Interesting point about how the lack of a canon means more freedom, and also about the fading of the European avant-garde “moralistic” dogma in music.
So one person I spoke with about this article had a problem with the last sentence. Can you guess why?
“Going to hear a new music concert liberates you in a way that going to hear Brahms doesn’t. You can say, ‘I really hated that piece. It was awful.’ Or you can say, ‘I loved it!’ When you say ‘hate Brahms,’ you don’t really. You can’t have that feeling. You can’t say it’s crap,” he said with a chuckle. While you might be able to say that you don’t care for a certain work, “you can’t make that kind of ‘quality’ assessment about great classics that we hear every week in concerts. They have gone through a historic filtering process, some kind of Darwinist game in which only the best music survives,” he said.”
If the canon was created by a Darwinist game in which only the BEST music survives, then that means the best music was written by white males, right? Weren’t there other factors keeping women and people of color out of the canon, besides survival of the “best”?
I think that’s just it, other factors were preventing them from ever having a chance to write the “best” music. We can debate the greatness of works by Clara Schumann or Fanny Mendelssohn and so on, but there’s no denying that most of the people historically encouraged/“allowed” to be composers were white males, and therefore it’s not surprising that most great music was written by them. In other words, I don’t see any contradiction between your last two sentences, and I think Salonen would agree with what you’ve said.
All music was “new music” when first played. I believe Beethoven had things thrown at him and Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring caused a riot.
So when new music is played these days, and audience members/patrons/donors get up and leave in a huff, they are following a long tradition of rejection of the new. Orchestras and other musical organizations are dependent on donations, however, so they tend to sandwich a new work between a few older ones from the canon, and choose carefully, keeping the whole system fairly conservative. Resident composer programs featuring emerging composers often create interest.
The world of smaller ensembles is more flexible but must also worry about support. Thankfully, there are ensembles and festivals that bravely embrace the new, even if audiences aren’t exactly overwhelming in size. Getting new music outside of academia is a positive- if enough people are open to it. Pre-concert talks help with that, I think.
This is a music forum. I always wonder how many on here are familiar with or like some of the late 20th and 21st century composers. Would love to hear from folks.
I love this topic as it’s critical to encourage orchestras and composers to take risks. Some audience members will walk out–yes, adhering to a long tradition. Other listeners will be stirred or awakened to new magic.
There is a really interesting infographic on what composers are being played as revealed in a survey of 89 American orchestras in 2015-2016. Of note to this thread, 12% of pieces are by living artists with John Adams, John Williams, and one of my favorites, Jennifer Higdon, leading the way. See this link for “What Data Tells Us about the 2015-16 Orchestra Season” https://www.bsomusic.org/stories/what-data-tells-us-about-the-2015-16-orchestra-season.aspx
This is great! I am going to share with various people. Thank you philmusic! Certainly hopeful.
And of course the new music scene isn’t all about orchestras either- so lots going on with smaller ensembles, string quartets, chamber orchestras, solos etc.
A chamber music festival in my local area, that is relatively well-known, hired a new artistic director last year and this year’s festival is quite daring, relatively speaking. I am curious to see if the seats are still full- and for the whole concert!
Well the concert tonight did not sell out which is unusual for the festival. The concert was Shostakovich, Reich’s “Different Trains” and Arvo Part. It was depressing to hear ushers and patrons alike talk about how the concert programming was “different” and how a patron had walked out in a huff demanding her money back a couple of nights before. Some just want Mozart, Brahms et al.
This music is way more accessible than a lot of “new music” and resistance doesn’t bode well for other pieces
BUTa great thing that happened :an instant standing ovation with whoops of appreciation followed by seemingly endless exits and returns of the musicians, with people still standing and whooping. So not as much resistance as it would have seemed!
“The program note doesn’t say ‘this is a masterpiece,’ like it often will when you hear a Mozart piano concerto or a Wagner opera. It doesn’t come with that baggage. I think this should be quite attractive. I find it attractive myself. The part I play as the midwife, assisting in birth, is very exciting and very satisfying. To continue with the same analogy: the baby’s out, we don’t quite yet know who he is or she is. They start showing their personality later. By this, I’m trying to say that things need time.”
Many songs considered new music or rock have had this same problem… Even the Beach Boys “Pet Sounds” was blasted as a horrible album and an ode to Brian Wilson’s lunacy. After some time it gained an audience… One can only react to the music at the time it is experienced and some people are not as open to the new birth. Music need…craves…must have… evolution. That being rock… new music or just something we have not heard of yet…will make it continue, make it great. Composers need to take risks to find the beauty of the unique. How boring would music be if a composer had only to adhere to the rules of Bach?
Women in music is a whole class in college…LOL
@compmom I ordered “The Rest Is Noise” so that my daughter could read it when she got home. Leafed through it, and guess who is reading it now? YES ME!! I cannot put it down. She said that she had heard about it and was it the book that had a whole chapter about Britten? YES!! Grimes! Grimes! talks all about him. Thank you so much for the recommendation.
Here is another interesting interview with a different great conductor, known for championing new music - David Robertson. It’s from a number of years ago now: https://www.npr.org/sections/deceptivecadence/2013/08/12/211376496/why-are-american-orchestras-afraid-of-new-symphonies
That fifteen minute barrier talked about here is real! My son runs into it all the time, and fights it tooth and nail.