Which unsungs are on their way to becoming 'sung' - and vice versa?

[Ilja]

And, dare I say, it: Mozart?

A friend, who is a programmer at one of Holland's larger ochestras, told me that generally concertos with a lot of Mozart were the most geriatric of all. He claimed that there was no interest in Mozart from the under-fifty audiences.

[Alan Howe]

Very interesting. Apart from the (later) symphonies, I'm not as interested in Mozart as I used to be. And yet the recordings keeping coming out by the bucket-load!

[Amphissa]

Here in the provinces, Mozart continues atop the list of the most frequently performed composers, along with Beethoven.

I'd agree with the decline in performances of Franck over the years. I also think Grieg is played less now than he used to be. The Grieg piano concerto held on the longest, but I see that programmed less and less these days. Berlioz seems to be getting less play in the U.S. as well, probably because the Symphonie fantastique is about the only Berlioz to get played much to begin with.

Of course, over here, there are some American composers who get played pretty frequently, who may get less play elsewhere. Gershwin, Copland, and Barber. Of those, I think Copland has been on the wane of late. He got performed a lot more back when Bernstein was around to champion his music.

One American composer of romantic music is getting more play lately than he used to -- Victor Herbert. I have no explanation for the phenomenon and am not convinced interest will be sustained.

One composer who was hugely popular in the U.S. back in the early 20th century was Paderewski, based primarily on the popularity of his piano concerto. His music is now virtually forgotten, totally ignored in the concert halls.

[Fronder]

Practically no difference here in Moscow. Same old Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Prokofiev and Shostakovich. I actually think that repertoire has become even more narrow during the last decade. On the contrary, I was in Portugal this spring where I was able to hear Braga Santos' 4th symphony paired with Rachmaninov's 3rd concerto - surely that was one of the best concertos in my whole life

[eschiss1]

I would think from the look of the schedule of some country's orchestras that they include some lesser-known "national" (not always nationalist) composers each season - the Czech Philharmonic is opening their season with a work by Petr Eben next month, for instance- but this doesn't really bear on the sung/unsung issue, which, as Mendelssohn could tell us in putting together materials for the St. Matthew Passion, has to do with consistency, advocacy, long-time commitment, not the occasional concert
(and Schoenberg in an essay about including, or not including, the occasional American composer in concerts in the US, written the next century said much the same thing.)

[eschiss1]

That said, I'm going to go way out on a limb and say that there's a chance that Myaskovsky might be on his way. His music is on the radio often enough, his name is one of the only "unsungs" that my family members hear about from people other than me (and sometimes quite randomly from their other musical acquaintances, it seems)... I gather (maybe incorrectly, or maybe because of his pedagogy and not his music) that his name is known to some Russians I have met who are not otherwise classical music fanatics - I think there's a chance there, if not a large one.

[Alan Howe]

That's an interesting thought, Eric. I'm going to keep my eyes open over here to see whether any more Myaskovsky is being programmed.

[eschiss1]

according to the opt-in concerts list BachTrack, only 3 concerts this year, so not doing so well there (as opposed to e.g. 57 with Samuel Barber, counting repeats of the same program, etc. Or 27 with Szymanowski- where do we put Szymanowski in sung/unsung?  
(27-5 repetitions, many of the rest in a series in London devoted to works by Szymanowski coupled with Brahms etc.)

Ah, you've already written about that...) Hrm. Or Frank Bridge? (32-3 repetitions of Gardner's concert with "The Sea"-1 repetition of the Britten Sinfonia program = about 28.)

(Zemlinsky surprises me a little, coming in as unexpectedly-to-me high as 17-repetitions - which may not count - might not be listed, will have to look- a Czech Philharmonic chamber concert I noticed in which his 4th quartet will be played.) Anyhow. Sorry!

[minacciosa]

Korngold is most decidedly now sung. Beyond the Violin Concerto being performed dozens of times per year (possibly even more), his chamber works, songs and especially the film scores now turn up with regularity in the states.

[Amphissa]

Fronder, Bach is not even in the top 25 in number of performances in the U.S. Haydn and even Handel get played more than Bach. Which is okay with me. I just wish Mozart would go into steep decline as well.

I love Myaskovsky and would really like to see his music on programs. But I am not as optimistic as Eric. The only Myaskovsky that seems to get any concert programming at all is his beautiful cello concerto.

I am sad to say that the unsungs that get played in the U.S. with any regularity are modern works. If I remember correctly, over 25% of all concerts in the U.S. last year featured works by modern composers. With programs so heavy with warhorses, when the only unfamiliar pieces are by modern composers, there is little space for romantic unsungs. This is especially true as the total number of concert performances (and orchestras) seems to be decreasing steadily.

I do agree, though, that Korngold seems to be inching into the concert halls more regularly.

[eschiss1]

Re Myaskovsky, I think his cello sonatas and 13th quartet have also gotten some outings the last few years (the 13th quartet at Wigmore Hall in February 2011- Borodin Quartet, Pacifica Quartet in Portland Oregon April 9/10 2012, and a few times several years ago too ;
cello sonata 2 in Los Angeles in May 2012...  I think none of these made it into BachTrack - which lists only Symphony 10 in Boston in April 2013 (yay!) and Silentium in London late September (this month) -but I found them using Google...)

(While I disagree strongly in regards JS Bach and Mozart- two of my favorite composers - etc. and two composers who weren't always quite _so_ sung themselves... and think that if we need to tear something down to build something up, maybe it should be something non-classical, since the classical world is a rather small place and the exercise threatens to be self-- again, shut -up-, Eric...)

[pcc]

@ Amphissa - _which_ Victor Herbert works are getting an airing?  The only one I've heard live was the Irish Rhapspdy in a performance by the Rochester Philharmonic almost twenty years ago, and that was because it was the first piece the orchestra performed back in 1922.  The audience giggled at the opening, then settled into the work, because it actually is very well made.  I've never heard HERO AND LEANDER live, and the Suite Symphonique has not even been recorded - which to my mind is a blessing if Keith Brion's leaden hand were to be put to it, which tends to kill all it touches.  At least HERO was recorded by Pittsburgh and Maazel; there's a great deal more to look to.

One composer on the sung/unsung fence is MacDowell, whose large scale works - few as they are - are colourful and intricate enough to reward concert airings, and the recent Naxos recordings prove this amply.  I will also say re Suppe that the _very_ few times I've been privileged enough to hear the overtures live, orchestras love to play them - you can feel it in the way they attack licks before the beginning of the concerts. It's very revealing and gratifying. 

[pcc]

I meant Herbert's "Suite Romantique", op.33.  The full score is on IMSLP and is certainly virtuosically orchestrated.  It would probably be exhilarating in performance.

[eschiss1]

MacDowell seems to have done reasonably well this year in the US comparatively speaking? Leaving out the piano concertos which seem to get regular outings now (though actually maybe I shouldn't-
even having one work that gets regular airings may count for "sung"ness now'days; consider you Holst until fairly recently, in the US anyway... ), ...

MacDowell's Hamlet & Ophelia closed out the Bloomington Symphony's season in April, his Suite No.2 "Indian" was performed in Ava, Missouri in their "Summerscape 2012" concert. (Probably other works also...)

[JimL]

Piano concertos?  I'd love to see the A minor get half the attention of the D minor.