Sound Off

As I was looking over Prokofiev's Lt. Kijé Suite for this weekend's performances, I began to wonder about the place of movie music in our concert halls.  I was struck by the fact that after a century of great cinematic achievements, very little of the often equally as great music has made its way onto our classical concerts.  Outside of some of the earliest scores by the Russian greats, Prokofiev and Shostakovich, it is rare to see any film music on our so-called "serious" concerts. 

What is the reason for this?

Maybe it's the nature of film scores, that they are often descriptive rather than developmental, or that they can be a series of brief, unrelated excerpts, but so are many ballet suites as well as other short works that we frequently see on concerts.  Perhaps it's the stigma of popular culture being included on concerts with our hollowed Beethoven and Brahms.  I asked this week's conductor, Leo Hussain, what he thought about the subject.  He feels that this distinction between "classical" and "movie" music is a bit false, and that composers like Prokofiev, Shostakovich, and Britten, all of who wrote for motion pictures, would not have made any distinction.  He added that there is lots of great music being written for films, and it should have a chance to be heard in our concert halls.  I certainly agree with him, but let us know what you think.  I'm curious how our audiences feel about the subject.  

On the rest of the concert, we'll return to music for music's sake with one rarity, Shostakovich's Second Violin Concerto, and one beloved chestnut, Mozart's 40th Symphony.  The soloist for this concert is Vadim Gluzman who two seasons ago gave one of the most exciting performances of Tchaikovsky's Violin Concert I've ever heard, so I'm really looking forward to his return.  This weekend's performances are Friday and Saturday at 7:30.