the modern orchestra is an endangered species



I've been doing some blogging about orchestras lately at sequenza21's composer's forum, in response to some previous posts that questioned the viability of symphony orchestras. To make a long story short, I think that the medium is viable, but "circling the drain" as we say in medicine. I think it needs to evolve, if not have a subtotal makeover.

The problem is that economically, orchestras have it stacked against them. Then there's the repertoire---few recent composers (with the exception of John Adams) have been able to write well for orchestra on a consistent basis and obtain repeat performances. Most new music for orchestra will be heard once, then die off. Kind of like "write once, read once."

The repertoire of today's orchestras is also overwhelmingly conservative. That's why I don't attend such concerts. Until and unless the Philadelphia Orchestra programs something that I really want to spend that kind of money for, I'm content to listen to CDs and MP3s.

I also doubt I'm going to write again for orchestra anytime soon. The last time I did so was many years ago, and let's face it, why would most orchestras program David Toub? Or any of a number of other composers.

Which brings in the concept of digital music composition. I am the first to admit that the MP3s I dump on my music site leave a lot to be desired, although the samples of electronic organ are passable. Still, just as Nancarrow could write whatever he wanted for player pianos and hear it played as he wanted, it is possible to do much the same with sampled instruments. If I were using higher-end software or hardware, it could be a pretty good representation of acoustic instruments. Now, I still prefer what a live musician brings to a concert, and I also like the idea of live concerts in general. However, until orchestras and other musical organizations grow up and embrace a better mix of modern (and "submodern", as the violinist Christina Fong puts it), they will have very difficult times filling their seats. Just as hospitals and airlines depend on filling their beds/seats, so do orchestras, and they need to realize that more adventurous programming and exploring shared MP3 file downloads are two important tactics they might use to survive.

Posted: Tue - May 3, 2005 at 08:31 PM          

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