Two more publishers, Faber Music and Universal Edition, have just submitted their most performed works of the century’s first decade, and you won’t believe what they are.
UE, the benchmark label of modernism, has lost many of its big names – Boulez, Berio, Birtwistle, Stockhausen – to silence, mortality or other labels. The company is, as they say, under reconstruction. Only four names appear in its top ten below.
Its biggest performer over the decade was Arvo Pärt’s Lamentate (2002), a homage for piano and orchestra to Anish Kapoor and his sculpture ‘Marsyas’. The work has achieved 44 performances, which is highly respectable but would not get it into the top ten of other major publishers. UE needs to find some big-hitters.
Here’s the list from Vienna:
1. Pärt, Arvo (*1935): Lamentate (2002) – 44 performances
2. Haas, Georg Friedrich (*1953): tria ex uno (2001) – 40 performances
for flute, clarinet, percussion, piano, violin and violoncello
3. Pärt, Arvo (*1935): Which Was the Son of … (2000) – 32 performances
for mixed choir a cappella
4. Pärt, Arvo (*1935): Cecilia, vergine romana (2000) – 30 performances
for mixed choir and orchestra
5. Haas, Georg Friedrich (*1953): in vain (2000) – 29 performances
for 24 instruments
6. Pärt, Arvo (*1935): Symphony No. 4 ‘Los Angeles’ (2008) – 28 performances
for string orchestra, harp, timpani and percussion
7. Rihm, Wolfgang (*1952): Das Lesen der Schrift (2001) – 28 performances
for orchestra
8. Rihm, Wolfgang (*1952): Das Gehege (2004) – 28 performances
for soprano and orchestra
9. Rihm, Wolfgang (*1952): Grave (2005) – 27 performances
in memoriam Thomas Kakuska for string quartet
10. Staud, Johannes Maria (*1974): Configurations/Reflet (2002) – 27 performances
for 8 instrumentalists
Just wait until you see the numbers for Macmillan Veni Veni, just Evelyn alone has done it more times than 108!
N
NL: I’m waiting…
It was premiered in 1992 though, so doesn’t qualify!
T
Interesting to see Adams and Part at the top of the Popular Vote – two very different composers. Even if both frequently described/dismissed as minimalists. Also interesting the number of Requiems in our secular age. I’m surprised John Rutter hasn’t emerged here – how many times must Shepherds Pipe Carol get performed each year? And he’s done a Requiem too.
I think the religious element comes to mind because I’ve just finished a TV doc for the BBC on Arvo Part and Henryk Gorecki. Just anecdotally talking about it to people who asked ‘what are you working on?’, my friends (many of them without any particular interest or knowledge about classical music) would usually recognise Arvo Part’s name, but not Gorecki’s. Although he had his huge 3rd Symphony hit, I think the lack of many other pieces entering the repertoire means he’s slipped a bit below the radar. Sadly he is also unwell at the moment.
Spending time with Part’s music has really increased my admiration for it. The film is in the forthcoming Sacred Music series on BBC4 and will go out March 26.
S
NL notes: I’ll look forward to that, Simon, always had a soft spot for Henryk M G.
Well, well…Howard Goodall gets more performances than George Benjamin! Who could have guessed it (apart from every single amateur musician and Classic FM listener in the UK…)?
A CBSO performance of Veni, Veni Emmanuel in 2003 was billed as its “300th performance” (Colin Currie was the soloist) so yes, expect a high score on that count (although it was composed in 1992 so doesn’t really fall under the remit of this survey).
I’m surprised, as well, that there’s not more Rutter. Is it that the only performances being reported here are those that involve material hired out by the publishers? I get the impression that much of Rutter’s choral music (and Howard Goodall’s and Karl Jenkins’, too) is available for sale. If an amateur choir buys a choral anthology from one of these publishers, is there any way that publishers can then track performances of individual pieces in that collection? Do we really know every school hall and parish church in which the “Shepherd’s Pipe Carol” gets an annual outing?
As I’ve mentioned before, if these are hire figures, that would tend to skew the result towards professional performances. Fascinating stuff, though, and fascinating comments. Thanks NL!
RB, you’re right that publishers can only really accurately monitor works where materials are on hire. Once something is on sale, it’s a pretty haphazard business finding out about performances. You’re relying on performers letting you know, and web alerts etc for works that are on sale.
John Rutter doesn’t feature as he is published by Oxford University Press and they haven’t supplied figures thus far. To date you are looking at results from Boosey & Hawkes, Universal Edition and Faber Music only.
Hope this helps a little.
Incidentally, Howard Goodall is very much linked to the Britten tradition. He’s very well established in composing for, and working with, young performers. Aside from his work as the National Singing Ambassador, spearheading the much-lauded Sing Up! campaign.
T