sustainability in classical music

Classical music is deeply rooted in tradition, something that is both heavy weight to bear and a tether to meaningful forms of expression. In fact, musicians in this tradition bemoan even the use of the word "Classical" to describe contemporary music of the Western European branch. The problem lies not with record stores' need for simple classification but with the word itself: ironically, the word "classical" has a mangle of meanings and roots, which, much like the music, gives it a richness and ambiguity of meaning.

This post, my first serious blog post, was inspired by a discussion started by Norman Lebrecht on his blog about the viability of living composers' music to survive the next 50 years. This discussion, ironically, never would have happened during the Classical era (1750-1800). During that era, the composers were concerned with pleasing either their patron or the public and never would have imagined that their music would cast such a long shadow. In fact, I think the word "classical" is apt for this period in so many ways. First, because it conforms to a more Apollonian, formal, intellectual, anti-sensual aesthetic; second, because this is the first period that is canonized, the first to see composers' music survive them, the last in which composers create without the crushing weight of history and the seduction of posterity. A good example of the latter is Brahms who, anecdotally, avoided the symphonic form for many years due to the high standards set by Beethoven; Brahms first symphony was finally premiered when the composer was in his 40s, 49 years after the death of Beethoven.

Thus began the period of self-consciousness in music.

Peering into the future, then, I first thought about the past and started thinking more critically about what pieces get performed and why. My analysis, then, is not really about specific composers but more specific pieces. Look at any great composer whose music lives on: a composer's output is not uniform, and, while we should not throw the baby out with the bathwater, we should certainly drain the bath.

Here is what I came up with. I resorted to some recently departed composers to flesh out the categories.

Audience
Some pieces that will prove durable will be crowd-pleasers. This should be fairly obvious. In this category I submit the following:
* Adams - Harmonium
* Adès - Asyla
* Berio - Sinfonia
* Crumb -Black Angels
* Lang - Are You Experienced?
* Gorecki - Symphony No 3
* Golijov - La Pasión según San Marcos
* Reich - Music for 18 Musicians
* Part - Fratres (or just about any other piece will do)
* Whitacre - Water Night

Performers
Something that I think we forget all too often is that, ultimately, someone has to perform the music; their opinion matters. If a piece is fun or interesting to perform, if it gives the performer a platform from which to show off, or if it is simply easy or educational, then it will get more performances.
* Berio - Sequenzas
* Boulez - Piano Sonatas
* Carter - String Quartets
* Crumb - Vox Balanae
* Glass - Music in Fifths
* Gordon, Ricky Ian - songs
* Lachenmann - various
* Ligeti - Musica Ricercata, Études (for piano)
* Reich - Music for Pieces of Wood
* Riley - In C
* Rorem - songs
* Schnittke - String Quartet No. 2

Impact
These are pieces that either have an important artistic, musical, or political impact.
* Adams - Nixon in China, Dr. Atomic
* Boulez - Le Marteau sans maître
* Golijov - Dreams and Prayers of Isaac the Blind
* Reich - Different Trains
* Messiaen - Quartet for the End of Time

Star Power
The next generation of composers, including Muhly, Mason Bates, Turnage, etc , have certainly achieved a lot of fame in a short period of time. No telling how permanent their contributions will prove to be.

Academia
Finally, there is no dearth of lovers of music who choose to turn their passion into an academic career: musicology is a quickly growing field and is in the process of consuming (and including) music theory. I have always been impressed by the level of scrutiny given by certain members of this group to obscure composers and theorists from the 19th century and before; I imagine this will continue in the future to an even greater extent. And life being better documented today, it will give future generations of academicians a even more to digest. So, I think there's a good possibility that all composers who achieve any modicum of fame will be performed in the future. They may be forgotten in 50 years, but they'll be rediscovered in 100.

I realized too late that this list is incompletable. There were a lot of composers whose works I would like to choose but had difficulty finding the right category. There are, certainly, other categories that I have not yet imagined that will allow these works to live on (in a more significant way than just being fodder for academics). Feel free to proffer suggestions.