The neglected: how to get them respected

[Mark Thomas]

Yes, I must admit that Christopher's book is expensive. Could Minneapolis arrange an inter-library loan with a British library which stocks it, perhaps?

[Alan Howe]

I've certainly ordered in a book from the US in the past. Mind you, I had to read it in my local library.

[eschiss1]

I know that our local (county) library system won't do out-of-country interlibrary loans, but probably depends on specifics

[dwshadle]

There are fees associated with interlibrary loan that university libraries will absorb for university-affiliated people. Public libraries, on the other hand, will often refuse a loan over a certain dollar amount rather than passing the fee to a patron. It stinks, but sometimes the fees are shockingly high.

[eschiss1]

Well, there are quite a few rules on what loans our system will and won't try to fulfill (and what it is more likely to succeed in... etc.) though I'm guessing the fees are related to replacement costs (and high original costs in many cases) and - anyway.

To get works respected is difficult; withholding poorer performances would help (I just listened to Botstein's superior, well characterized, performance of Robert Fuchs' 3rd symphony this past weekend; I enjoy the Mussbauer-conducted performance on Thorofon, always have, but now I understand all the gripes/complaints/what-have-you that I've read about the performance- and often enough the work itself (for who distinguishes the work from its representation?) - in several places) -to get them -performed- is somewhat easier, relatively. More and more there are conductors looking for things to play, and libraries (FLP is one example I keep mentioning and which is increasingly, thankfully, known) which are devoted to having not just piano reductions but full scores/parts available, in playable condition as often as possible (... I hope.) These -don't- ILL, not to your usual individual... (the Fleisher collection doesn't, though their main Music library does to some extent even to my county public library; I've borrowed some good things from Free Library of Philadelphia's music department library, including the full score of Karl Ignaz Weigl's first (E major, Breitkopf-pub.) symphony...) but to orchestras, I think, something like.

[Pyramus]

This is quite an old thread and I've skim-read through it. I wanted to mention the role of amateur orchestras, of which there are many in the UK, in performing works by little-known composers. These orchestras are often of good quality and are only briefly mentioned in the posts above. I've experienced works by unsung composers played by several orchestras, either as a performer (timpani) or audience member.

Before I moved south I spent 17 years in a very good amateur orchestra in West Yorkshire. Early on in my stay there, we played Charles Ives 2nd symphony and much more recently symphonies by Amy Beach and Kalinnikov (no. 1) were featured. The programmes also included well-known works and there was no obvious fall-off in audience numbers. I was treasurer and member of the programme committee for most of this time so had some influence on programme planning. I remember that, in a few cases, difficulty in getting hold of parts, or the hire cost, was a factor in our decision making.

Other orchestras with which I was familiar played Berwald and Bruch symphonies (no. 3 in each case), the Dukas symphony, Bruch's concerto for clarinet and viola and Reger's Variations and Fugue on a Theme by Mozart. (These examples are all from the last 20 years).

Of course amateur orchestras have lower costs than their professional counterparts (although many supplement their regular members with paid "extras") and, as has been mentioned above, friends and family of the players often add to the audience numbers and may be willing to sell tickets - so they  can afford to be less risk-averse with their programming.

Most of the concerts by the above orchestras featured works by more familiar, if not well-known, composers and there were the usual concerts of film music, Christmas and "family" concerts, as well as small groups of players fund-raising in a supermarket or garden centre!

I sometimes listen to Classic FM on the car radio and some years ago tuned in to an intriguing but unfamiliar piece which turned out to be a movement from the Dukas symphony. I believe they do requests from listeners so perhaps there is an opportunity here (although I'm not a fan of the Classic FM format). Regular listeners might get to hear something by chance which would not be their preferred choice.

[Lebeaux]

I've recently started to write about unsung composers, as well as link to their YouTube music, on reddit's r/composers subreddit. My latest entry was about Friedrich Theodor Fröhlich (1803-1836) who'd committed suicide.

It's nice to have people write back and say thanks for enlightening them. It's also gratifying to see that unsungs are not being neglected as their music is released on labels such as cpo and other small ones.

Yeah. It's a good time to be alive.