[182.4] CLASSICAL REVIEWS LIVE

The most comprehensive selection on the web can be found at Seen and Heard. Excellent writers, too. Part of the superlative MusicWeb site. The coverage of the BBC Proms season is especially worthwhile. Talking of which: if you are reading this before 15:50 GMT, you can still catch conductor Leonard Slatkin (on BBC Radio 4) trying to defend the now-indefensible, as he reviews the famous 'Last Night' - an institution which repels and attracts in equal numbers, I would have thought. It brings in the 'traditional' TV and radio audience, but conveys the impression to those outside the current bubble that classical music is the preserve of hooray henrys. A thorough overhaul is needed. There are many ways of speading the word which don't resort to flag-waving jingoism. (Incidentally, 'reform the Last Night of the Proms' doesn't feature in Google.)