Klarinet Archive - Posting 000100.txt from 2009/08

From: <p_marcus@-----.net>
Subj: Re: [kl] Solo pieces by living women composers
Date: Thu, 13 Aug 2009 17:53:28 -0400

I'm pretty sure it is usually because there is a grant or other funding to
be had, or because it will make advertising and promoting a concert easier
by giving it a hook. It's simply a way to set one concert apart in the
description in the newspaper weekly calendar blurbs and other announcements.

When I was on a local orchestra board, themes for concerts were regularly
used to sell the performances. It also allows groups to program less
well-known works but still capture the attention of the general listening
audience for the event, so not entirely a bad thing from that perspective.

Penny

----- Original Message -----
From: "Marcia Bundi" <msbundi357@-----.net>
To: <klarinet@-----.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 13, 2009 2:39 PM
Subject: Re: [kl] Solo pieces by living women composers

> But the underlying question is, *why* do they want to program in a certain
> way? What informs their decisions?
>
> It's not really a moot point -- as you point out, not all music is to
> everyone's taste, and it's a question all audience members will ask
> themselves before they lay out the money and time to go to the concert.
> But
> audience demographics are not the entire answer either, and it's those
> other
> reasons that make this an interesting -- and valid -- question.
>
> So yes, the short answer is that of course, that the sponsoring group
> wanted
> it this way. But the (more interesting) question Danyel asked was, why?
>
> Marcia in MT
>
>
>
>> Marcia...
>>
>> Because...it's been decided...by the people sponsoring the event. The
>> "pitch", the interest in a particular composer group, etc. It's their
>> decision. Why question it? LOL
>>
>> The sponsor group wants to do a program of contemporary women composers.
>> Deal done, right?
>>
>> Trust me....I hear/play a lot of concerts/recitals/clinics....using music
>> that should never have been written (my opinion only...some folks love
>> it)....no matter what the gender. :-)
>>
>> And I don't believe I sidestepped anything. It was programmed this
>> way....because they wanted to...
>>
>> Forest
>>
>> Forest,
>>
>> I think your answer sidesteps Danyel's question. *Of course* whoever
>> sponsors the performance gets to pick the program, but WHY the emphasis
>> on
>> certain biological/geographical/sociological/other parameters rather than
> on
>> the quality of the music itself? I have no ready answers (but plenty of
>> guesses); it's like a good friend of mine who only buys books by female
>> authors.
>>
>> Marcia in MT
>>
>> > Danyel
>> >
>> > You pay for the concert.....you get to program whatever you want. You
>> > sponsor a program...and at it...program what you want...
>> >
>> > Someone else pays or sponsors a program.....they get to determine
>> > what's
>> on
>> > the program.
>> >
>> > Easy
>> >
>> > Forest
>> >
>> >> > What is this thing about women composers anyhow? What difference
>> >> > does
>> > it make whether or not the composer of a particular piece has female
>> > reproduction organs or not? Does that affect the sound of the music?
>> > You could of cause play any modern clarinet solo claiming the
>> > composer was a lady, wonder who could tell . . . play "(La!)
>> > Sequenza" by Luciana Beria, for instance.
>> >
>> > It makes me mad that concerts are no longer programed to include good
>> > music but such written by a specific sociological or even biological
>> > in-group.
>> >
>> > Best
>> > danyel
>
>
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