Steven Schwartz wrote:

>I'd like to propose a thread.  Suppose you were in charge of programming
>for a major orchestra and it was a composer's commerative year.  What
>composers would lend themselves to a concert of just their works, give a
>sample program, and explain why you've included the composer and the works.
>
>Perhaps you could also figure out who wouldn't fit the bill and why.  Try
>not to include composers you dislike, since you'd not likely  program them
>in any case, but composers you do.

Ok...an example of an upcoming birthday...Copland.

The New York Phil is trying to cover much of his work next season.  However
if I could program but one concert...

This thought came to mind on Friday as I was lecturing on Copland's
Connotations.  I had often wondered about that piece and why it reminded me
so much of his orchestral version of the Piano Variations.  There are many
similarities, the overall declamatory nature of both works for one, and the
fact that both are variations; Connotations being something of a chaconne.

The variations are to my ears, the first work in which Copland was able
to bring together many aspects of his expression, jazz, Stravinsky, etc.
It was also a work which Bernstein loved even before he knew Copland.

I believe that later on in his life Copland may have wondered about his
relevance as a composer, with so many of the younger generation gravitating
towards the 12 tone technique.  When it came time to write a work that
would have a large audience (the opening of Lincoln Center) and to write
a work for his friend Bernstein, it seemed logical to reinvent himself as
a modernist by using the gestures of a piece Bernstein had loved so much
(which we can now finally hear in a Bernstein performance of the orchestral
version...thanks to the new set from the New York Phil) and updating it
with Copland's personal vision of the 12 tone techique.  No doubt the
Variations had been on his mind as he had only orchestrated them a few
years before writing Connotations.

Those two works on the same program would, for me, provide a fascinating
contrast.  Within the frame of those two works, I would include one from
his Americana style, the suite and choruses from the Tender Land to as a
demonstration of his ability to write joyous music.  I would also like the
concert to include his Statements, which shows both sides of his nature.

Since one needs to end a concert on an upbeat, end with the Tender Land.
Open with the Orchestra Variations (to wake the audience up), followed by
the Statements.

Intermission, a few drinks and then hit them with Connotations, closing
with the Suite with choruses from the Tender Land.  My guess is that most
of the society types, not looking for some challenging listening, would
leave early, if not at intermission, certainly after Connotations.

As to your opening thought...why do you see it problematic to have an all
Webern, or Schoenberg concert? We certainly have plenty of all Tchaikovsky,
all Mozart, all Beethoven concerts.

So, anyone up for an all Piston concert?

Thinking more about this, being interested in the history of orchestras
I have read a fair amount of program listings over the years.  There were
days when the Chicago Symphony would do an all Sowerby program, when the
New York Phil did an all Stravinsky program...come to think of it, I have
a tape of a Standard Hour Broadcast that was an all Stravinsky concert.

Karl