The MSO Academy provides young instrumentalists a vital final bridge to a successful career as professional musicians. This end of year showcase for the 2024 Academy cohort features an all-French selection paying homage to the avant-garde, curated by MSO double bassist Stephen Newton.
When we only champion music that is “great” we close our ears to great music!
Saint-Saëns has never been unanimously championed as a “great”. Berlioz voted against Saint-Saëns for the Prix de Rome, underhandedly saying “He knows everything, but lacks inexperience”. At the other end of Saint-Saëns’ career, Poulenc dismissed Ravel’s belief that Saint-Saëns was a genius, probably because Saint-Saëns criticised some of his successive composers as being “insane”.
As a bassist, I’m grateful for Saint-Saëns. The Elephant from The Carnival of the Animals is humorous, of the greatest compositional quality and highlights the double bass as an instrument equal to all others. Mozart wrote Per Questa Bella Mano for double bass and voice, while Haydn, Vanhal and Dittersdorf all wrote a concerto for the double bass (all four incidentally played in a string quartet together).
Given this, why did my instrument and many others fall into the category of “support instruments” and why do we still refuse to see them as candidates for “greatness”? I suspect projection was the reason, as music moved from the court and church into large public halls. This in turn, led to a view that “great” music must be serious and express profound emotions and be played by “great” instruments. There is so much more subtlety to human expression that lies outside of this limited view, so how can we capture its essence in music without including all of our instruments’ voices?
Hindemith tried to remedy this by writing a sonata for every orchestral instrument. He proved that variety was interesting, stimulating and important. Furthermore, he wasn’t bound to writing music that other people would deem “great”. Françaix wrote many wonderful solo and mixed ensemble works, even a double bass concerto, that is probably my favourite for the instrument. During our concert, I hope you will appreciate his greatness!
This program pays homage to the avant-garde. Saint-Saëns, despite having a complex relationship with Les Six, Debussy, Satie and other 20th century composers, was like them, a free spirit. Many of the French composers from this period were united by their openness to instrumentation and wide pallet of musical expression that captured the full range of human emotion and character. They were unusual, broke the mould, but part of a long tradition of great music.
MSO Academy: End of Year Showcase
11 December at 7.30pm
Iwaki Auditorium