Composers Forum is a daily web log that allows invited contemporary composers to share their thoughts and ideas on any topic that interests them--from the ethereal, like how new music gets created, music history, theory, performance, other composers, alive or dead, to the mundane, like getting works played and recorded and the joys of teaching. If you're a professional composer and would like to participate, send us an e-mail.
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Beth Anderson's post is dead on. I would add that in the end, unless US orchestras and music groups embrace new music, they're doomed to extinction. Downloadable music, whether performed by groups in the US or abroad, will make new music more accessible. There's nothing like a live concert performance, but if Schoenberg's op. 16 (written in the early part of the 20th century) is still considered "modern," they're not going to routinely perform more recent music. I often see an occasional modern work included in an orchestra's season as a novelty, but the focus is still on the past. Why not mix the past with the present?
posted by David Toub
1:24 PM
