"Surprise concert": when the program is not announced in advance

[alberto]

Two days ago I attended such a concert in Torino (Orchestra Sinfonica Nazionale della RAI, cond. Juraj Valcuha, former principal- now the principal is James Conlon).
The program resulted the following:
-R.Strauss Macbeth
-Puccini Manon Lescaut, interlude
-Nicolai The Merry Wives of Windsor, overture
-Korngold Much Ado about Nothing, suite op.18 (1918)
-Puccini Suor Angelica, interlude
-Ciaicovskj Capriccio Italien
encore: Mascagni Cavalleria Rusticana, interlude
AFTER the performance the conductor unveiled the identity of the "easy" works (Puccini, Ciaicovskj) assuming almost everibody knew them.
He ASKED the audience the identity of the "less easy" (Nicolai) and of the "difficult ones" (R.Strauss, Korngold).
The concert was indeed a fairly logical mix of popular, very popular or unsung (THAT particular R.Strauss, Korngold); and all romantic or late romantic works.
I found the experience interesting (maybe also as I knew all the pieces) . I am not sure whether a listener who is completely unaware of -say- the Korngold piece, listens to it with a deeper attention, anxious to know the identity unveiled. 
(BTW last June I attended another "surprise concert" conducted by G.Noseda; the program of Stravinsky, Sciostakovich, Beethoven and R.Strauss resulted IMO a little too heterogeneous).
Has anyone in the forum faced concerts where the program is unveiled before the performance? If so, which opinion?

[Alan Howe]

I've never attended such a concert. Did anyone know the identity of the Strauss or the Korngold?

[alberto]

I did. I would say that some people had a vague idea about the possibility of R.Strauss as the composer of the forst work, but not of the title ( I remember the work was performed by the same orchestra under Eliahu Inbal some twenty years ago).
Korngold appeared as a surprising name, unknown to most people. Some years ago the Violin Concerto was performed by Chloe Hanslip and Jeffrey Tate.   

[Mark Thomas]

How interesting. Was the concert well attended, Alberto, and were the people who attended the same mix as usual, or not?

[alberto]

The audience was attentive and perceptive.And it appeared to be the usual audience of the orchestra's season.  As for as the two unsung works are concerned, the Strauss, even if sombre and without particular melodic appeal, got huge applause (but that was maybe aimed mostly at the conductor, the Slovakian Valcuha (IMHO a very good one) who was leaving his role of principal (but he will return; next beginning season for other two programs).
In comparison the jovial anf jolly Korngold got a more cool reception (even if it is not remote from the Strauss of "Burger als Edelmann").
As memory is strange, and sometimes one remembers twenty years earlier, but forgets three days ago, I listened to the couple R.Strauss-Korngold also the very evening before the "surprise concert".
In fact the American John Axelrod conducted (in Torino) the Orchestra Sinfonica Giuseppe Verdi (Milano) in a kind of "Konzept concert" according to the idea that R.Strauss was a "father", or at least a model, for some Hollywoodyan composers of the last century '30- early '60. So two R.Strauss "hits" (Don Juan, Salome's Dance of the Seven veils) were performed together with movie suites   by Korngold (The Adventures of Robin Hood), Rozsa (Ben Hur) and Steiner (Gone with the Wind, Casablanca).

[chill319]

In his later years, Richter, of course, gave numerous recitals in which the program was not announced in advance. But that's quite different from the experiment you describe, which sounds fascinating. I'm reminded of a well-known feature in dramatic psychology: say you have two monster movies. In the first one the pretty girl is walking towards the open door and the audience knows the monster is behind the door. In the second the pretty girl is walking towards the open door and the audience has no clue that there's a monster behind the door.  Naturally, the audience experience is different as the girl walks toward the door -- lots of suspense in the first case; none in the second (assuming no background music). But the experience is also different when the monster pops out from behind the door, sforzando!: in the first case, catharsis is possible; in the second case, shock only.  Obviously the parallel of knowing or not knowing a composer's name during a concert is less dramatic, but I daresay once again different kinds of mental processes become involved. Not knowing the name means not only less "baggage" (in the form of calcified opinions) attending the audition but also less "compass," less contextual processing of the music (e.g., were these sounds conservative, avant-garde, or somewhere in between when written). Knowing, for example, that Gershwin's Lullabye for string quartet was written by Gershwin years before Rhapsody in Blue makes it more interesting to listen to (for me). So it's a mixed bag, but an experiment I'd very much enjoy being part of. Thanks for sharing that.

[eschiss1]

Reminds me of a program I've heard of called The Innocent Ear, used to be on BBC.

[Gareth Vaughan]

Not sure why this thread,  interesting though it is, is under "New recordings and broadcasts"! Should it not be listed under "Composers and music"?