Klarinet Archive - Posting 000124.txt from 2006/09

From: "dnleeson" <dnleeson@-----.net>
Subj: RE: [kl] Re: concerti
Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 14:06:56 -0400

Just look at the amount of music written during the 20th century
and constrast that with how much of it we still continue to hear.
Hindemith's music appears to be heading south. Less and less of
it is played every year. The only piece that gets played
frequently is the Symphony in B-flat for band, and that is only
because the band literature of big, symphonic pieces with heft to
them is still miniscule next to the orchestral literature. The
only long term survivors of that music are Holst and John Phillip
Sousa. Who else do you hear regularly today?

Even Stravinsky is being played less. There are lots of
performances of Rite of Spring, and Petrouchka, but his 12 tone
stuff is almost never played.

In the late 1800s when G. B. Shaw was a music critic (and a
brilliant one, too), he wrote an essay about Mozart's music at
the time of the 1891 commemorative year for the Requiem. And in
his comments he spoke about how Mozart's music overshadows that
of xxx and yyy and zzz and etc. He then gave a list of 6 names
who were BIG in the English world of symphonic music. And when I
read Shaw's essay, I had to look up every single name because I
never heard of any of them.

Once I asked Percy Grainger who his favorite composer was, and he
told me, "Arthur Fickenshir" (spelling very questionable). And
Percy raved about the guy. I did not want to say that I never
heard of him. That doesn't mean that he is a poor musician, only
that his name has disappeared from public view. And let us not
forget Percy's friend, Frederick Delius. And what of the bad boy
of music, George Antheil.

And look at Sir Arthur Sullivan. He wrote an opera called
"Ivanhoe" that has not been heard in years and Sullivan would not
even be remembered as a composer if it were not for the Gilbert
side of the pair.

Ah fate. One's successes are only transitory.

Dan Leeson
DNLeeson@-----.net

-----Original Message-----
From: Ed Wojtowicz [mailto:ewoj@-----.net]
Sent: Tuesday, September 12, 2006 10:17 AM
To: klarinet@-----.org
Subject: Re: [kl] Re: concerti

Thanks for bringing these up. I think that the Corigliano is a
brilliant concerto. One of my favorites. I have always liked
Hindemith's music and feel that it is a shame his works do not
get
played more.

Ed

On Sep 12, 2006, at 12:26 PM, Margaret Thornhill wrote:

>
> While I'm trying not to get on the Best Concerto judging panel,
I
> was glad to see the Finzi come up in discussion. Sean left off
a
> lot of really good ones, such as:
>
> Crusell F minor (I think Tony has a good recording of this)
>
> Hindemith
> Corigliano
>
>
> Margaret
> www.margaretthornhill.com
>

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