Stanislaw Skrowaczewski, top, and Osmo Vanska / Star Tribune photo by David Joles What follows is mostly speculation. Let me know your thoughts. In February I was at Orchestra Hall twice, both times on a Saturday night. On February 6 I heard conductor laureate Stanislaw Skrowaczewski lead the orchestra in a new piece, his own 20-minute "Music for Winds." That program also included a Mozart violin concerto and the Symphony No. 3 of Brahms. Call it concert #1. On February 20, Osmo Vanska was back on the podium to lead a program of music of Beethoven (his "Grosse Fuge," in a string-orchestra arrangement by Michael Steinberg), Chopin (Piano Concerto No. 2, with guest pianist Garrick Ohlsson) and Mozart (Symphony No. 40). Call it concert #2. Concert #1 was far from sold out. I guess about one-third of the hall's seats were empty. Concert #2 appeared very close to sold-out. Why? Given the two programs, I believe one factor may have been audience avoidance of the new. Classical music long has struggled between presenting what it knows people love -- the reigning composers of the Baroque, Classical and Romantic eras – and work by contemporary composers, which may be perceived as difficult, sonically strange, unfamiliar or less beautiful. Here, both Concerts #1 and #2 included music of acknowledged masters (and proven ticket sellers). A key difference in the two programs was the inclusion of the Skrowaczewski work in Concert #1. Scored for wind instruments, "Music for Winds" was tough sledding, described by our critic Larry Fuchsberg as "combative, sardonic and unabashedly funereal, with scattered angry cries and wounded murmurings." Even "balanced" with Mozart and Brahms, that concert may have induced ticket buyers to "try another night."
Interestingly, Concert #2, while starring repertory mainstays, had a Beethoven composition that is far from easy or familiar. The "Grosse Fuge" was described pre-concert by violist Michael Adams as "a Hummer trapped in the body of Mini Cooper," and as "not for sissies." Still, the audience votes with its feet and its dollars, and hundreds fewer were on hand the night of the large new piece by Skrowaczewski. It's one of those things that make you go "hmmm." Thoughts?
