Programming

The concert in Dulwich came and went. Again, I've been caught out by videos - the event was filmed, but by a kindly audience member, as we still don't have our own video camera [ anyone want to buy us one? :) ] , so I don't have the video yet (it will be sent to me), hence why it isn't yet on-site as promised. Next time I won't be setting a deadline. Thank you to everyone who came though - that was a fun concert!

Afterwards, I was talking to several people about programming. Obviously, apart from the Beethoven and MacMillan works, that concert was very much a crowd-pleasing programme - the Butterworth was about as heavyweight as it got. But that was deliberate, and it worked well. The real question that arises, as I see it, is this: I'm sure there's a shift taking place away from formal sonata-sonata-interval-sonata style programmes (same with quartets and chamber music recitals). But what is taking its place? Certainly for the Hesse Ensemble next season I am going to try out having 3 or 4 thematic-based programmes (like the one we took to the Edinburgh Fringe), plus a kind of 'a la carte' selection of repertoire for more traditional music club kind of audiences that want to stick with that more traditional formal structure. Then of course, there's also a lighter type of 'showpiece' programme, of the sort that was mounted in Dulwich on 3rd May.

Obviously you can't expect a lay audience (don't be offended, as I'm talking purely about stylistic awareness here, not intellectual knowledge) to react the same as an educated Wigmore Hall audience. But should performers be presenting totally different programmes to those two audiences? I don't know the answer to this.

What I do know is that audiences react best when they receive what they want. So really, when programming, I'm just going to keep trying to ask 'what would this audience want'? I know what I want from a concert, and that of course is entertainment (plus that all-too-rare elusive and indescribable moment of uplifting that a great performer occasionally provides). But in the instance where an audience is not 100% familiar with the works being presented and their style, isn't it still the performer's duty to aspire to emotional uplift despite the gap in mutual understanding and knowledge? I think that's where it helps to have a real structural definition to a concert programme; it gives the audience something to hold on to - a basic and very accessible framework from which to start listening - even if they don't have a thorough understanding of the work. Also, this makes it easier to introduce theatricality in performance. And theatricality, used subtly, can be a very powerful enhancer indeed.

I suppose though that you could argue in reverse that classical music needs a certain level of understanding (e.g. you wouldn't necessarily go to an opera without knowing the story in advance). But at the same time look at the kind of music Classic fm churns out day in day out. And the popularity of polyphonic ringtones. Nobody complains about the 1812 overture being too accessible.