Programming the “warhorses”

On Sunday there was an article in the Salt Lake Tribune about USUO’s financial situation, but it wasn’t the comments about the budget deficit that got people talking. Rather, it was a comment in the article about the Utah Symphony’s programming “warhorse” symphonies for next season – things like Beethoven’s Fifth, Dvorak’s “New World” Symphony, etc – that caused a little stir in the blog world.

Two blogs I came across in particular came at the subject from two different angles. One criticized the symphony for programming warhorses and “announcing that it will shun 20th Century and contemporary composers.”  Another made the assumption that this programming style was temporary and the organization would stop programming the warhorse symphonies as soon as the economy turned around.

So, on the one hand you have someone saying it’s a mistake to program the warhorses and ignore contemporary music. On the other you have someone saying that it’s a mistake not to program these warhorse symphonies.

While I believe both misunderstood the comment in the Trib article, I believe that both have a valid point.

Too many people make the false assumption that every symphony patron is the same. Yes, there are people out there who only want to hear the Classical and Romantic composers and would be completely satisfied with their subscription if they never heard a 20th Century composer’s music performed all season. On the other hand, there are many people who seek out the new and unique. They don’t want to hear Beethoven’s Fifth over and over again. These people want to hear music by composers like George Crumb and David Heuser.

So, going back to the comment in the Tribune – yes, we have a season filled with beloved music and symphonies, but we haven’t ignored contemporary or lesser-known composers, and we certainly aren’t planning to stop programming music people want to hear in the future. Those who attend Brahms Symphony No. 2 in October will also hear Olivier Messiaen’s Ouseaux exotiques. The Utah Symphony will perform four pieces next season by French impressionist composer Maurice Ravel. Mozart’s Violin Concerto No. 4 will be paired with Austrian composer Anton Bruckner’s Fifth Symphony. Finally, one of my favorites, Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade will be paired with contemporary composer Steven Mackey’s Percussion Concerto, Time Release.

We also have a complete series (which, unfortunately, is temporarily furloughed because of budget constraints) that focuses on music by contemporary composers.

There are also programs that appeal to those who just want the tried-and-true favorites, such as An Evening of Beethoven (with Beethoven’s Fifth and his Violin Concerto in D Major) and an all-Brahms concert with Brahms Piano Concerto No. 1 and Symphony No. 4.

I was speaking with a musician in our orchestra the other day, and he brought up the idea that attending the symphony is like going to a museum. A year ago this week, I was in Paris. My grandfather and I went to the Louvre specifically to see the Mona Lisa, but once we were in the museum we were intrigued by art and sculptures we never would have known had we not walked around and checked out what the museum had to offer. In fact, the Mona Lisa was a disappointment compared with some of the other paintings we saw.

I’ve had a similar experience this season. Some of my favorite concerts were surprises. I learned that I loved Strauss when I attended Land of the Midnight Music in October, and I learned I really loved his music when I attended A Hero’s Life in April. Once of my favorite pieces I heard this season was Dominick Argento’s A Waterbird Talk, and it was at this same concert that I learned how much I loved Messiaen’s music. Along the way there were also a few pieces I wasn’t a huge fan of (Berg’s Violin Concerto comes to mind), but I was glad to experience it anyway – even if I never want to hear it again.

I believe the Utah Symphony should serve both the segment of our audience that loves the “warhorses” and the segment that wants to experience something new, and I believe our current season does just that.  People vote for the music they want to hear with their wallets, and as the sales for our current season attest, the segment that wants to hear Beethoven’s Ninth is much larger than the segment that wants to hear music by Aulis Sallinen, but that doesn’t mean that the smaller segment should be ignored. It does mean that a typical season will likely include one or two of Beethoven’s symphonies though, simply because it’s what many of our patrons want to hear.