# Good News: Stephane Deneve & the Promotion of New Music



## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

Stéphane Denève has just been appointed chief conductor of the Brussels Philharmonic. That's what's getting the news. But more interesting is a second position that has come along with it. According to BBC Music Magazine's _Classical-music.com_ website, Deneve has also been appointed "as the inaugural director of the Centre for Future Orchestral Repertoire (Cffor), a research institution dedicated to discovering the music of the current century." The article says that the Centre for Future Orchestra Repertoire aims "to create an extensive online database of music that is being composed in the 21st century, which can be used to track key developments in repertoire. To achieve this Cffor is gathering information on works premiered since January 2000 by professional symphonic ensembles of 60 players or more."

Finally it quotes Denève's critique of the current orchestral fare and promise to change things:



> "Many of the world's orchestras, in my view, follow an unhealthy repertoire diet - 21st-century music amounts to less than 5 per cent of their activity ... I will programme at least one 21st-century piece in each of my concerts with the Brussels Philharmonic."


The article, by the way, is here:
http://www.classical-music.com/news/stéphane-denève-appointed-chief-conductor-brussels-philharmonic

All a healthy sign, in my view. I would like to tap on people's knowledge base here and ask:

How have works over the course of the 20th century made their way into the repertoire? 
What role did commissions play? Conductors? Critics? The public? Other advocates? 
What have sometimes been the ups and downs of the process?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Good thing for composers! I do hope audience snobbery doesn't amount to a lesser number of tickets being sold though. My local symphony orchestra every year puts on a festival of new music, three orchestral concerts showcasing a resident composer (and a winning composition of a younger local composer) and a large number of chamber performances of premieres by local composers as well as international ones. So far this has been a huge success and I have never heard of any negative criticism of this idea....it would be interesting to see how Brussels Phil goes with audience reception. I hope it is as successful, or more!


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## Alypius (Jan 23, 2013)

The idea of a "artist-in-residence" (and the funding that goes along with that) has been a fairly successful way that I've heard of. John Adams got a good jumpstart to his composing career by becoming the artist-in-residence for the San Francisco Symphony. Here, by the way, is a link to a talk Adams gave at the San Francisco Conservatory of Music, talking about his early teaching experiences and how the Conservatory became a venue that helps his composing:
http://www.earbox.com/essays-by-john-adams/conservatory-days

I know that Robert Spano of the Atlanta Symphony and Michael Stern of the Kansas City Symphony are both advocates of and conductors of new music. Spano has promoted Osvaldo Golijov's _Pasion segun san Marcos_ and _Oceana_, Christopher Theofanidis' _Rainbow Body_, Jennifer Higdon's _blue cathedral_ and _Concerto for Orchestra_, Michael Gandolfi's _Garden of Cosmic Speculation_. While not all of these works appeal to me personally, I appreciate Spano's efforts.

Does anyone know the story of Serge Koussevitzky? I have read that he played a pivotal role during Bartok's career in the U.S., that he had a hand in getting _Concerto for Orchestra_ commissioned.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

Alypius said:


> Does anyone know the story of Serge Koussevitzky? I have read that he played a pivotal role during Bartok's career in the U.S., that he had a hand in getting _Concerto for Orchestra_ commissioned.


He was a great champion of new music. He also commissioned Stravinsky's _Symphony of Psalms_!

A name of the utmost importance for the post-WWII avant-garde was Paul Sacher, whose name ended up forming the Sacher hexachord!


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## Guest (Jul 2, 2014)

*The bad news, however, is...*



Alypius said:


> Cffor is gathering information on works premiered since January 2000 by professional symphonic ensembles of 60 players or more.


that this is not where new music has been happening, by and large, since, oh, 1960 or so.

So only a very narrow band of new music will be captured with this gathering.

We will continue to hear about (and hear the music of) Unsuk Chin and Kaaji Saariaho, which is fine, but we will also continue not to hear about (or hear the music of) Beranger Maximin and Emmanuelle Gibello, which is not fine.

I know some people, like Jon Christopher Nelson, who would gladly write for symphony orchestras if they would only get some return on that work--you know, money or performances or both. But so far as I know, people like Beranger and Emmanuelle aren't even interested in writing for "professional symphonic ensembles of 60 players or more." They like electronics.

The biggest danger to this kind of focus, very narrow focus, is that it is seen as not narrow at all, but as the news and the encouragement of "new music."

It is news about and the encouragement of a very narrow slice of new music. And when a very narrow slice masquerades as the whole pie, we're in deep trouble.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

some guy said:


> that this is not where new music has been happening, by and large, since, oh, 1960 or so.
> 
> So only a very narrow band of new music will be captured with this gathering.
> 
> ...


This is one of the reasons why the new music festival I mentioned doesn't limit to orchestral concerts.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

some guy said:


> that this is not where new music has been happening, by and large, since, oh, 1960 or so.
> 
> So only a very narrow band of new music will be captured with this gathering.
> 
> ...


Those composers don't 'feature' orchestral music, let them eat cake.


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## Kilgore Trout (Feb 26, 2014)

some guy said:


> that this is not where new music has been happening, by and large, since, oh, 1960 or so.
> 
> So only a very narrow band of new music will be captured with this gathering.
> 
> ...


That makes no sense at all. They're making a Centre for Future *Orchestra* Repertoire, to expand the *orchestras*' repertoire. You can't criticize them for not including composers who DON'T WANT to write for *orchestras*.


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