February is the month in which most orchestras start their new subscription campaigns with their next-season announcements. I haven’t really paid much attention to what’s being programmed outside of my own orchestra, but I thought that it would be interesting to take a look at the seasons and see if any trends are emerging.
Chicago Symphony
The CSO season is conservative, to say the least. Loads of Beethoven – starting with the Missa Solemnis, and continuing with lots of Mahler, Wagner, more Beethoven, Brahms, and lots of music written pre-1980. I can see the tactic – they’re carpet bombing the audience with loads of favorites, then slipping in some hard to digest nuggets like Schoenberg’s Violin Concerto, Lutoslawski’s Cello Concerto, and Messiaen’s Chronochromie. There are a few commissioned pieces and 21st century works, which is commendable: Brett Dean’s Ampitheatre, Anna Clyne’s Double Concerto, Christopher Rouse’s Trumpet Concerto, and Mason Bates’ Liquid Interface. Former PYP Music Director Mei Ann Chen also conducts one of the CSO’s Beyond the Score concerts focussing on the Rimsky-Korsakov’s Scheherazade, and also conducts a subscription concert. Esa Pekka Salonen guest conducts music of Wagner (Tristan, Act 2). Music director Riccardo Muti indulges his usual fancy for Scriabin (did lots of that in Philly when I was living there). Overall, it’s a season that will delight many an octogenarian, with a few goodies thrown in there for the rest of us. See the entire lineup here.
Seattle Symphony
Under previous music director Gerard Schwartz, the SSO often did a good job of presenting underrepresented works as well as commissioning new works. With new music director Ludovic Morlot, the SSO seems to be continuing this trend. Hopefully their sales will be as adventurous as their programming. The are presenting the world premiere of John Luther Adams’ Becoming Ocean in Seattle, and will then take it to Carnegie Hall for the 2013 Spring for Music series. Other commissions include works by Dai Fujikura, Alexandra Gardner, Ken Hesketh, Arlene Sierra, and a US premiere of a work by Pascal Zavaro. Interestingly, they’re starting a late-night contemporary music series with informal contemporary music performances in the Benaroya Hall lobby. Morlot is leading the Seattle Symphony premiere of Messiaen’s Turangalilia Symphony, John Adams (the other John Adams) conducts his own Harmonielehre, and the violist wunderkind Maxim Rysanov appears as solist in Kancheli’s Styx. The SSO is also using the Chicago Symphony’s Beyond the Score (I’m assuming they licensed the scripts and accompanying material from the CSO) to examine Mahler’s Fourth Symphony, Elgar’s Enigma Variations, and Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. There’s lots to like on the SSO’s schedule next season, but there are so many different series and options that you’ve got to wonder if they’re competing with themselves a bit. You can’t fault them for trying to go after a less aged audience, however. See the complete press release here.
Nashville Symphony
The NSO seems to have a lot going for it: a great hall, lots of money, and a dynamic new music director in Giancaro Guerrero. They kick off their season with a 21st century work – Richard Danielpour’s A Woman’s Life (2006), for soprano and orchestra, setting poems of Maya Angelou. Works by Stephen Paulus (a string quartet concerto), Mason Bates (a commissioned violin concerto), Corigliano (his Red Violin concerto), James MacMillan (his Third Piano Concerto), and Edgar Meyer (a commissioned double concerto for Meyer and Joshua Bell) round out a strong season of new and newish works. You can tell there’s money coming from somewhere, especially when you consider that they’re mounting Mahler’s Eighth Symphony on top of all this. Guerrero’s season looks a bit like Carlos Kalmar’s season would look, if we could field a larger orchestra and had a fund to commission new works. I give their season high marks – it’s adventurous and interesting, with a good balance between new and old. See the season lineup here.
To be continued…
4 replies on “2012-2013 season announcement roundup”
well, one trend that i’ve been noticing over the last few seasons is the ever-deepening entrenchment of a few “du jour” composers. i wish i could say that i found at least one of them to have a truly compelling & original voice. perhaps i simply haven’t heard the right works from these stars just yet?
No one can like everything, right? there’s a reason that they’re getting ‘entrenched’ as you say, and that relies on more than one person’s opinion. I heard one composer talk about “the wizards” who make or break composers – I suppose he was talking about the artistic administrators and music directors of some influential organizations. things take on a life of their own after a certain point. I’ll bet there were many avante-garde composers who were bitterly watching Benjamin Britten’s success and wondering why he was amounting to anything…
[…] Noble, violist and blogger, shares his thoughts on Chicago’s season, as well as two other orchestras I had previously missed: the Seattle Symphony and the Nashville […]
funny you should mention britten. as you know, he’s among a handful of composers i most admire & continue to learn from.
i knew a german composer in messiaen’s class (77-78) who was once commenting on how there were no british composers of the 20th century that he could take seriously. stunned, i mentioned britten, tippett, walton & a few others. his reply was, “see what i mean?” wow.
all that aside, you’re very right about how “things take on a life of their own after a certain point.” a few “illustrious composers” i could name continue to receive major commissions even though they basically repeat the same thing over & over – with ever-diminishing conviction & regard.
actually, truth be told, this same sort of gathering speed, downhill snowball career momentum is evident in the well-trodden paths of many of the “du decade” guest solo instrumentalists, as well.
i guess some of us are McLovin’ these realities more than others.