S.D. Symphony’s Philosophy on Programming Appears to Be Nothing New

After a season of modestly adventuresome contemporary-music programming, the San Diego Symphony has decided to put the whole business on the back burner for a year.

Not only did the symphony eliminate the Pulitzer Prize Series, three specialized concerts devoted to works by recent recipients of that prestigious award in music, but the recently announced 1990-91 subscription season will present only one brief contemporary offering, John Harbison’s “Remembering Gatsby.”

“The Pulitzer Series started this year with a lot of hopes,” said Yoav Talmi, the symphony’s music director designate. “Some of them, unfortunately, were not fulfilled. The first Pulitzer concert done this season had 127 people in the audience, and it is very sad. There is no public for it.”

Each Pulitzer program was given at UC San Diego’s Mandeville Auditorium, the site of most local new-music performances. Although the second program in the series, last month’s concert of works by Roger Reynolds, drew close to a full house in the 700-seat hall, Talmi discounted the significance of the strong turnout.

“The second concert was much, much better because the composer was a resident composer from here, and the entire School of Music saw the importance of coming to that,” he said.

In truth, the symphony had dismantled the Pulitzer Series before the Mandeville ushers tore the first patron’s ticket at the Jan. 11 inaugural concert. According to Lynn Hallbacka, the symphony’s general manager, officials decided to cancel the final April 5 Pulitzer concert back in December.

“It had to be canceled because of the financial risk the orchestra cannot afford to take,” said Talmi, who also lamented that no sponsor had come along to subsidize the new-music series.

Talmi blamed the absence of contemporary music in the 10 weeks he will conduct programs next season on the demands of the orchestra’s recording projects. The closest to a recent composition Talmi has selected for next season is Samuel Barber’s 1941 Violin Concerto.

“My (original) plans were different, and I could swear to you that I had works scheduled already for something up-to-date in two different programs. What killed it for me was the recordings; they came exactly on the weeks that I had scheduled American works to do. It’s the life of compromise.”

(When American orchestras make recordings, they usually play the music to be recorded on the concerts immediately before the recording sessions to make best use of costly rehearsal time.)

Talmi promised that these contemporary pieces will surface in the 1991-92 season, including a work by Joseph Schwantner, whose San Diego Symphony commission for last fall’s Soviet Arts Festival was well-received here.

The symphony has not always treated new music so gingerly.

Bernard Rands, who was the orchestra’s composer-in-residence from 1983 to 1986, wrote two orchestral works that were premiered by the symphony under former Music Director David Atherton. Rands, who was recently appointed to the Harvard University music faculty, is the Philadelphia Orchestra’s current composer-in-residence. The British-born composer expressed unmitigated praise for the stance taken by Philadelphia Music Director Riccardo Muti.

“Let me say that no one could be more receptive to new music,” Rands said. “Of the 47 20th-Century works he has programmed in the subscription series, 17 are from the second half of the century.”

Rands, the winner of the 1984 Pulitzer Prize in music, noted that Muti does not relegate contemporary music to some special chamber orchestra series outside the subscription series.

“It’s important for him that every new piece is integrated into the regular subscription series. He is not content to play some short new piece at the beginning of a concert and then hurry on to traditional fare.”

Not only does Rands advise Muti on the selection of these works, but he will compose two pieces for the Philadelphia Orchestra, including a commission from Carnegie Hall to be performed as part of its 100th anniversary celebrations next season. Rands, who left San Diego for Boston in 1985, is one of 11 international composers awarded Carnegie commissions.

Although comparing the visionary programming of the well-heeled, aristocratic Philadelphia Orchestra to San Diego’s forthcoming season may be unfair, the local orchestra also does not measure up to comparable orchestras on the West Coast. Under the direction of Gerard Schwarz, the Seattle Symphony has cultivated an audience for new music with creative programming over the past four years.

After nurturing a wide-ranging new-music series for three consecutive years, the Seattle Symphony found the series’ subscription base shrinking. Instead of scrapping the series, a more favorable venue was located downtown, and Schwarz changed the focus to 20th-Century American music.

“Schwarz and I were committed to playing new music in this city, and convinced the board to go along with it,” managing director Edward Birdwell said. “The first series was started during rough financial times for this orchestra. Four years ago, this orchestra was in deep trouble.”

Partially because of Schwarz’s determination, the Seattle Symphony is back on its feet, and, in its new home, Schwarz’s American Music Series has found a growing audience. Three of the four American music concerts have been presented to date, with attendance as high as 700 in a 1,000-seat theater, according to symphony spokeswoman Mimi Keller. When the new-music series began, houses averaged 250.

The series has brought in more than a dozen U. S. composers, from traditionalists such as David Diamond and Alan Hovhaness to newer names such as Paul Chihara and Bright Sheng, to present their works during the current season.

Not only will Seattle’s American Music Series continue in the 1990-91 season, but Stephen Albert and Diamond have been commissioned by the symphony to write large-scale orchestral works for performance on upcoming subscription concerts.

James DePreist, music director of Portland’s Oregon Symphony, has no special series devoted to contemporary music, but has championed new music during his 10-year residency.

Since 1985, he conducted five world premieres on the Oregon Symphony podium. He has commissioned several works for his orchestra, including David Schiff’s “Slow Dance,” which his orchestra premiered earlier this month.

In the 1990-91 season, Oregon will present two world premieres: Deborah Drattell’s “Jephthah” for orchestra and chorus will debut in October, and a yet-to-be-titled composition by Alvin Singleton will be premiered in May, 1991.

When DePreist announced the 1990-91 season earlier this month, he said that “historically, the number of 20th-Century works I’ve programmed with the Oregon Symphony has exceeded the number of classical works. In principal, we’ll be continuing that tradition but with even newer contemporary works. They’ll be hot off the press.”

San Diego has not completely shut the door on new music, even if next year’s prospects seem pretty dim.

“We left room next season to do at least one program of a Pulitzer Prize composer or a program devoted to new American music,” Talmi said. “If we (can) just find a way to do it publicly so that people will come and listen--even if they’re not appreciating the music, just to come.”