Evening star., 1961-07-09
BY IRVING LOWENS
Star Music Critic

A few weeks ago, ! reported
on the annual Musical Amer
lea survey Of American or
chestral repertory, an over
view based on an analysis Of
SO major orchestraS and
what they play during the
regular concert season.
Now along comes Broad
cast Music Incorporated with
another look at the scene
based on a much larger sam
pling Of orchestras.
BMI examined the pro-
grams of 268 orchestras and
came up with q grand total
Of 9.987 works.
These were performed in
1888 concerts. Subscription
concerts formed. the back
bone of the study Q,729) fol-
lowed by youth concerts
(21S), special concerts (11S,
and touring concerts (llD.
Most Popular
The harder look seems to
demonstrate that the situa-
ton Is not nearly so gloomy
as the editors Of Musical
America felt.
Perhaps the most startling
fact to emerge from the BMI
survey Is the revelation that
contemporary com pOseFS
(pOst-19OO) led standard
composers during the 1960-61
concert season, with more
works performed and more
composers represented.
Furthermore, q supple
mentary BMI survey of "A
major orchestras, duplicating
one made last year, shows
that there has been an in
crease Of more than Z per
cent in the number Of con-
temporary works played by
these orchestras, and an in
crease Of more than Is per
cent in the total number Of
their performances during
the past season.
This is unquestionably q
healthy state Of affairs. 1t
would seem that part Of this
quite different picture is due
to the fact that BMI used,
as well as major professional
orchestral programs, those
Of 169 community and so
college orchestraS.
Top Selections
According to BMI, the 10
top contemporary works
were: Hindemith's SYM
phonic MetamorphOsis on
Themes by Weber (1S43);
Britten's Young Persons
Guide 10 the Orchestra
1946), Debussy's La Mer
(1905), Stravinsky's Firebird
p. Suite (1910), Ravel's Daphnis
and Chloe (1912), Prokofieff's
First Piano Concerto Q910,
the same composers ClaSsi-
cal Symphony (1917O, Ravel's
La Valse 1920, Prokofieff's
Second Violin Concerto
1885, and Barber's AdagiO
for Strings (193S). The exact
order Of the top 10 was not
specified.
The 10 most performed
standard works, according to
the BMI survey. were lin
order Of popularity: Bee
thoven's First Piano Concerto,
Beethoven't First Symphony,
Mozart's Piano Concerto No.
20, K. 466, Schubert's Seventh
symphony, Beethoven's
Seventh Symphony, Liszt'S
Second Piano Concerto, Mo-
zart's Jupiter Symphony,
Brahms Violin Concerto,
Beethoven's Violin Concerto,
and Franck's D minor SYM
phony.
Contemporary composers Of
works running more than
five minutes were Tin order
of most performances +:
Prokofieff, Ravel, Stravinsky,
/. COPELAND, Bartok, Hindemith,
: Dehussy. Barber, Gershwin
and Respighi.
Standard composers In
order of popularity were:
o Beethoven, Mozart, Brahms,
Wagner, Haydn, Mendels-
sohn. Bach, Verdi, Dvorak
and Schubert.
Surveys Compared
Comparing the Musical
America and BMI findings, it
. is interesting to note that
: four of the Musical America
top 10 (Shostakovich, Mil
baud, Schoenberg, Falla) did
not rate in the BMI list at all,
while two BMI picks (Gersh-
win, Respighi) did not make
the Musical America roster.
The high position Of Proko-
fieff, a point of agreement,
may come as q surprise to
many.
Even among the standard