# NY Times: "Just Why Does New Music Need Champions?"



## Nereffid (Feb 6, 2013)

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/06/arts/music/just-why-does-new-classical-music-need-champions.html
A fairly optimistic article from Anthony Tommasini: "A new generation of performers and composers, especially some idealistic conductors who hold influential posts at major orchestras, are talking up the adventurousness of new music, without overpromising. They're simply presenting all the strange, wild new pieces that excite them and letting audiences see what they think."
I think this is important for those who find they can't embrace new music - don't insist that a work must be on a par with your favourite dead composers before you give it the time of day; just dive in and see what works for you - and there's enough variety out there that there's a good chance something will.

I had to laugh, though, at one aspect of Tommasini's explanation for why classical audiences mistrust new music: 
"in 1918, Schoenberg founded the Society for Private Musical Performances, a membership-only organization for which challenging scores by Max Reger, Bartok, Stravinsky, Debussy, Berg and other composers were carefully rehearsed and performed. Making these concerts private kept out "sensation-seeking" members of the public, as the founders put it. Still, the result was the sequestering of these works in a contemporary music preserve, in effect branding them for insiders only."
It's Schoenberg's fault!


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## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Yeah, contemporary music needs a sort of "Self-forgetfulness" sometimes. To be overly conscious of oneself is a disease (thus spoke Dostoevsky) and for art to be overly aware of its identity and context is not healthy. Better to be and let be.


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## Gordontrek (Jun 22, 2012)

While reading the article I couldn't help but wonder if these "champions" for new music are doing more harm than good. Maybe it would be healthier for classical music in general if conductors didn't try to specially cultivate images of themselves as these champions. One gets the feeling that such a conductor holds the average concertgoer's usually traditional tastes in contempt, and is on a mission to regularly force new music on them whether they like it or not.
Personally, I think the best conductors treat new music like any "canonical" work. In other words, the conductor should communicate to the concertgoer that "new and old, it's all the in the same canon; this is part of the classical music you're signing up to hear, so take it or leave it." Don't clamber for acceptance; present new music impartially, and if it catches on it catches on.


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## Zhdanov (Feb 16, 2016)

problem is, new music to be championed, instead of *good* one as it should have been, if they didn't try to cheat by using this notion of 'new' every time they can't come up with anything good.


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## Zhdanov (Feb 16, 2016)

Nereffid said:


> don't insist that a work must be on a par with your favourite dead composers


but this would be a good test that allows to measure new composers ability to write music.


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

My favorite dead composers only died between 30 and 15 years ago


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

I just read the article myself, and I think it's rather exaggerated and over the top . Tommasini makes it sound as though there's a woeful lack of new classical music today, which is hardly the case . He's been doing this ever since he became the chief music critic of the NY Times .
The problem is that there are too many people who attend concerts who are extremely reluctant to hear new works and need their beloved repertory warhorses the way some small children need security blankets . This h as created a problem with so many of our orchestras where if they regularly program new works they risk audiences voting with their feet . This means problems with revenue from tickets , which is deadly for orchestra survival .
There are quite of few leading conductors today who aren't afraid to champion new music , such as Alan Gilbert, Rattle, Chailly , Salonen, Muti, Eschenbach, Paavo Jarvi, Marin Alsop, Robert Spano and others . 
Despite the problems, I'm convinced classical music will survive despite all the difficulties .


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## Guest (Nov 5, 2016)

ST4 said:


> My favorite dead composers only died between 30 and 15 years ago


My favourite dead composers died in the last few years I win


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## ST4 (Oct 27, 2016)

jms said:


> My favourite dead composers died in the last few years I win


Pierre...... Hairy pouch


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