{"id":1213,"date":"2009-12-28T13:16:10","date_gmt":"2009-12-28T12:16:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/?p=1213"},"modified":"2009-12-28T13:22:29","modified_gmt":"2009-12-28T12:22:29","slug":"2009-kw-repertoire-report-discussion-and-analysis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kennethwoods.net\/blog1\/2009\/12\/28\/2009-kw-repertoire-report-discussion-and-analysis\/","title":{"rendered":"2009 KW Repertoire Report- discussion and analysis"},"content":{"rendered":"

I wanted to attempt to have a look at my 2009 Repertoire Report <\/a>and see if I could identify any interesting trends or quirks.<\/p>\n

2009 was an anniversary year for several important composers, including Haydn, Handel, Purcell and Bloch. Haydn got the most attention from me this year- nine works in all, including 6 symphonies, both cello concertos (neither of which I played this time around) and the Sinfonia Concertante (listen to our performance here)<\/a>. That list includes two obvious hits- the Farewell (no. 45) <\/a>and no. 104, his most played symphony, but also some wonderful rarities, particularly no. 60 (Il Distratto) and no. 72. Just getting to know those two works and the incredible mind behind them, with all its genius, humor and humanity, was a big highlight of the year. Even returning for the first time in many years to a well-known work like 45 was a revelation-<\/a> it\u2019s far from a gimmicky, jokey work, but a deeply thoughtful and wildly creative and exciting piece.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

My blog post \u201cHaydn- More Talented than Mozart,\u201d <\/a>gave some people the mistaken idea that I\u2019m not a Mozart fan, when nothing could be further from the truth. 2099 was not a Mozart anniversary year, but he still got 10 works to Haydn\u2019s 9. Perhaps the selection of Mozart works clarifies the point I was trying to make about the\u00a0 nature of Mozart\u2019s genius in that blog post. My point was that Mozart\u2019s greatness is not in being some kind of divinely inspired, ultimately facile talent who never wrote a phrase that wasn\u2019t fresh, perfect and unique- there is plenty of Mozart that is formulaic, predictable and not particularly inspired. However, as a poet of feeling, he is without equal- the profoundly tragic, anguished, even angry 40<\/a>th<\/a><\/sup> Symphony<\/a> and the Requiem<\/a>, the enigmatic, autumnal and nostalgic 23<\/a>rd<\/a><\/sup> Piano Concerto<\/a> and the heart-rending Clarinet Quintet. These are the best of Mozart- whose true talent was not in the world of charm, refinement and elegance but in the deeper realms of true feeling and drama.<\/p>\n

If Haydn got a pretty good anniversary treatment (happily, most of my Haydn performances were part of concerts celebrating his legacy), Handel and Purcell got ignored completely. Hopefully I can spend more time with them in years to come- I\u2019ve come to admire Handel more and more over the years. Pity poor Ernest Bloch<\/a>– the BBC didn\u2019t even include him on their list of anniversary composers, and no British orchestra that I\u2019m aware of took any notice of the 50th<\/sup> anniversary of his death (compare that to the robust celebrations of Vaughan Williams, who had the same anniversary last year). I would have loved to have done more of his music, and pitched several projects which didn\u2019t come to fruition, but I at least got to do the 2nd<\/sup> Concerto Grosso, which is a stunning piece and almost completely unknown. He\u2019s a great composer who deserves more recognition.<\/p>\n

Other very well-represented composers were Beethoven (9 works including 5 symphonies) and Schumann (5 works<\/a>, including 2 symphonies a<\/a>nd the Overture, Scherzo and Finale)<\/a>. This spring, the Surrey Mozart Players will finish our Schumann project with the First Symphony and Manfred- we will have played all the symphonies, concerti and a good sampling of the overtures by the time we\u2019re done. The experience has left me greedy for more time with Bobby S- I\u2019m hard at work at setting up a recording project to do the symphonies, which I\u2019m determined to do. Watch this space.<\/p>\n

2009 was not a banner year for contemporary music- two fun new pieces (James Schlefer\u2019s<\/a> Shakuhachi Concerto and Philip Sawyers\u2019<\/a> astounding 2<\/a>nd<\/a><\/sup> Symphony)<\/a>, but I would have loved to have done more new music in a wider range of styles. The Contemporary Music Ensemble of Wales, with whom I\u2019ve had the chance to do some more cutting edge stuff in recent years, took 2009 off, but we have big aspirations for 2010. Also, I\u2019m hopeful that my work with Orchestra of the Swan<\/a> will bring a lot of chances to do new work- it\u2019s an important part of their mission. I already know that my first concert with them in May will feature a premiere.<\/p>\n

However, it is not only living composers whose music needs advocacy, and I feel like I\u2019ve done a pretty good job of getting some relative rarities out there. The Arnold Guitar Concerto is not something you hear every day, I\u2019ve already mentioned some of the unusual Haydn works we did this year, and Schumann\u2019s Bride of Messiana Overture is a true rarity (and a wonderful, bizarre piece). It\u2019s pretty safe to say that in the case of any of those piece that they were as new to the members of our audience as a world premiere would have been. Ensemble Epomeo<\/a> are working our way through a lot of music that was nearly lost to war and evil in Theresienstadt with music by Klein and Krasa, and I felt that balancing those works with the rarely heard Schnittke Trio<\/a> and a Beethoven made for an interesting program. This year, we\u2019re doing more Krasa, the Goldberg Variations, Gal and another Beethoven<\/a>. I have a lot of sympathy for the frustration of all my composer friends who have to sometimes wait years for a chance to get an orchestral work played, but think of the frustration for Hans Gal<\/a> and his family. Gal was one of the giants of the pre-war generation of German composers, a friend and colleague of both Richard Strauss and Berg, yet our recording of the Triptych, the Violin Concerto and Concertino with Northern Sinfonia in September (which should be out in April) was the first commercial recording of his orchestral music. The Violin Concerto was premiered in 1933 and not played again until 2004.<\/p>\n

Part of what I get out of looking at these reports is a sense of my goals for years to come- what am I not doing enough of, what needs a rest? I\u2019d certainly like to smash the 75 work barrier which I\u2019ve been stuck at for 3 years now (give or take). This year would have been well over 90 except for some scheduling issues and the postponement of the Harlech Academy, which would have added the following pieces to this year\u2019s list-<\/p>\n

Arnold- The Inn of Sixth Happiness<\/p>\n

Janacek- Taras Bulba
\nMahler – Symphony No 5
\nNiccolai- Overture to the Merry Wives of Windsor
\nProkofiev- Selections from Romeo and Juliet Suite No. \u00a02
\nRachmaninov – Isle of the Dead
\nRavel – La valse
\nShostakovich – Symphony No 6
\nWalton- Variations on a Theme of Paul Hindemith<\/p>\n

Fortunately, we\u2019ve just kept that rep list intact for the 2010 Academy. I knew I would want and need a break after my last OES concert,<\/a> so I blocked off a few weeks in late October and early November- something I felt I needed after completing a large chapter in my professional life. What I couldn\u2019t predict was the number of clashes I would end up having with the date of that October OES concert. That concert was originally scheduled for the 10th<\/sup> and moved to the 24th<\/sup> when our soloist had a conflict. Within hours of moving that concert, I started getting other offers for that date, none of them moveable. In the end, I missed out on enough work on that day to fill a normal year, or at least it seemed that way.<\/p>\n

So- 90 + pieces in 2010? More contemporary music? I sure hope so. It\u2019s not in the calendar this time, but I\u2019m hoping that soon I can start to expect to get whole cycles of Beethoven, Brahms or Schumann done within a year. 2010 is an anniversary year for 2 of my favorite composers, Mahler and Schumann, and they\u2019ll both get some proper celebrating. There will be performances, special blog projects and even my first Mahler recording (watch this space!). \u00a0I\u2019m keen to do more of the major composers from the first half of the 20th<\/sup> C.- Bartok, Berg, Schoenberg, Stravinsky and Prokofiev among others. Fingers crossed.<\/p>\n

But of course, sometimes it is not the things that you\u2019ve spent years trying to engineer that end up being the highlight of your year. I\u2019ve never been hostile to the music of Vaughan Williams, but I have heard many performances of the symphonies that left me skeptical. I certainly wasn\u2019t agitating to do the 5<\/a>th<\/a><\/sup> Symphony<\/a>, but when Cheltenham asked me for it, I didn\u2019t put up a huge fight. I\u2019m glad I didn\u2019t- it\u2019s an astounding and very moving piece that has stuck with me ever since. Next time it will be me pushing the orchestra for a RVW symphony.<\/p>\n