Into the Storm

The concert by the NZ Symphony Orchestra last Saturday was one of the few concerts this year I could go to. Most of the other concerts are on Friday nights and I don't go out on Friday nights. It was thrilling to hear this large orchestra play at full blast. The programme appealed, Britten and Sibelius, music not heard that often. I don't recall ever hearing the Britten Violin Concerto. It was an excellent concert, much praised in today's review in the DominionPost. But I was dismayed by the many empty seats. It is a great privilege to have a symphony orchestra of such standard in a small city like Wellington, and we need to treasure this. It would be sad to see the audience gradually dwindle and provide reason to the Philistines to do away with such a cultural icon. But I have to question the programming and the promotion. The concert was promoted as Into the Storm. To me this sounds like a meaningless term, dreamed up by some advertising guru with no appreciation and little understanding of music. If I go to a concert I go because I want music that would challenge me, broaden my cultural horizon, not because a picturesque advertising label caught my fancy.. I want to gain an understanding of what music is all about. These disparate works may or may not have had anything to do with Storm. There may be some rationale in throwing them together into a programme of music of the first half of the Twentieth Century, although this rationale is not obvious to me. Some years ago we used to have two series of subscription concerts in Wellington: one of popular mainstream classics which are essential repertoire for anyone who is new to classical music, the other of challenging, less familiar works for those who want to explore new vistas and broaden their appreciation of music. The popular series was always virtually sold out, the less familiar series was well supported and only sold out if some celebrated soloist or conductor was on the stage. We have regressed since those days. We are pandering to PR experts and advertising specialists who think that we can only reach a broader audience by dumbing down our offerings and sticking catchy labels on them. It is instructive to look at the website of Michael Tilson Thomas and the San Francisco Symphony Orchestra for tips on programme building and ways of adding value to the concert experience.