Len Fehskens, commenting on Stirling Newberrys elaborate restructuring:

>I do not go to the BSO to hear music I have never heard before or do not
>yet like in an attempt to come to terms with it.  I can do that far more
>productively with CDs.  I go to the BSO to hear music I know and love in
>live performance, which is a qualitatively different experience from
>hearing it in my home.

I agree completely that live performance is "qualitatively different" from
hearing music at home, and one to be preserved and treasured.  However,
until recording companies routinely commission new works, orchestras and
their philanthropic allies will continue to have that responsibility- and
a good thing too!  For almost all music the live public performance is
still the primary authentic experience which is then REPRODUCED in the
home.  A strong counterargument is that even in as large a city as Boston
we don't get to hear most of the repertoire live in any period of several
years, be it new music or old music.  I have never heard or had the
opportunity to hear any Holmboe or Norgard live, just to name two
favorites.  Nor do I expect to unless I travel to Scandanavia -an
attractive notion in the current New England heat wave.

Bernard Chasan