tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post6262740619655852816..comments2024-03-26T15:57:13.443+00:00Comments on On An Overgrown Path: People don't know what they want until you show themUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-64146138634914021032015-11-06T17:47:04.923+00:002015-11-06T17:47:04.923+00:00The neglect of Hovhaness is even stranger given th...The neglect of Hovhaness is even stranger given the contemporary fad for "completism". If a conductor/orchestra programmes Mahler, Bruckner, Beethoven, Sibelius et al then there is an implicit assumption that they will perform a complete cycle of the symphonies, regardless of whether the conductor feels a need to do so. With 67 symphonies, surely Hovhaness is a programmers' dream.<br /><br />It is a sign of the way things have changed. Klemperer was devoted to the music of Mahler but there were symphonies that he never conducted. In a similar vein, I don't think Richter was a completist - I don't think he performed all the Mozart concertos or Schubert sonatas...I don't think he ever played the complete Chopin Preludes or Liszt Transcendental Studies, but don't quote me. Both musicians only played what they wanted or needed to play and discarded music that did not speak to them. And of course Klemperer was very active in the 1920s avant-garde in Germany - very much viewed as a contemporary music conductor at that time, despite the image we have of the gnarled octogenarian playing Beethoven and Wagner.<br /><br />The current completist fad is very annoying - why is the Wigmore Hall cramming its schedules over the next 2 years with the complete songs of Schubert and chamber music of Mozart? It seems like madness to me.<br /><br />When will we ever hear Arnold, Rubbra, Bax at the BBC Proms? Can we trade yet another Mahler 5 for Arnold 5 or Hovhaness 5?Graemehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11007306140530173428noreply@blogger.com