ARTS ARRIVE IN SUBURBS, PIANIST SAYS

Time was when big-time management firms like Sol Hurok and Columbia would send promising young musicians out to the “provinces” to inure them to the rigors of touring.

But pianist John Browning, who has actively concertized for nearly 40 years and won prizes in the prestigious Leventritt and International Piano competitions, says those days are gone forever.

“It’s really the big thing that’s happening right now--the era of the Big Five (once used to designate the exalted standing of certain American orchestras) is ending,” said Browning during a telephone interview. “It really amounts to a decentralization of the arts. What’s happening at the Orange County Performing Arts Center”--where Browning joins Keith Clark and the Orange County Pacific Symphony tonight--”is going on a lot of other places, if not quite on the same scale.”

Such “musical suburban flight” is something the 53-year-old pianist says he has witnessed firsthand.

“The ‘provinces’ really don’t exist any more,” he said. “People nowadays travel a lot to hear music, and they’ve heard a lot on records and through live broadcasts. They just know good playing when they hear it. Woe be unto you if you ‘play down’ to the suburban audiences. They’ll hoot you out of the hall.”

Mirroring this development, understandably enough, has been an increasing exodus of musicians--frazzled by the expense and hassle of big-city living--to the outlying areas. The result, Browning says, is a marked improvement in what were once called “regional” or “civic” orchestras, such as the Pacific Symphony. He should know. He plays with them (and with their more celebrated “big brothers,” the major American orchestras) at least 40 weeks a year.

“It consistently heartens me, to realize what good stuff is going on in the non-urban areas. These suburban orchestras are rapidly becoming extremely fine ensembles, and they’re getting better all the time.

“This country is really taking the lead here,” he continued. “When you’re talking about middle-level orchestras--above the part-timers but just below the famous ones--we have the best in the world. I think we should be very proud. It really is just the old story, though: People are just giving to their community, and the arts environment there, rather than to some huge organization they may attend once a year.”

Some areas, he continued, have set up their own cultural landmarks and removed themselves from the big city’s cultural orbit--much like the Center is doing for Orange County.

“A lot of metropolitan areas are swearing off their allegiances to the major city and are forming orchestras all by themselves. Good ones, too. The time has arrived.”

With a burgeoning number of quality performance venues emerging, Browning said, it behooves the artist to keep a large repertoire on hand--including contemporary works that even sophisticated audiences may not have experienced.

“I’ve never been an avant-gardist--though I did premiere the (American composer Samuel) Barber concerto (in 1962)--so you have to keep your repertoire in good order,” he added. “That, to me, should be the next step--a general increase in contemporary composition that relates directly to the audience.

“What we need is a better working interaction between composers and performers; we need to tell the composers what works, or doesn’t,” he continued. “Some people have said that if you’re a younger artist, it’s dangerous to do contemporary, and if you’re an established artist, you tend to stick to the ‘classics.’ Well, that doesn’t leave anybody to play what’s being written now. But it’s got to be done. We need to enliven the museum.”