In this week’s blog post for 45th Parallel Universe, Oregon Symphony principal clarinettist James Shields writes about programming music outside of the canon. James is a hugely curious and adventurous musical omnivore, and so it’s nice to get an extended take on how he sees musical programming as a social responsibility (my take on his take – so meta). This passage especially resonated with me:
A performer tackling a Beethoven quartet knows whose fault it is when their performance is less than captivating; a wide variety of successful counter-examples exist and can be easily located on the internet in a matter of seconds. With lesser-known works, it is often harder to find a sparkling rendition which, while perhaps not to your own personal liking, can clearly demonstrate that this is a piece worthy of your time and energy, even if you might initially lack the imagination and familiarity to see it. Many times I’ve had the experience of rehearsing an unfamiliar piece while thinking “well, the 4th movement is ok, but the others are duds,” only to find after a little effort and creative thinking in subsequent rehearsals that, in fact… it was me. The responsibility of the performer must always be to ask “how do I make this work come to life in a way that will captivate the audience and stir their imagination and emotion?” Tackling compositions by lesser-known composers can expose shortcomings of interpretation even more clearly than canonical works, particularly those composed in a style that classical musicians ought to be somewhat familiar with.
Check out the entire post here. I’d also be remiss, as both a board member and performer with 45th Parallel, to not remind you that it’s Giving Tuesday, and we’d love to have your support as a Patreon subscriber. Greg Ewer makes a compelling (and humorous) case here: