WALLS - Review Quo Vadis

Review: Quo vadis?
The Symphony and its Instrument

Reviewed Work(s): The Cambridge Companion to the Symphony by Julian Horton; The
Orchestra: A Very Short Introduction by D. Kern Holoman
Review by: PETER WALLS
Source: Journal of the Royal Musical Association, Vol. 140, No. 1 (2015), pp. 213-223
Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of the Royal Musical Association
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Journal of the Royal Musical Association, 2015 lì Routledge
Vol. 140, No. 1, 213-223, http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02690403.2015.1008868 i*«
Review Articles
Quo vadis? The Symphony and its Instrument
PETER WALLS
The Cambridge Companion to the Symphony , edited by Julian Horton. Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2013. xiv + 432 pp. ISBN 978-0-521-88498-3 (hardback); ISBN 978-0-
521-71195-1 (paperback).
D. Kern Holoman, The Orchestra: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University
Press, 2012. 158 pp. ISBN 978-0-19-976028-2.
The Cambridge Companion to the Symphony (CCS) views its subject as having a beginning,
a middle and, quite possibly, an end. Anxieties about the future of the symphony appear on the
first page - initially as a historical topic. D. Kern Holoman, near the end of his vigorously written
The Orchestra: A Very Short Introduction (OVSI), quotes Ernest Fleischmann's declaration back
in 1987 that 'the orchestra is dead' before noting Alex Ross's more recent wry comment that
'music is always dying'.1 Holoman himself protests that 'proclamations of the death of culture,
meanwhile, are not only tedious but also boring: "The Day the Music [the Movies, Democracy]
Died", the vocabulary of morbidity and necromancy, amounts to fecklessness' (OVSI, 129). It is
perhaps reassuring to realize (from both books) that successive generations have reported on or
predicted the symphony's demise (just as the observation that audiences are ageing has been
being made since at least the early twentieth century). Although offstage for much of CCS , the
spectre of total collapse as a consequence of the apparent unsustainability of professional
orchestras in twenty-first-century economies hovers over the final chapter by Alan Street, 'The
Symphony, the Modern Orchestra and the Performing Canon' (to which I shall return).
Multi-authored companions of this kind face the challenge of achieving coherence and
coverage. (Holoman faces a challenge of a different kind: achieving brevity without over-
simplification - but more of that later.) With a companion to the symphony there are questions
of definition that create contingent issues of scope. While there is clarity about the formal
characteristics of a symphony from the closing years of the eighteenth century and the early
Email: peter. walls@vuw. ac. nz

1 Ernest Fleischmann, 'The Orchestra is Dead: Long Live the Community of Musicians' , address given
at the commencement exercises of the Cleveland Institute of Music, 16 May 1987, cited in OVSI ,
137. Alex Ross, 'Listen to This', New Yorker , 16 February 2004, repr. in Ross, 'Crossing the Border
from Classical to Pop', Listen to This (New York, 2010), 3-21 (p. 5).
© 2015 The Royal Musical Association
214 PETER WALLS
years of the nin

everywhere else.
notes that 'most
Turnage and Thom
large-scale orches
the essays in CCS
absolute, sympho
inclusiveness vs r
conversation betw
the introduction).
this exchange ever
One might expec
period in which t
even orchestral, w
acknowledged in
contemporaries. M
and its numerous
Irving ('The Vie
Repertories', whe
Symphonists'). Sp
C. P. E. Bach, Jo
genre's developm
Holzbauer and W
underlying preocc
of its being Austr
What - apart from
viewed as legitima
a public genre (b
that has prestige
manufacture of cu
some trace of a r
That relationship
form or in a who
established in the
reminds us, in t
Classical Orchestr
dealsinterestingl
tion rescoring om
limitations of eig
movement of Be
Mozart' begins w
nineteenth-cent
comparison of fe
(K.297 in Mozart
some fairly celebr
Classical symphon
REVIEW ARTICLES 2 1 5
editor, Julian Horton,

The second of these o
tonic polarity that det
The problem of defini
where the programme
crystallizes the issue
proposition alluded to h
and Berlioz in which the
Raff and Rubinstein w
the epoch-making genr
informative and interes
outside the strict conf
('"Two-Dimensional" S
After') sees the sympho
which single-movemen
that Richard Strauss'
concept in 'through t
Twentieth-century orc
The term 'symphony'
Haydn, but also to som
Strategies in the Twe
problem of dealing w
through a series of car
and Berio's Sinfonia.
possibility of delinea
description in the title
arbitrariness in privile
with the Classical para
Post-Schoenberg, post
Horton describes the g
redundancy or incom
Other contributors en
sometimes public fund
these apply to specifi
2 Carl Dahlhaus is quot

unmediated translation p
emerges 'musical thinki
Dahlhaus's 'covert prejud
for his useful conceptual
influence on English-lan
Theodor Adorno makes
closing pages. Daniel Gr
twentieth-century symp
emerges as the master of
brilliant or eccentric agen
216 PETER WALLS
describes the sh
symptomatic of
loyalty to the sy
factors, too, hav
identity (a subjec
As noted above,
symphony's dep
their material. Cla
argument, it is a
for more intima
Ohren' ('This w
Symphony in D m
explain aspects o
hardly have been
welches ich Euer
Empfindung' ('It
comes; it is rath
The Nineteenth
Beethoven's sym
nineteenth centu
writing, the sym
was inevitably re
Adorno' s Elim
Theory' against t
this regard.5 As H
in which this de
turning it instea
iPod, on which
individual listene
in public situatio
symphonic musi
doesn't embark o
Adhering to the
concert hall, Irv
London symphon
same could be sai
words, rather th
simulacra of the
3 H. C. Robbins L
4 Letter dated 20 J
Haydn: Gesammelt
1965), 240. English
(London, 1976-8),
5 Theodor W. Ad
Richard Leppert,
REVIEW ARTICLES 217
history of the genre

that were the key to
The public nature of
characteristic that is
notes that 4 the sym
systems from which
confers technical legi
is clearly the other
embarking premature
the symphony is an i
Horton observes that i
the construction of
Czech lands and th
Britain we have alre
also surveys the Bri
Noting that the 1950
Frogley lists ten com
None has established
hardly warranted in
Arnold and his trite
figures - Elgar, Va
contrasting his inte
symphonism - especia
(CCS, 121).
The American symph
Orchestras is selected
passing references, B
his 1933 First Symp
4great symphony fr
six symphonies (or
were respectively orc
the aesthetic and tec
godfather to avant-g
but he dismisses Ives
to match his calls fo
know-how' (CCS, 103
his credit) gets a pas
Russian w symphonic
accorded the central
Pauline Fairclough's
6 Christopher Rouse g
StilTs 'Afro-America
contributions to the g
programmes for 1920
season is noted by Alan
218 PETER WALLS
in Early Soviet Ru
Soviet revision o
composition in
recognized as ma
anywhere in the
Shostakovich's Fifth and Seventh at some level in their consciousness.' This echoes the
Beethoven effect on nineteenth-century composers, which is thoroughly traversed in the
volume. Yet, apart from numerous passing references, there is no strong focus on
Shostakovich (surely the most significant composer of symphonies in the twentieth century).
Not a single music example is drawn from one of his works. Yet in Shostakovich we see both
motivation and achievement in relation to the traditional ('anachronistic') symphony. Such
are the accidental gaps that can so easily open up in a multi-authored volume.
Horton acknowledges this in the introduction, writing: 'Neither does it advance a
comprehensive or unified appraisal: the volume's coverage is wide, but lacunae inevitably
occur' (CCS, 10). Fair enough. But those lacunae are nevertheless revealing. For all that any
attempt at comprehensiveness is denied, some contributors evidently felt that their assigned
topics demanded something of an overview. Thus Irving' s account of the early Viennese
symphony includes the names of a dozen or more Kleinmeister, while Morrow provides a
table of composers who were part of an Austro-German diaspora. Brodbeck' s 'The
Symphony after Beethoven' has figures like Kalliwoda, Lachner, Gade, Rietz, Volkmann,
Raff and Dietrich. 'The Symphony since Mahler' throws up the names of Silvestrov,
Kancheli, Rihm and Bristow - and so it goes on.
Why quibble about inclusions and non-inclusions in such a study? Because they tell us
something about the relationship between apparent musical significance and, for want of a
better term, political influence. Putting aside the minor imbalance caused by British bias in a
British publication, it is apparent that what gets included in quasi-comprehensive studies
such as CCS is directly related to non-musical weight. As a New Zealander, I am used to my
compatriots not making the cut. Douglas Lilburn's Third Symphony might have warranted a
mention in Vande Moortele's chapter on two-dimensional forms but, for all its inherent
interest, it remains relatively unknown. Ross (not Roy) Harris has thus far composed five
symphonies which arguably have as much intrinsic merit as those of Robert Simpson that are
so generously treated in CCS. I write this not out of any grudge, but as illustration of the fact
that the symphony's public aspect (a function, in part at least, of its unwieldy practical
requirements) also complicates its dissemination beyond national boundaries. (Barriers to
distribution exist in other genres, too; but they are magnified in the case of the symphony.)
Unsurprisingly, few of the supporting cast make it into Street's chapter. Building on earlier
discussions of the canon, Street presents a pessimistic view in which orchestras struggle to
remain solvent by trying to ensure that they maintain market share of 'retirement-age
entertainment consumption'. He reduces Virgil Thomson's notorious '50 pieces' (unmen-
tioned here) to 'the clichéd competition tie-breaker formula of fifteen words or fewer,
namely: Beethoven, Berlioz, Bruckner, Dvorak, Haydn, Mahler, Mendelssohn, Mozart,
Rachmaninov, Schubert, Schumann, Shostakovich, Sibelius and Tchaikovsky' (CCS, 398).
Street undertakes an analysis of repertoire trends between 2010 and 2013 by examining the
programmes of seven orchestras in seven countries. His conclusions are interesting, but the
rationale for his selections is not at all clear (Egypt as one of the countries, the Orchestra of
the Age of Enlightenment as the sole representative of the United Kingdom).
REVIEW ARTICLES 2 1 9
Political objectives migh

to see them languish
'Leningrad' Symphony
Symphony both after
anniversary of 9/11. (
Concerts' provides anot
ideology.7)
Although Street is alert to the ways in which artistic vision in symphony orchestras'
programming is compromised by non-musical factors, the capacity for financial and political
considerations or even competing critical perspectives to distort the symphonic repertoire
(Kerman defined repertoire as 'a program of action', as Street reminds us on p. 399) is still
understated.8 The essential public dimension of the symphony and the inertia created by the
sheer scale (and cost) of a professional symphonic establishment mean that the impact of
policies forged well away from the concert hall is especially obvious. This is, of course,
particularly the case in countries where the arts are primarily dependent on public (rather
than private philanthropic) funding.
One could construct a narrative along the following lines. By and large, symphonic
programmers strive for coherence, originality and the kind of broad appeal that will ensure
financial viability for the orchestra (or concert promoter). They will see this as balancing
respect for the canon with an openness to innovation. Critics (music journalists) have
different priorities. The personae that they construct for themselves in their writing lead them
to privilege adventure over tradition. Works that mainstream audiences cherish as
'masterpieces' are dismissed as 'warhorses' or 'potboilers'. (Find me the critic who will
praise an orchestra for consistently programming Beethoven. Yet how many regular
symphonic audience members have had the chance to hear, say, more than 20 live
performances of the 'Eroica'?) There is also enormous pressure to be seen to be encouraging
new composition - particularly from national composers. These critical imperatives are
fuelled by some familiar articles of faith: that reaching out to younger audiences (who
supposedly favour challenge over comfort) must be a priority, that the imbalance between
music by living and dead (especially dead white male) composers needs to be redressed, and
that publicly funded musical institutions should be doing their bit for developing national
identity. These values are embraced by policy analysts (many of whom make choices other
than symphonic concerts for their personal discretionary activities and spending). Funding is
delivered accordingly. New works (predominantly) by the orchestra's own nationals become
a programming priority, nearly exhausting the paying audience's capacity for contemporary
music (and thus crowding out newish international composition that might have some
chance of attaining canonic status). Street quotes Stravinsky's ridicule of 'buying up surplus
symphonies as the Government buys up surplus corn' (CCS, 407).
But then, there are other structural problems that inhibit an orchestra's capacity for
innovation (or for realizing Boulez' s vision of the symphony orchestra as 'an ensemble of
possibilities'). Works that demand resources beyond the salaried establishment present
enormous financial challenges for symphonic managements who need to utilize a great deal
7 These programmes are available on DVD: Leonard Bernstein s Young People's Concerts with the New
York Philharmonic , Kultur D 1503 (1993).
8 Joseph Kerman, 'A Few Canonic Variations', Critical Inquiry, 10 (1983), 107-25 (p. 107).
220 PETER WALLS
of ingenuity to
acknowledging th
or salary-related
limits performan
payments that n
centenary in 201
available to perfo
Street notes that
transmission'. On
European tour in
can be. The proce
tour was manage
who sold individ
various cities. Th
audience - expre
NZSO. During th
four (that had in
Fifth and the Ber
music by New Z
promoters chose
recent (and less
something that w
Ross Flarris to wr
of one of the cit
played either as
'Vienna (Mahler
musically superb
have one of these
complications - s
and that they be
was acknowledged
conservative than
In claiming that
challenging sym
rule. The BBC Pr
Orchestra marke
Rest is Noise' - th
not new music (n
than most orche
quality full-size
resident populat
experience somet
establish a point
outside London i
Holoman' s O VSI
kind of non-musi
REVIEW ARTICLES 221
CCS. Holoman' s littl

general reader, but em
part of OUP's Very Sh
cursory coverage of
contentious issues are
apology. Occasionally
historically informed
harpsichordists Trev
over extreme differen
reads most like an ab
places in inverted com
criteria for the inclu
'Venue', 'Money', 'Re
(cultural diplomacy).
an issue.
Some of the territory traversed by Holoman has already been visited by writers like
Norman Lebrecht (cited in OVSI ) and even Blair Tindall, in her semi-autobiography Mozart
in the Jungle: Sex, Drugs and Classical Music (London, 2005). Both of these writers revel in
exposing supposedly unsavoury aspects of industry practice. One of the exciting things about
Holoman's intervention is that OVSI becomes a study of the way in which the profile of
symphonic repertoire is conditioned by more than unalloyed artistic judgment. Holoman
mentions, for example, the role of Philip Morris cigarette commercials in popularizing
Grofé's Grand Canyon Suite in the USA (OVSI, 17). 10
The subheadings in Chapter 2 ('Musicians') - 'Democracy', 'Gender and Race', 'Union
Labor' and 'Contracts' - give some indication of the way in which Holoman is interested in
the impact of infrastructural concerns on artistic product. The gender and race section begins
with the unsurprising statement: 'European white male musicians dominated the profession
until toward the end of the twentieth century.' One aspect of the current situation not noted
here is that, while something approaching parity has, in many orchestras, now been reached
in overall gender balance (reactionary institutions like the Vienna Philharmonic notwith-
standing), there appear to be some pre-hiring factors determining balances within sections
which flow on into overall numbers. The male membership of the New York Philharmonic
(which in 1958 had a man even in the principal harp chair) has now reduced to
approximately 60%. Women now often outnumber men in violin sections, but they are
absent from the lower brass and percussion. A similar picture emerges from snapshots of
other orchestras (see Table l).11 Assuming that behind-screens auditions ensure at least some
9 J. Peter Burkholder, 'The Twentieth Century and the Orchestra as Museum', The Orchestra: Origins
and Transformations , ed. Joan Peyser (New York, 1986), 400-33 (p. 414).
10 For the TV commercials, see <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlALtcA069M> (accessed 19
September 2014).
11 The numbers in the table are - with the exception of the NZSO - based on membership lists
published on the orchestras' websites sampled in mid-2013. Needless to say, the table cannot
account for vacancies (two in the first violin section of the NZSO, for example, when I took my
biopsy).
222 PETER WALLS
TABLE 1
GENDER BALANCE IN TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY ORCHESTRAS
London New Zealand

Vienna Berlin Symphony Symphony New York
Philharmonic Philharmonic Orchestra Orchestra Philharmonic
Men Women Men Women Men Women Men Women Men Women
1st vins 21 3 17 3 12 7 4 10 j16 f2()

2nd vins 16 3 15 3 95 77 II
vlas 14 2 13 2 7 5 7 4 5 6
cellos 12 1 112 47 55 66
basses 12 0 10 0 70 70 81
flutes 50 31 22 03 13
oboes 60 50 01 30 31
clarinets 60 50 40 21 22
bassoons 60 41 12 20 22
horns 9 0 6 1 2 1 4 1 4 1
trumpets 60 50 30 31 40
trombones 30 50 30 20 30
tuba 2 0 10 10 10 10
timpani 20 20 20 10 10
percussion 70 40 30 30 30
harP (o II Í2 (o IIII
keyboard (l 1II(l 1
l (ol IIII
(l 03jlII
TOTAL 127 11 106 18 62 31 51 33 62 43
% men 92% 85% 67% 61% 59%
degree of equal opportunity at the poin

that male and female learning preferen
Holoman writes of the institution b
strength aggregation of today's philhar
players on stage' ( OVSIy 18) and q
American Symphony Orchestra Leag
100-piece orchestra?' What is missing
today's minimum (standardized) configu
strings, additional percussionists and,
110 or more. With a full-size symp
numbers relates primarily to backup ca
has been conceived for, essentially, a
instrument concept is obliquely ackno
on repertoire, which he says 'necessar
orchestra itself is defined by their wor
12 I discussed the concept of a standar

Orchestration in the 21st Century', Jour
REVIEW ARTICLES 223
Balancing the Englis

American perspective
Founding' that lists t
(none of them from
one from Japan, pl
Orchestra. This is no
is reflected in mor
foundation - the city
orchestras founded by
summary table, Holo
broadcasting compan
These two volumes w
Holoman is addressin
account of a context t
studies. The Cambrid
uneven use of music
addition to the literat

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Review: Quo vadis?

The Symphony and its Instrument

Quo vadis? The Symphony and its Instrument

Email: peter. walls@vuw. ac. nz

© 2015 The Royal Musical Association

years of the nin

editor, Julian Horton,

2 Carl Dahlhaus is quot

history of the genre

Political objectives migh

CCS. Holoman' s littl

London New Zealand

1st vins 21 3 17 3 12 7 4 10 j16 f2()

degree of equal opportunity at the poin

12 I discussed the concept of a standar

Balancing the Englis

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