The acceptance of the music of Bela Bartok in recent times is another case in point. I maintain that the frequent performance of his works in the past five years has made the concert hall a livelier place to go to, and in the long run a more soundly based financial operation than would have been true if his work had been rejected in favor of some venerable warhorse. My fear is that a passive and routine attitude has grown up among our symphony leaders. They seem to exist from year to year with no clear policy, hopefully expecting audiences to return for more of the same each season. There is no lack of viable material with which to inject new life into the symphonic repertoire.
Composers continue to write prolifically for orchestra.
Under present conditions we can hardly hope to hear the works of these men. To feature a brand-new orchestral work signed by an unknown name has become so rare as to be practically obsolete. I take the symphony orchestra as symptomatic of what is happening generally in the musical world. This unhealthy state of affairs tends to make all music listening safe and unadventurous. This narrows considerably in the minds of a broad public the very conception of how varied musical experience may be, and puts all lesser works in a false light.