song used behind Greg Dyke talking about HBO?
    It comes on at 11 minutes 54 seconds. Bluesy one with a blues harp on.
    Can you find out,Ellen?

    Thanks

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  • 8. At 2:01pm on 10 Feb 2009, EllenW-web_producer wrote:

    Hi toki1612

    The song is called Step by Step and is by Jesse Winchester. It features on The Wire Soundtrack album, The Wire: And All the Pieces Matter - Five Years of Music from The Wire.

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  • 9. At 4:01pm on 10 Feb 2009, douglas365 wrote:

    i seen the show the other night and loved it and would love if anybody new or could quote that little poam that alfred Brendal said about sense and non-sense. because it was just class and would love to no its exact wording! thanks

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  • 10. At 5:33pm on 10 Feb 2009, EllenW-web_producer wrote:

    Hi douglas365

    Unfortunately we can't put the text on the site (it would be breaking copyright to do so) but it's ok to listen to it again in iPlayer.

    Cheers

    Ellen

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  • 11. At 10:58pm on 15 Feb 2009, toki1612 wrote:

    Hi Ellen,

    Cheers for finding that out.
    I am digging the tune.

    Kind regards,


    Toki1612

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