My Program:
Richard Strauss- Thus Spoke Zarathustra, Op. 30 (35:00)
Prelude
Von den Hinterweltlern
Von der grossen Sehnsucht
Von den Freuden und Leidenschaften
Das Grablied
Von der Wissenschaft
Der Genesende
Das Tanzlied – Das Nachtlied
Das Nachtwanderlied
Pause
John Williams- Superman (56:00)
The Planet Krypton
The Destruction of Krypton
Star Ship Escapes
The Trip to Earth
The Fortress of Solitude
Main Title March (alternate version)
The March of the Villains
The Flying Sequence
Super Dam and Finding Lois
Turning Back the World
Finale and End Title March (film version)
The case for my program:
Nietzsche took the ancient Persian myth of Zoroaster, and refashioned it to tell the story of Zarathustra.
Nietzsche’s uber-man, with the eternal feminine venturing forth, was the basis for Strauss’ tone poem. Here God is dead, and man is in the middle of the journey from animal to God.
The American retelling of this story of “the being that dances over gravity”, John Williams’ Superman.
+48: 
+9: 
+4: 
+3: 
+2: 
0: 
-1: 
At the risk of sounding like a sore loser and a jerk, and I mean no offense to Mr. Aschon, I think this program is not representative of what Spring for Music stands for.
Spring for Music is about promoting adventurous programming. To me, this is about dusting off forgotten music, forgotten composers, or fresh new music that hasn’t had the exposure it deserves. While I find the Zoroastian theme an interesting and adventurous one, I think there could have been some more colorful selections than the ones chosen here. Why not the “Zoroastrian Riddles” Concerto for Orchestra by Richard Danielpour? Combine that with the Metropolis Symphony (based on the Superman comic) by Michael Daugherty and you have an excellent program fitting the original theme, and shining some light on some newer music that hasn’t had much exposure.
This contest was a great opportunity to showcase something along these lines – giving a national audience access to something new and unexpected that they likely haven’t heard before. Instead, we’re getting two works that have already been played hundreds, if not thousands of times that everybody can already whistle the theme to. An opportunity wasted.
If this is what “the people” wanted to hear, then I question why they are interested in Spring for Music in the first place – it sounds like they’re just as well off going to the next Pops concert at their local music hall.
Enjoy your broadcast.
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I find the fact that this program “Eternal Stories’ got more total votes (338) than the next 9 programs combined very telling. This idea of what music is ‘appropriate’ material for the orchestra must be a hot button issue. Many people voted against Eternal Stories while more voted for it, thus creating a stir.
I’m glad it won, in part, because it WAS the most controversial and the most daring. AND IT IS NEW! You do not see any orchestras, pops or ‘serious’, that would have done this programming. The pops groups aren’t allowed to play the Strauss, and the philharmonics wouldn’t dare to consider Williams’ score (which is more than worthy.) That is exactly what this contest should be about: fInding new ideas of what programming could be.
Getting too clever with programming can be a trap; there is the thought that the more arcane the musical selection is, the higher the programming worth. I don’t agree. It should be about the music; how it connects with the audience, and the sum of the experience. Bringing back a musical trinket that was forgettable or mediocre just because its title connects it with an intellectual programming conceit doesn’t necessarily mean that it is better programming or that the audience will respond.
Bravo, Mr. Sachon, for creating the program that challenges us as music elite and music neophyte on the same evening. I think the elitists in the audience will find the evening revelatory.
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Hi David,
You sound to me like a passionate person, intelligently defending his opinions. However, we do disagree.
Spring for Music has a broader goal than promoting the programming of forgotten music and specific kinds of new music. Their purpose is to help persuade orchestras to move the art form forward by leading taste and advancing expectations.
Look at their mission statement:
Spring for Music provides an idealized laboratory, free of the normal marketing and financial constraints, for an orchestra to be truly creative with programs that are interesting, provocative and stimulating, and that reflect its beliefs, its standards, and vision. Spring for Music believes an orchestra’s fundamental obligation is to lead and not follow taste. As such, programming needs to advance, and not just satisfy, expectations. An artistic point of view must infuse everything an orchestra does, with programs that not only reflect but validate that point of view. Great programs have imaginative, meaningful and deliberate thought behind the selection of pieces, the sequence of pieces, the program structure, and the presentation of pieces. This does not mandate a rigid program “theme” or simply a healthy dose of contemporary music; rather it reflects a stimulating mix of pieces, styles, artists and composers that engages the listener in an absorbing adventure – a journey that seduces, thrills, and moves, and where the program’s totality becomes greater than the sum of the individual pieces.
Endeavors like Spring for Music are necessary because orchestras have ceased presenting relevant art in compelling ways. Their stubborn unwillingness to change is a large part of why symphonic music is currently irrelevant to the larger artistic culture.
The program of Struass’ Zarathustra and Williams’ Superman is not only tied together by Nietzsche’s story, it also allows John Williams’ score to be heard as serious music. To me, this was the larger point and the reason I participated in the contest. As you know, film music is not taken seriously in the culture of the symphony. That is a mistake. Film music is a uniquely American symphonic form that is not only popular and vital, but also relevant.
For example when the Museum of Modern Art, in New York City, did an exhibit of the artwork of Tim Burton it was one of the most well attended exhibits in the history of the museum. If MOMA takes film artists seriously, then perhaps we should do the same for film composers. Had someone at the New York Philharmonic been allowed to take film music seriously, they could have partnered with MOMA and programmed the music of Danny Elfman. This would have been a unique artistic event, one that would have sold well and brought a new audience to the symphony.
The term “Pops” should be retired along with the idea of the symphony having to rename itself to play film music. It is as offensive as talking down to “the people”.
This is not an attempt to make the case that the solution is to simply program more popular music. Even John Williams cannot save the symphony by himself. Rather, we must recognize that there are entire genres of symphonic music that have been ignored by the symphony. Including these in the symphony’s concerts can elevate everything the symphony presents, including Danielpour and Daugherty.
We must embrace a larger definition of the art a symphony presents. Film music, Broadway, contemporary art music, video game music, and traditional classical works all should be presented by the symphony as serious art. This is what truly challenging programming really looks like; it makes one reconsider preconceptions of art.
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