Mancunian Way. Photo: Andrew Brooks
This Friday the BBC Philharmonic will give a second airing to four works first premiered in 2010. Here composer David Matthews voices his concern that subsequent performances of new works are all too rare
As a composer who is fortunate enough to receive regular commissions, I get many first performances. If the piece is for a solo instrument, or a chamber work, then other performances may soon follow, though by no means inevitably.
If it is an orchestral piece, a subsequent performance is far less likely, for our present-day musical culture is geared to premieres. The orchestras and the many music festivals understandably want premieres, and there are plenty of composers to commission. In many ways this is good, but what is puzzling and problematic is the lack of a concept of establishing a contemporary repertoire, particularly in relation to orchestral music. It is as if we are only concerned with the momentary experience, and once that is over, we move on to the next one. How different it was in the past, when Elgar’s First Symphony and Vaughan Williams’s Sixth both received over 100 performances in the first year of their life. These of course are works of great stature, but even if a piece of this quality were written today it is inconceivable that so many performances would be given.
But the picture isn't entirely negative. For chamber music, there is the Royal Philharmonic Society’s recently established Encore Scheme, which in 2012 chose my Third String Quartet (not played in public since 1994) and commissioned a film from Barrie Gavin about its rehearsal and performance at the Presteigne Festival. Last month I was delighted when the BBC Philharmonic gave a repeat of my 2013 Proms commission for them, A Vision of the Sea, in a studio concert at MediaCityUK in Salford. Juanjo Mena conducted a superb performance, whose excellence owed much to the players having learned the piece for the Proms premiere two months earlier.
HK Gruber
These are valuable projects, yet the absence of a contemporary orchestral repertoire remains a serious problem. I often hear from audiences that they would like to hear second performances so they can understand and better appreciate contemporary works. And how will future composers carry on a tradition if there is nothing to build on? Of course there are CDs, by which our music can be preserved and made available to listeners. But there is no substitute for the live performance, and without repeated performances the symphony orchestra will become a museum.
HK Gruber will conduct the BBC Philharmonic at The Bridgewater Hall this Friday, 18 October at 7.30pm. Tickets from 0844 907 9000 www.bridgewater-hall.co.uk. The concert will be recorded by BBC Radio 3.
