Chicago's contemporary music scene in "Time Out Chicago"

[bhodges]

An excellent article in this week's Time Out Chicago, with some great comments about contemporary music--and listening to it--by flutist Claire Chase, one of the founders of the International Contemporary Ensemble (ICE), and others.

This excerpt is very close to my own feelings about hearing new pieces: "That's the magic of live performance, and that's what for me is so unbearably exciting about doing new music, because that daredevil, cliff-hanging aspect of the experience is heightened in the performance of a brand-new work, both for the audience and for the players. It's vulnerable, visceral, utterly risky and the hugest rush."

--Bruce

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Thanks, interesting article. I used to live in Chicago and there was always a new-music scene there, but it sounds like it's thriving and growing beyond the academic ghetto where it was mostly stuck during my time (the 90s).

On the other hand, my impression is that the CSO (which played a fair amount of modern stuff during the Barenboim-Boulez days) has gotten more conventional and boring in recent years. I guess you can't have everything 

[CRCulver]

On the other hand, my impression is that the CSO (which played a fair amount of modern stuff during the Barenboim-Boulez days) has gotten more conventional and boring in recent years. I guess you can't have everything 

I remember getting a call in 2006 by a CSO employee who wanted to know why I wasn't maintaining a subscription anymore. I told him that I was unhappy with the declining appearance of new music on programmes. He incredulously responded "Wait, you want more new music, not less?". He then explained that people normally complained to him that they weren't willing to continue supporting the CSO unless only venerable old warhorses were played.

And lest this be more grist for the mill that "Contemporary music is a horrible, atonal racket and drives audiences away", the CSO fellow explained that an orchestra gets the same complaints even when they put on perfectly tonal Classical or Romantic-era works that fall outside the narrow canon that mass audiences expect.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

I remember getting a call in 2006 by a CSO employee who wanted to know why I wasn't maintaining a subscription anymore. I told him that I was unhappy with the declining appearance of new music on programmes. He incredulously responded "Wait, you want more new music, not less?". He then explained that people normally complained to him that they weren't willing to continue supporting the CSO unless only venerable old warhorses were played.

LOL. I had exactly the same experience a few years before that. It was a nice conversation though, since the guy I talked to was also a fan of contemporary music.