Rethinking the Repertoire: Postlude

The moral should be to err in favor of the audacious. That’s what this world – and this art form – require.

Composer Sofia Gubaidulina — her “Two Paths” is well worth hearing.

By Jonathan Blumhofer

So there we go: twenty-five pieces by twenty-five composers written between 1831 and 2013. Like I said at the start, this series hasn’t been a comprehensive or scientific survey of overlooked music: simply works by unfairly neglected composers that I think speak as powerfully and dynamically as any number of standard-canon ones do. What do we do now?

Looking back, it’s my hope that this series has done, at least in part, four things.

First, I trust it’s given some sense of just how broad the repertoire actually is outside of the familiar fifty-or-so greatest hits by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Wagner, Debussy, et al.

Second, in looking at this wider list of music, I hope that, in some small way, it has done something to demystify the classical canon. There can be a certain snobbishness inherent to classical music: Virgil Thomson hit on this with his observation of “the idea that first-class work in composition is separable from the rest of music-writing by a distinction as radical as that recognized in theology between the elect and the damned.”

Music, Thomson continued, “is an art. It expresses private sentiments through skill and sincerity, both of which last are a privilege, a duty, indeed, of the private citizen, and no monopoly of the prophetically inclined.” So it is and does.

What’s more, music – be it by Beethoven, Karl Amadeus Hartmann, or Led Zeppelin – is also, largely, functional and meant to be experienced as part of a living, breathing tradition, as opposed to being completely removed to another emotional or experiential plane. Too often, the symphonies of Beethoven or the cantatas of Bach (for instance) are revered as “Great” rather than “great,” and that is, ultimately, detrimental both to the music and to the listener, as it sets up artificial barriers that shouldn’t (and needn’t) exist in the first place.

One caveat: this isn’t to say that there’s no value in appreciating music as an abstract expression of the highest (or near-about) creative abilities of the human mind. To experience a Mozart symphony or a Brahms piano trio as something sublime in the midst of a world coming apart at the seams has (or can have) immense worth. But there’s no reason that this be the exclusive role “great” music has to play: Bach, Beethoven, and Shostakovich (among many others) would surely dispute such a narrow responsibility for their art. But I digress.

It is my hope that looking at the lives of rather normal, day-to-day individuals – some of whom (like Rimsky-Korsakov) were military officers, others of whom (like Chadwick) were teachers, or (like Ives) businessmen – can help break down that unnecessary division between life experience and art. The best of the latter (and I’d argue that every piece in this series falls into that grouping) is a true reflection, in some distinct way(s), of the human experience and needs to be heard and understood as just that, in all the grittiness and messiness that such an idea encompasses. Otherwise, what good is any of it? Why should we care about what Beethoven or Bach – or Beach or Barber – have to say to us otherwise?

Composer and music critic Virgil Thomson — not a matter of separating “the elect” from the “the damned.”

How then, do we put all of this into practice, moving these pieces (and other obscured ones we admire and love) from the fringes back into the mainstream? That’s my third objective and, I think, one of the simplest to answer: advocate for them.

In practical terms, that means that, if you’re a performer or ensemble administrator, program, perform, talk about this music. If you’re a writer or a broadcaster, write about and broadcast them. Feature them prominently. The more distinguished the performer or publication, the better: that can help give audiences permission to listen. But the fact is, this is the sort of work that anyone, trained musician or not, can do.

The time’s surely ripe for such action. In the two-plus years of this series, there’s been lots of conversation across the classical and new music worlds about the historic underrepresentation of, especially, women composers and composers of color.

Locally, in December 2017, a group of several dozen Boston-area musicians petitioned the Boston Symphony to broaden its repertoire. The orchestra responded with a rather lame defense of its programming practices – basically that surveys show that the majority of its audience prefers time-tested classics – before rolling out, in March, a striking 2018-19 season announcement that featured a lot of music it hasn’t played before (or in a while), including multiple programs showcasing works by Latin- and African-American composers and several women.

That may well have been a coincidence – orchestral seasons are typically planned years, not months, in advance – but actions like the Boston Petition don’t really have any drawbacks. Quite the contrary: they demonstrate a level of audience engagement that ought to give ensembles license to act and program boldly.

And that brings me to my last point: orchestras, opera companies – performing arts institutions, generally – are, for plenty reasons (many of them related to money), conservative and resistant to change. They tend to follow trends with the help of surveys like the one the Boston Symphony cited, rather than proactively help to shape what’s their audiences find in vogue.

The opposite should be the case.

Yes, there are real challenges that make this proposition intimidating. Public music education is virtually non-existent. The cultural reach of classical music institutions and artists has fallen precipitously in just the last quarter-century. The orchestral artistic administrative model – which is meticulously planned years in advance and famously rigid – would need to be completely reconsidered.

But this is precisely the time when bold steps are called for.

Sometimes daring efforts pay dividends: the Los Angeles Philharmonic and San Francisco Symphony have been two of the most progressive-programming-minded orchestras in the country since the 1990s. In those cases, that’s largely been the result of creative administrators working hand-in-hand with visionary artistic directors.

Alan Gilbert — a forward-thinking music director hemmed in by administrative and financial restraints. Photo: Chris Lee.

And sometimes they don’t: Alan Gilbert’s tenure at the New York Philharmonic offers the cautionary tale of a forward-thinking music director hemmed in by administrative and financial restraints (among other things).

Still, the moral should be to err in favor of the audacious. That’s what this world – and this art form – require.

Since I began this series in 2015, my list of selected pieces has changed a bit: certain days and new discoveries seemed to require alterations to the overriding plan. In the end, I reverted (mostly) to my original scheme, but there are thirty more pieces I opted, for various reasons, to pass over. As a parting gift, I leave you with links to performances of that list as a reminder that, with Rethinking the Repertoire, we’ve only shaved one small cube off an enormous iceberg that is the vast majority of music that’s been written these last two centuries – the work goes on. Enjoy!


Hans Abrahamsen – let me tell you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOePBfHstu4

John Luther Adams – Become Ocean

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dGva1NVWRXk

Thomas Ades – Tevot

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sSQ3yQZC_HI

William Bolcom – Songs of Innocence and of Experience

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4P9PURGhXU

Benjamin Britten – Violin Concerto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dDTIae06t6Y

Lili Boulanger – Faust et Helene

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R2yhp5CWkNU

Ferruccio Busoni – Piano Concerto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t2s4PYYYBsI

Claude Debussy – Le Damoiselle élue

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XgYnlptQDuk

Sofia Gubaidulina – Two Paths

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k5lyzvkfqpY

Lou Harrison – Concerto for Organ and Percussion Orchestra

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=beVKqAs-qBY

Jonathan Harvey – Tranquil Abiding

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HoXKARMGYPI

Paul Hindemith – Concert Music for Strings and Brass

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3f_-rJQ_Os

Scott Joplin – Treemonisha (not an orchestral work, strictly speaking, but, given the tendencies of orchestras to give operas in concert, surely this one ought to be in the mix)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLyh2jCvzG0

Peter Lieberson – Neruda Songs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1NL_bA2FsRo&list=PLUnMia1mobzJV8PRHZtg5YNdR_5TNr6kC

Witold Lutoslawski – Symphony no. 4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STq69crFq5g

Korngold – Symphony in F-sharp

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iLPEN7ynYqY

Andrew Norman – Play

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17TXyqRWCM4

Andre Previn – Violin Concerto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rm9kXiXSSmI

Sergei Prokofiev – Symphony no. 4 (revised version)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=10soAToOy4U

Shulamit Ran – Legends

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-2UEDR3oBU

Franz Schmidt – Symphony no. 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7OlvPxTMDHE

Sarah Kirkland Snider – Penelope

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_jghbrNnGgk

William Schuman – Symphony no. 6

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j__9i8bE0yA

Clara Schumann – Piano Concerto in A minor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sHnYlORpL5Q

Robert Schumann – Requiem fur Mignon

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iEZE_2qeVo8

Alfred Schnittke – Concerto grosso no. 5

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EYi3lJMAuk

Randall Thompson – Symphony no. 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vsVABxB9GBg

Ralph Vaughan Williams – Symphony no. 4

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feLWh8dBXm8

Melinda Wagner – Trombone Concerto

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLapjaPfgPs

Kurt Weill – Symphony no. 2

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OM3NNxG4kGI


Jonathan Blumhofer is a composer and violist who has been active in the greater Boston area since 2004. His music has received numerous awards and been performed by various ensembles, including the American Composers Orchestra, Kiev Philharmonic, Camerata Chicago, Xanthos Ensemble, and Juventas New Music Group. Since receiving his doctorate from Boston University in 2010, Jon has taught at Clark University, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, and online for the University of Phoenix, in addition to writing music criticism for the Worcester Telegram & Gazette.

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5 Comments

  1. Bill Marx on June 13, 2018 at 1:32 pm

    A note of editorial back-slapping: the Arts Fuse is one of the few publications that would have presented such a terrific series, inspirational as well as educational. The project is very much in the spirit of the magazine: our critics are encouraged to focus on art and artists that are overlooked or undervalued. Jonathan canvased work from unfairly neglected composers that “speaks as powerfully and dynamically as any number of standard-canon ones do.” Bravo! Eschew the usual, advocate for the audacious. That has been, until recently, one of the duties of the critic. To shake things up rather than hail the status quo.

    Jonathan’s splendid effort has got me thinking, that, when I have the time, I would like to complete a series that features 25 “unfairly neglected” plays, texts I believe should be staged as they are and/or adapted. I have written, recently, about how Boston’s stages are content to produce a safe line-up of scripts. (They then dare market the toothless as the ‘dangerous.’) I would like to offer some alternatives — plays that would break us out of our current morass of the conventional. Not sure when I will start the project, but I am lining up candidates in my head. I may take reader suggestions …

  2. Jonas on June 13, 2018 at 4:07 pm

    I’ve been following this wonderful series since the beginning – thank you very much for the effort, Jonathan.

    My humble contribution:

    John Adams – The Wound Dresser

    George Benjamin – Duet

    Benjamin Britten – Lachrymae

    Elliott Carter – Symphonia

    Henri Dutilleux – The Shadows of Time

    César Franck – Variations Symphoniques

    Anders Hillborg – The Strand Settings

    Leos Janáček – The Fiddler’s Child

    Oliver Knussen – Symphony No. 3

    Witold Lutosławski – Mi-Parti

    Bohuslav Martinů – Les Fresques de Piero della Francesca

    Per Nørgård – Symphony No. 8

    Kaija Saariaho – D’om le vrai Sens

    Jean Sibelius – In Memoriam

    Bent Sørensen – La Notte

    Anton Webern – Symphony Op. 21

    Jörg Widmann – Violin Concerto

    Alexander Von Zemlinsky – Sechs Gesange Op. 13

    • Jonas on June 13, 2018 at 4:30 pm

      Oh, and I forgot these pieces:

      Hans Werner Henze – Symphony No. 8

      Magnus Lindberg – Seht die Sonne

      James MacMillan – Oboe Concerto

      • Jonas on June 13, 2018 at 9:28 pm

        And this is my last post (I swear!) with suggestions:

        Helen Grime – Violin Concerto

        Vagn Holmboe – Viola Concerto

        Olivier Messiaen – Éclairs sur L’au Delà

        Sergei Prokofiev – Symphony-Concerto for Cello

        Igor Stravinsky – Threni

        Karol Szymanowski – Symphony No. 3 “Song of the Night”

  3. Mary Jane Doherty on June 20, 2018 at 7:47 pm

    This series is an INVALUABLE treasure. I can’t thank you enough!

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