Karl Miller <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>John Dalmas wrote:
>
>>The year 1899 saw the completion of three works still in the standard
>>repertoire:
>>
>>Sibelius: Symphony No. 1
>>Schoenberg: Verklarte Nacht (string sextet version)
>>Elgar: Enigma Variations
>
>With the exception of the Sibelius, I haven't heard the other works in
>concert in many years.  It seems to me that we are moving away from the
>very notion of a standard.

How interesting -- here in Paris, it is not common at all to hear Sibelius'
Symphony No.1 (unfortunately), but Schoenberg's Verklaerte Nacht is not a
rarity.  It was performed two or three months ago, for instance.  Elgar
is undersetimated here, but his Enigma Variations most probably can be
regarded as a "standard" in England...

Finding which were the standard (or at least repertoire works) in other
countries can be very illuminating anyway, although it may not necessarily
lead to the most interesting works.

Thanh-Tam Le
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