Looking forward to new music

I was at a con­cert of new music recently, and in the time before the start of the pro­gram I got to think­ing. I was going to be hear­ing a piece that evening by a com­poser I know from other con­certs. I thought, “Hey, I am kind of look­ing for­ward to hear­ing this new piece!”

So here’s what I was think­ing: did peo­ple feel this way back in Beethoven’s day? Did they say, “Hey wow, it’s the newest piece by Beethoven!” It’s sad to think we won’t be hear­ing the lat­est and great­est new piece by our favorite com­posers of yes­ter­year. Today, instead, pop­u­lar music has that atten­tion. (Not that this is a bad thing!) Audi­ences nowa­days look for­ward to the new Radio­head or U2 album, perhaps.

What about clas­si­cal music? What com­posers make you antic­i­pate their next piece? Do audi­ences look for­ward to hear­ing your next piece? Why or why not? How can we get audi­ences to crave the lat­est and great­est new con­cert music?

About Richard D. Russell

This was written by Richard D. Russell, New York City based composer of fine music.