Len Fehskens asks, of me:

>True of Boston as well.  So which orchestras is it that are playing only
>Top 40 classical?

Did I say "only?" Foolish of me.  An elementary mistake.  Please forgive
me.

I have in my hand a copy of the Louisiana Philharmonic schedule for
2000-2001.  Here's what they're playing.

Copland: Fanfare for the Common Man
Proto: My Name is Citizen Soldier
Dvorak: Symphony No. 9
Arias by Rossini, Verdi, Leoncavallo, Giordano, Puccini
Respighi: Pines of Rome
Glinka: Ruslan and Ludmilla Overture
Tchaikovsky: Serenade for Strings
Shostakovich: Symphony No. 10
Brahms: Academic Festival Overture
Menotti: Harmonica Concerto
Villa-Lobos: Harmonica Concerto
Rimsky-Korsakov: Scheherazade
Schumann: Piano Concerto
Bruckner: Symphony No. 7
Barber: Overture to the School for Scandal
Mozart: Sinfonia Concertante
Brahms: Symphony No. 1
Berlioz: Romeo et Juliette
Bizet: Symphony
Saint-Saens: Violin Concerto No. 3
Schumann: Symphony No. 1
Mahler: Symphony No. 2
Britten: 4 Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 2
Poulenc: Gloria
Copland: Quiet City
Beethoven: Piano Concerto No. 4
Rachmaninoff: Symphony No. 2
Beethoven: Fidelio Overture
Dvorak: Cello Concerto
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra
Mendelssohn: Fingal's Cave
Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1
Beethoven: Symphony No. 3
Mozart: Symphony No. 38
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme by Paganini
Beethoven: Symphony No. 8

I want to ask you:  How much of this stuff *don't* you have in your CD
collection or haven't heard many times before? For me, it's exactly two
works.  Many of these things I have in more than one performance.  How
adventurous - and I don't necessarily mean 12-tone adventurous - does this
programming seem to you? Yet, I wouldn't say this is the worst programming
I've ever seen, and that's just the trouble.

Steve Schwartz