After hearing about Spring For Music's fantasy program contest, I pretty much couldn't sleep for days. The entry I came up with, Preach It!, was just one of a number of ideas I've come up with in the past few sleepless nights (Go vote for it!). Brainstorming fictional programs is my lifeblood, and I couldn't stop at just one. A typical music director conducts between ten and fifteen subscription programs each orchestral season. I have designed eleven, five of which are part of a series. Not all the works are for full orchestra; for the Schubert lieder, I wouldn't mind commissioning an arrangement from Adams, Henze, or maybe even Corigliano. Of course, a real season would probably have a lot more repertoire; no conductor could possibly learn this much difficult music. And there would be some commissions, too--I've indicated possible spots for those.
Without further ado, The Seated Ovation Hep Cats Regional Symphony Orchestra, 2011-2012:
Mythologies: A five-part series focusing on myths of antiquity (Orpheus), myths of modernity (Faust), myths of national construction (the Teutonic Nibelunglied, the Finnish Kalevala), and myths of founding fathers (Charles Ives)
My Father Knew Charles Ives
Ives, Five Songs (orchestrated by John Adams)
Carl Ruggles, Sun Treader
Ruth Crawford-Seeger, String Quartet 1931
Timothy Andres, commission
Ives, A Concord Symphony (orchestrated by Henry Brant)
Today's Faust
Lisa Bielawa, Double Violin Concerto
John Adams, Doctor Atomic Symphony
Schnittke, Faust Cantata
Orpheus
Pierre Schaeffer, Orphee 53
Stravinsky, Orpheus
Louis Andriessen, commission on Orpheus theme
Beethoven, Piano Concerto No. 4
Kalevala
Magnus Lindberg, commission on Kalevala theme
Robert Kajanus, Aino
Kajanus, Kullervo's Funeral March
Sibelius, Kullervo
Nibelunglied
Hans Werne Henze, commission on Nibelunglied theme
Helmut Lachenmann, commission on Nibelunglied theme
Wagner, Excerpts from the Ring cycle
Staging the Apocalypse: These two programs stare into the face of Armageddon and then speculate as to what might happen after.
Ending the World
Strauss, Four Last Songs
Brahms, Symphony No. 4
Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Requiem for a Young Poet
After the Deluge
Wagner, Immolation Scene from Gotterdammerung
Christopher Rouse, Der Gerettete Alberich
Elliott Carter, What's Next
Richard Strauss, Metamorphosen
----
And a couple loose ones:
Preach It! A Musical Sermon (see rationale and vote here)
Steve Reich, It’s Gonna Rain
Richard Wagner, Parsifal: Good Friday Spell
Johann Sebastian Bach, Cantata BWV 12, Weinen, Klagen, Sorgen, Sagen
John Adams, Christian Zeal and Activity
Bernd Alois Zimmermann, Ich wandte mich und sah an alles unrecht, das geschach unter der Sonne
An Awesome Program - Pretty much just that.
Schrecker, Chamber Symphony
Busoni, Piano Concerto
An Awesome Program, 2
Kaija Saariaho, Du cristal
Nico Muhly, Seeing is Believing
Faure, Requiem
Queering the Pitch In response to Greg Sandow's ridiculous claims that classical music could not support a similarly gender- and sexuality- charged program, or even a program which connects art and social history, as the recent Hide/Seek exhibit at the National Portrait Gallery; named for the seminal study of LGBT music.
Franz Schubert, Selected lieder on texts of August von Platen
Poulenc, Les Biches
Britten, Death in Venice Suite
Karl Szymanowski, King Roger
No comments:
Post a Comment