… now that Rob Cowan has signed-off from Classic FM. Last night was the final instalment of Cowan’s Classics, regularly an eclectic mix of artists (across decades of recordings) and repertoire (from Telemann to Tippett), well-pitched for music-lovers of different persuasions and experiences (whether a member of the ‘smooth classics’ brigade or the inveterate musical adventurer) presented with geniality, enthusiasm and lightly-worn expertise.
I for one would be the poorer for not having heard some conductor revelations, such as Šejna’s Wagner, Agoult’s Elgar and Engeset’s Grieg, just three recent ear-openers from the Cowan collection. Last night’s fare included a Vivaldi Concerto (complete), Sibelius’s strangely alluring Luonnotar (a first for CFM?) from Gwyneth Jones with the LSO & Dorati, some superb Berlioz conducted by Szell (from a Cleveland concert), the Vogler Quartet immersed in Mendelssohn, and Sawallisch conducting Flying Dutchman (Bayreuth 1960). Rob’s ultimate, and stirring, choice was taken from Nielsen’s music for Aladdin (Paavo Järvi). His farewell words to listeners were dignified and optimistic.
Classic FM management’s decision to not renew Rob’s contract is an unfortunate own goal given Cowan’s Classics was the best programme this station had to offer, but I count Rob as a good friend and a reliable guide, so we shall no doubt continue to exchange bon mots well into the future … something I am looking forward to.
Me too Col – very much. And thank you for those appreciative words, always a pleasure to read a personal take by someone whose views chime with one’s own. Thank you also for your support and hopefully we can carry on exchanging opinions long into the future. Best to you and to all who visit this excellent site. Rob
I’m biased because I happen to know Rob. But I hope he will not be off the airwaves for too long. He is too good a broadcaster to be kicking his heels on the sidelines.
Hope to get something sorted Tully. Love it too much not to – though I love the writing as much! Best .. and thanks. Rob
Rob Cowan is the finest broadcaster on classical recordings I have ever heard. His individual voice is instantly recognisable and the depth of his knowledge of the issued repertoire over the decades is far greater than mine, so I always defer to his comments. His departure from Classic fm is undoubtedly the station’s considerable loss, but he takes with him the grateful thanks of a loyal and devoted listenership. Whoever took the decision not to renew Rob’s contract has a number of questions to answer, but by this action, they manifestly would not be able to understand them.
That’s so generous and kind of you Bob. Mind you I would defer to your judgement in British music and the American Musical, as I would to Tully in chamber music for strings and Colin for much contemporary music. We’re all caught in different aspects of the same passion.
Commercial radio is a strange beast. Because of COVID there have been no listening figures for the last two quarters so I have no idea what state the programme was in, listener-wise, when I left it. Neither has anyone else. What I can tell you – and this is no secret – is that when I went in to Global to record what turned out to be my last three programmes I had no idea that was the case until literally minutes before I started the session, which made the whole process pretty stressful (though my excellent producer Adam Morris was wonderfully supportive). People have spoken to me about ‘dumbing down’ but with Classic, to mangle a popular aphorism, ‘familiarity breeds content’, or so they think. And I can understand that way of thinking. Their programmes need to bring in the dosh and if the advertisers find them esoteric or elitist then Global will be onto a loser. Big ‘presenter’ names, popular/familiar pieces and a generally easy listen all add up to the same mantra: relax.
Reaction to my departure has in general been one of shock and disbelief. Of course there are other fine broadcasters out there working for Classic (David Mellor, Catherine Bott, John Suchet, John Brunning and so on) but I seem to have built up something of a following and have enjoyed communicating with listeners. I’ll miss sharing great recordings past and present but will work on other methods – suggestions have already been forthcoming. Thank you again for your kindness.
I agree with all the above comments about Rob who has been a wonderful promoter of the classical record industry for years due to his infectious enthusiasm, encyclopedic knowledge and his innate ability to communicate to both the beginner and to the serious collector. I hope that CFM’s undoubted loss will be somebody else’s gain.
Another strike for the ‘everyone’s an expert’ culture. Someone who speaks with authority and knowledge of a subject? Too ‘elitist’. Someone whose broadcasting style is approachable but doesn’t simper with fake enthusiasm, doesn’t condescend? Better, surely, to have somebody who’s learning on the job with the rest of us and who appeals to all those young folk who would doubtless queue up to learn about classical music if only the presenter was ‘one of them’. Does nobody realise that intelligent young people have the same capacity to feel patronised as the rest of us? Will these CEOs never learn that these things are built on sand? Rob, I can’t believe you’ll be twiddling your thumbs. Take note, Radio 3. Meanwhile, get started on the book.
Bless you John and Andrew. All I could do was speak from a vantage point of heart and head. Very recently that fine man of the wireless Nick Bailey sent me a post saying, “as a broadcaster I always thought of you as a barrow boy plying exotic fruit” (or words to that effect). Absolutely! I remember when I was at Gramophone editing the magazine Classics there was a launch. Tony Pollard – a somewhat tyrannical character who I liked and respected enormously – asked to see my speech. I explained that I was going to improvise. He was horrified but had the good grace to congratulate me afterwards, especially for the sentence “I suppose you could call me Gramophone’s bit of rough!” But you see ACP (as he was known) was a real gent, something of a rarity in this business nowadays.
Choosing Luonnotar says everything about your adventurous attitude in selecting music Rob. Marvellous.
It may have been a premiere appearance but this station broadcast the equally challenging Fourth Symphony in its very first week. Amazing!!!!
One page closes and another opens. I know from experience Rob. We all
love you and time will allow a new vista to open for your super selections to beguile us all over again.
Such a kind thought Edward – and delighted the Sibelius (superbly performed) went down so well. Here’s hoping I can crank up the engine again for another project … there’s still so much to share! Best. Rob.
Great men like Rob are much more important than they realise: for so many of us the radio, especially Radio 3, was our education (in the 70s notably for me) and inspiration. I suppose the younger generation do at least have youtube etc for free music but presenters like Rob and great producers like AK are almost spiritual guides for us in the way they bring the greatest of Man’s creations to so many. Likewise Colin with this great column and R M-W, the greatest of all the music reviewers: open-minded and always discovering. How we miss the CRC & IRR magazines! ONE EXAMPLE: aged 14, unable to sleep after an operation; at 3-30 am the World Service brings me my first hearing of the Sibelius violn concerto, every time i hear the opening of the slow movement I am taken back to that moment. God bless the BBC…not quite as we on here would like it to be but still so much better than it might be if we lose the licence fee.
pjl – that sort of meaningful memory (ie the Sibelius) is for so many of us a prompt for further exploration. It was childhood illness with me too, rheumatic fever at 12 – in hospital for upwards of eight weeks then bed-bound for many more. During that period Wagner, Beethoven and Bach came to my aid and have been by my side ever since. Thank you for reminding me of that. Best. Rob.
Thank-you pjl for writing, and for bracketing me with three people I hold in the highest regard.
I too have a childhood musical memory, my introduction to what we call classical music. 1969, yours truly sitting in Room 17 of Erith Grammar School, a grand piano in evidence, when the teacher Mr Palmer (he played the organ in Assembly and much later I found out that he was Felicity’s father) whacked on an LP of Saint-Saëns’s Carnival of Animals (I noticed the conductor was one Skitch Henderson, Decca) and I was transfixed. There followed Eine kleine Nachtmusik (Colin Davis & the Philharmonia – I was already taking an interest in such matters!) … and my fate was sealed!
First LPs (thanks to my father’s generosity) included a serendipitous selection – Munch’s Debussy Images, Reiner’s Alexander Nevsky, Giulini’s Mahler 1, Rozhdestvensky’s Swan Lake (highlights) and Boult’s Schubert 9, all marvellous … and then came the wonderful listening that was Ansermet. I have no idea now how I made these seemingly random selections.
As for Mr Palmer, I never knew his first name, years on from school I did contact Dame Felicity wondering if her father was still around (he wasn’t, sadly, for I would love to have met and thanked him) but she did say he would have been so pleased to have played a part in my musical enlightenment. Colin
amazing Col how those early lps stay with you … and a pretty good line-up too!
This one hurts. Rob’s program was one of the few I never missed. I like to think that over the years I’ve heard most of the pieces of music the station played in the rotation, but I could always count on him to provide me with something new. And without fail I would always enjoy it. He seemed to share my affinity for tone poems, mixed in with Baroque and Renaissance rarities. The back stories shared with just about every piece allowed me to even appreciate the tracks I had previously ignored. I’ll keep an eye out for wherever he ends up and try to remain a regular listener. Thank you for the hours and hours of enjoyment.
The quantity and wholeheartedness of responses to Colin’s report – larger than I can remember for quite a while – says it all.
…well it certainly says it to me, and I can’t tell you how grateful I am. ‘Praise’ is not the same as ‘appreciation’ and it’s the latter that means the most …. feeling that all the hours I’ve spent listening, comparing, planning, note taking, writing and talking for the sake of sharing great music and performances haven’t been wasted (not that I’m the only one). I hope the coming year brings us all further opportunities to share and discuss what we love most. Very best. Rob.
Another victim of editorial whim, desktop programmers, and CEO axing. You don’t get rid of discerning, passionate, infinitely informed minds like Rob’s, you nurture and cherish them. Yet I’ve seen it happen so often down the years … As for the “barrow boy bit of rough” – well it was just those people selling their fruit and veg down Portobello Road who nourished us in the post-war forties and fifties and kept us alive, not the toffs from Harrods. Like Rob they had life experience, human understanding. Wise souls. In a year of so much loss and deprivation, Rob’s departure from the airwaves is a sickeningly low punch insanely executed. I hope he will be back soon.
The turn of the year is perhaps the best time for reminiscence, and Colin’s mention of Skitch Henderson brings back memories for me. I saw Skitch in 1959 with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Festival Hall:terrific concert where the soloist was Joaquin Achucarro who had just won the first Liverpool International Piano Competition (he beat John Ogdon into second place) who played Rachmaninoff’s Paganini Rhapsody and the Competition test piece – Fricker’s Toccata for piano and orchestra – a quite stunning work.
I had no idea of course at the time that I would later get to know Joaquin, would plan his RCA recording career, see him give the greatest performance of the Schumann Concerto I have ever heard (2011 in Dallas: seven hours’ rehearsal on that one work) with another friend Jaap van Zweden conducting – or become visiting Lecturer at the University in Dallas – Skitch was a fabulous musician – a composer and pupil of Schoenberg in Los Angeles and a very nice man. Can you believe that Joaquin called me a week ago to wish me a Happy Christmas? He’s still playing (at 89 – Beethoven 4 in Spain two days later) and had just finished practising for six hours non-stop! Like many great artists today, Joaquin is simply ignored by the power of the international artists agents caucus – but do catch his deeply awesome Brahms 2 with the LSO and Colin Davis: no matter how long you live, you will never hear a greater performance.
Despite lots of memories from the late 1940s onwards, I cannot recall a Damascene moment for me and classical music – for me, it was just music, but only on the radio. It is the medium of broadcasting which has set these fascinating comments from contributors off: in those days, there was just the Home Service and Light Programme in our house (the early years of the Third Programme went unheard at home), alongside broadcasts for Schools (whatever happened to them?) – it was the compelling mix of comedy, drama, news and half-hour programmes of live music-making that provided my first introduction, laying on the floor (a habit picked up in the last years of the War) just listening to whatever came on the radio, that triggered whatever musical gifts I may possess. That’s the point: music was to be heard, listened to, not put on in the background whilst you got on with something else.
And that music had to be chosen by someone and introduced by a script written by someone else with some knowledge which they felt was worth passing on to the listener.
This is what Rob Cowan does so brilliantly – the communication of knowledge simply through speech: it is a great gift which in these woke-ridden days is treated as being worthless by the downright ignorant. As I said a while ago on this site: ‘children (and adults too for that matter) can hardly be expected to express an opinion on something with which they are never given the opportunity of coming into contact’ – those of us who know the beneficial enhancement of our lives that contact with great music can bring can only bitterly regret the shameful and downright uncivilised manner in which it is treated these days. It is to the example of people like Rob that all generations of listeners, from young people to retirees,should thank him, and condemn the action of Classic fm.
In the last ten years, BBC ‘management’ has striven to widen the ‘appeal’ of art to bigger audiences; in many ways, their actions have been described as ‘dumbing down’. That may indeed have been the case, but in any event what they have tried has been unsuccessful. The listenership for Radio 3 has continued to fall as a percentage of the population.
Back in the day, the Third Programme was admired throughout the world and copied across Europe. Intelligent listeners have a right to be treated as such, not as ignoramuses, and it was Rob’s considerable achievement to appeal to the widest range of listenership which has marked him out as a gifted and inimitable broadcaster on a subject for which so few are qualified. He is, in my opinion, irreplaceable – as Classic fm will soon, I suspect, find out.
Well if my fate at CFM has achieved nothing else it has at least given birth to this fascinating strand on Colin’s Column!
Bob Matthew-Walker’s telling phrase ref BBC: “[music] introduced by a script written by someone else with some knowledge which they felt was worth passing on to the listener”. Those “someone elses” were a formidable breed. Robert Layton for a while, and, in my time at Radio 3, Deryck Cooke and Michael Howard. As for Joaquin Achucarro’s Brahms 2, yes it unquestionably demands you to listen. I caught up with him in a recital in Malta back in 2018. Formidable artistry, the complete gentleman.