After being thrilled to see the lineup for this past JPO Spring Season, I have a wishlist of pieces I would still like to see appearing on future JPO programmes. As an ardent supporter of classical music (a term that needs to be retired but can’t be supplanted), I faithfully attend all its concerts with any programmes it puts up. But, ultimately, what I want from an evening with a symphony orchestra is the kind of inimitable experience that draws people to live performances of any kind: sensitive, vibrant, revelatory renditions of classics, as well as exposure to the less familiar.
The JPO’s primary function is to provide good performances of works in the orchestral repertory. But there’s an important secondary, curatorial function to any symphonic orchestra; the works that are chosen to be played are the works that are implicitly designated as important to the culture, the ones that are chosen to last. The canon is built by the decisions of what to perform, as well as by what to leave out.
For too many people, the “classical” in classical music means definitive, or etched in stone. A great orchestral performance can prove that classical also means radical: the works that have survived the ages can still yield new experiences, new visions, new worlds of feeling, and the works of today that look forward and open up music’s paths into the future yield nothing but the new.
Below are my own personal choices for what works could open up the kind of new, refreshing, eye-opening experiences in the Linder Auditorium that some of us are looking for:
More South African works. The London Symphony Orchestra (inarguably one of the world’s greatest and most prestigious orchestras) starts each annual season with a world premiere of a British work and another eminent piece of the established British canon. No orchestra in the world is building a canon of South African works; the only ones that can are in this country, and neither the KZN Philharmonic nor the Cape Town Philharmonic seem to be prioritising South African composers. We want to hear some works that are connected to our place and times, works with which we ourselves share some roots, and we want a national culture that supports and uplifts local artists of all orders.
The last time I made a post like this one, I proposed programming Clara Schumann’s piano concerto. It’s not one of the great compositions of the Romantic era, but definitely the work of a great musical mind (completed when she was 16 years old, it should be noted), and of immense interest to those of us wishing to trace some of the influences on Robert Schumann and Brahms.
Amy Beach’s Piano Concerto is a much more mature, sophisticated work by a brilliant composer, and would make a fine addition to the programme of any symphony orchestra. It would be especially heartening for the JPO, which, since its relaunch in 2017, has only played one work by a female composer. Beach was not only a remarkable woman in music, but an accomplished American composer in her own right, one of the first to succeed without the benefit of European training.
Amy Beach’s “Gaelic” Symphony is another superb work that audiences always appreciate whenever it’s heard. Beach responded to Dvořák, whose “New World” Symphony had just premiered, and who advised American composers to turn to their folk music — especially Native American and African-American songs — to develop the arts in their country. A staunch New Englander, Beach drew inspiration from old English, Scottish, and Irish melodies, giving the symphony its title.
Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps, an instrumental work written by the fine young French composer that also exists in an extraordinary symphonic arrangement as a symphonic poem. Not only would performing it increase the JPO’s number of female composers performed, but it’d be a wonderful addition to the early-20th century repertory.
More Haydn. As famous as Haydn is, he remains the most underrated and neglected of the repertory’s genius-tier composers.
Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto. Apart from being one of the most heart-achingly beautiful works ever written (as well as by one of the most radically progressive composers in history), this would be a thrilling follow-up to one of the most enthralling experiences I’ve ever had at a concert: when Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort played the First Piano Concerto with virtuosic wildness, and I felt the sonic and dramatic intensity of his playing in my body.
Ravel’s Ma mère l’Oye. The finale of Ravel’s “Mother Goose” suite has been described by Esa-Pekka Salonen as “the most perfect composition”. It opens into an immense realm of emotional elevation and, finally, transcendence. Nobody who hears it ever wants it to end.
It would be great to hear more modern music from the JPO. So far, just over one-tenth of the pieces programmed have been written in the last 100 years. However, I understand that modern music can be particularly expensive to play, because of the rights that need to be paid, and because of the sometimes bizarre instrumental requirements or outrageous orchestra sizes, not to mention the widespread idea that newer, weirder music scares away more conservative audiences, an important bloc in orchestras’ revenue streams. (I’d like to think that this isn’t the case, but …) The JPO can settle for programming music by late Romantic composers, who wrote a wealth of works in the last 100 years, whose styles are readily accepted by any listeners, and whose works are safely in the public domain. The performance of Korngold’s Violin Concerto at the start of this year was a shining example of exactly the kind of refreshing expansion of the repertory that all can appreciate.
To this end, Carl Nielsen’s Fifth and Sixth Symphonies would be thrilling to hear. JPO audiences react enthusiastically whenever Grieg or Sibelius’s works are performed, and they might receive the Danish equivalent of these composers equally well. Each of these symphonies, written in the last 100 years, is enthralling and a visionary step forward in music history. Listeners would certainly be encountering something new.
Ralph Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending. This concerto-like symphonic poem has borne considerable popularity for nearly a century, and presents the chance for an unforgettable concert hall experience with its rich evocations of English pastoral scenes.
One more perennially popular composer of symphonic poems is Ottorino Respighi, and his two famous works Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome have never failed to delight and entertain the audiences that hear them. Respighi’s particular brand of Italian nationalism has broken its boundaries and connected with listeners across the planet.
Some core repertory composers will inevitably show up in next year’s lineup, and I’d like to throw in my own two cents of which of their works should be programmed:
Mozart: The “Haffner,” “Linz,” and “Prague” Symphonies (Nos. 35 in D major, 36 in C major, and 38 in D major). Also Piano Concertos Nos. 19 in F (K. 459), 24 in C minor (K. 491), and 27 in B-flat major (K. 595).
Beethoven: A full cycle of the Symphonies as well as of the Piano Concertos, for Beethoven’s 250th birthday.
Tchaikovsky: Selections from the ballets Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty (which haven’t been sorted into neat concert suites like The Nutcracker). Also, the return of Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, and 6, which can easily be heard again and again.
The JPO’s primary function is to provide good performances of works in the orchestral repertory. But there’s an important secondary, curatorial function to any symphonic orchestra; the works that are chosen to be played are the works that are implicitly designated as important to the culture, the ones that are chosen to last. The canon is built by the decisions of what to perform, as well as by what to leave out.
For too many people, the “classical” in classical music means definitive, or etched in stone. A great orchestral performance can prove that classical also means radical: the works that have survived the ages can still yield new experiences, new visions, new worlds of feeling, and the works of today that look forward and open up music’s paths into the future yield nothing but the new.
Below are my own personal choices for what works could open up the kind of new, refreshing, eye-opening experiences in the Linder Auditorium that some of us are looking for:
More South African works. The London Symphony Orchestra (inarguably one of the world’s greatest and most prestigious orchestras) starts each annual season with a world premiere of a British work and another eminent piece of the established British canon. No orchestra in the world is building a canon of South African works; the only ones that can are in this country, and neither the KZN Philharmonic nor the Cape Town Philharmonic seem to be prioritising South African composers. We want to hear some works that are connected to our place and times, works with which we ourselves share some roots, and we want a national culture that supports and uplifts local artists of all orders.
The last time I made a post like this one, I proposed programming Clara Schumann’s piano concerto. It’s not one of the great compositions of the Romantic era, but definitely the work of a great musical mind (completed when she was 16 years old, it should be noted), and of immense interest to those of us wishing to trace some of the influences on Robert Schumann and Brahms.
Amy Beach’s Piano Concerto is a much more mature, sophisticated work by a brilliant composer, and would make a fine addition to the programme of any symphony orchestra. It would be especially heartening for the JPO, which, since its relaunch in 2017, has only played one work by a female composer. Beach was not only a remarkable woman in music, but an accomplished American composer in her own right, one of the first to succeed without the benefit of European training.
Amy Beach’s “Gaelic” Symphony is another superb work that audiences always appreciate whenever it’s heard. Beach responded to Dvořák, whose “New World” Symphony had just premiered, and who advised American composers to turn to their folk music — especially Native American and African-American songs — to develop the arts in their country. A staunch New Englander, Beach drew inspiration from old English, Scottish, and Irish melodies, giving the symphony its title.
Lili Boulanger’s D’un matin de printemps, an instrumental work written by the fine young French composer that also exists in an extraordinary symphonic arrangement as a symphonic poem. Not only would performing it increase the JPO’s number of female composers performed, but it’d be a wonderful addition to the early-20th century repertory.
More Haydn. As famous as Haydn is, he remains the most underrated and neglected of the repertory’s genius-tier composers.
Brahms’s Second Piano Concerto. Apart from being one of the most heart-achingly beautiful works ever written (as well as by one of the most radically progressive composers in history), this would be a thrilling follow-up to one of the most enthralling experiences I’ve ever had at a concert: when Liebrecht Vanbeckevoort played the First Piano Concerto with virtuosic wildness, and I felt the sonic and dramatic intensity of his playing in my body.
Ravel’s Ma mère l’Oye. The finale of Ravel’s “Mother Goose” suite has been described by Esa-Pekka Salonen as “the most perfect composition”. It opens into an immense realm of emotional elevation and, finally, transcendence. Nobody who hears it ever wants it to end.
It would be great to hear more modern music from the JPO. So far, just over one-tenth of the pieces programmed have been written in the last 100 years. However, I understand that modern music can be particularly expensive to play, because of the rights that need to be paid, and because of the sometimes bizarre instrumental requirements or outrageous orchestra sizes, not to mention the widespread idea that newer, weirder music scares away more conservative audiences, an important bloc in orchestras’ revenue streams. (I’d like to think that this isn’t the case, but …) The JPO can settle for programming music by late Romantic composers, who wrote a wealth of works in the last 100 years, whose styles are readily accepted by any listeners, and whose works are safely in the public domain. The performance of Korngold’s Violin Concerto at the start of this year was a shining example of exactly the kind of refreshing expansion of the repertory that all can appreciate.
To this end, Carl Nielsen’s Fifth and Sixth Symphonies would be thrilling to hear. JPO audiences react enthusiastically whenever Grieg or Sibelius’s works are performed, and they might receive the Danish equivalent of these composers equally well. Each of these symphonies, written in the last 100 years, is enthralling and a visionary step forward in music history. Listeners would certainly be encountering something new.
Ralph Vaughan Williams’s The Lark Ascending. This concerto-like symphonic poem has borne considerable popularity for nearly a century, and presents the chance for an unforgettable concert hall experience with its rich evocations of English pastoral scenes.
One more perennially popular composer of symphonic poems is Ottorino Respighi, and his two famous works Fountains of Rome and Pines of Rome have never failed to delight and entertain the audiences that hear them. Respighi’s particular brand of Italian nationalism has broken its boundaries and connected with listeners across the planet.
Some core repertory composers will inevitably show up in next year’s lineup, and I’d like to throw in my own two cents of which of their works should be programmed:
Mozart: The “Haffner,” “Linz,” and “Prague” Symphonies (Nos. 35 in D major, 36 in C major, and 38 in D major). Also Piano Concertos Nos. 19 in F (K. 459), 24 in C minor (K. 491), and 27 in B-flat major (K. 595).
Beethoven: A full cycle of the Symphonies as well as of the Piano Concertos, for Beethoven’s 250th birthday.
Tchaikovsky: Selections from the ballets Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty (which haven’t been sorted into neat concert suites like The Nutcracker). Also, the return of Symphonies Nos. 4, 5, and 6, which can easily be heard again and again.
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