I have a question for the BBC - why do you need five orchestras?

The head of Radio 3 needs to convince the licence fee payers

The BBC Philharmonic and conductor Alpesh Chauhan (Scott Kershaw/BBC )

Music lovers may be breathing a sigh of relief. Alan Davey, the new head of Radio 3, has intimated that despite some severe budget cuts, the BBC’s eight orchestras and choral groups are safe.

A misprint surely? Eight! I am also a music lover, and I will champion the BBC and most of its works until I am blue in the face...but five orchestras and three choral groups! Is it strictly necessary for the BBC to run five orchestras? It doesn’t to my knowledge run live theatre companies around the country, even though it produces a hell of a lot of drama, and very good drama. So why should it be running orchestras and choral groups, let alone eight of them? The logic is puzzling.

The cost of these eight groups is £32.5m. Were I given to hyperbole I might chuck in an adjective and say a staggering £32.5m. But let’s just say £32.5m. The figure speaks for itself as a sizeable chunk of BBC spending. Of course, those of us who love the arts and admire enormously the BBC’s invaluable contribution to them would not want to underestimate the contribution that these orchestras and choral groups make. The presence of the BBC Symphony Orchestra at many of the Proms is of itself a major factor in that great festival’s success. It is not their large output and certainly not their quality that is in question. It is whether BBC should be funding them.

London alone has four symphony orchestras excluding the BBC Symphony Orchestra, so there’s no shortage of free-lance outfits that can be used. There is no shortage either of choral groups up and down the country. Yet, bizarrely, while every other aspect of the BBC seems to be under the microscope, the question of the BBC funding its own in-house orchestras is seldom raised.

Once upon a time there were 20 orchestras and choral groups funded by the licence payer, believe it or not. That has been reduced over the years. But we still have the BBC Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Philharmonic, the BBC Concert Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales, the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, the BBC Singers, the BBC Symphony Chorus and the BBC National Chorus of Wales,

Mr Davey’s exact words were: “There’s absolutely no plans to cut a performing group – I’ve not been under pressure to seek to do that.” But perhaps he should be under pressure. If not under pressure to cut, then at least under pressure to explain — to examine the current situation and give a public explanation of it.

We may end up after a proper debate concluding that all these first-class outfits should remain as they are and continue to be funded by the licence fee payer. But let’s at least have that debate. And let Mr Davey or someone at the BBC explain why at a time when programmes and even whole channels are under threat, it spends £32.5m on eight music outfits.

Does London really need a film festival?

The London Film Festival opened this week...and I wish it hadn’t. I have argued before, and I still maintain, that London is the wrong place for a film festival. A country’s premier film festival should be held outside the capital city, just as the more illustrious film festivals are Cannes, not Paris, Venice, not Rome, and Sundance not Washington. A festival is a time to shine a light on another city, bring publicity, revenue, stars and filmgoers to it. And in a city like London, already full of films and cinemas, premieres and stars, most citizens don’t even notice that the London Film Festival is happening.

Martin Freeman must do justice to Steve Marriott

One film at the London Film Festival that does arouse my interest is a short on the late rock singer Steve Marriott. The brilliant, mischievous, gravelly-voiced former star with The Small Faces and Humble Pie is still thought by many to have had one of the best rock voices ever, and as I found when I once interviewed him, he was as irreverent and funny in real life as he was on stage. But I fear that he is in danger of being largely forgotten. Marriott is to be played on screen by The Hobbit star Martin Freeman. Take care, Martin. Do what with you want with those hobbits, but we Marriott fans will be unhappy if you fail to capture Steve in all his glory.

d.lister@independent.co.uk

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