Richard Hihn wrote:

>I do see how some people could get the impression that the Philadelphia
>Orchestra is on the cutting edge of performance of 20th century music from
>viewing their website.  The fact remains however, that precious little
>music from post World War II (almost two-thirds of the 20th century) is on
>their roster.

That is precisely the point.  They are not claiming to be cramming the
season with *contemporary* material; in fact, there may be less music from
the last few decades than they have in a typical season (I'm not sure of
this--it is only a rough impression).  What they are doing is commemorating
their centennial year and the beginning of a new century--which happen to
coincide--by reviewing their own history.

Once again, though, this leads to a rather melancholy reflection on
audiences (not only the Philadelphia one) who are so thoroughly spooked by
the thought of having to sit through "new" music which by now is largely
almost 100 years old.

Jon Johanning // [log in to unmask]