u/MuhVlast

/uj because I do and I just wonder whether it’s common behaviour.

This is actually a /uj post which I feel could get me banned from the main sub.

My pet theory is that the average concertgoer knows very little about the repertoire being performed, and chooses which concert to go to based on how intimidating the programme seems. And Martinů happens to look particularly menacing.

The same goes, I think, for composers with long names with a lot of consonants, like Szymanowski or Lutosławski. Shostakovich seems to have escaped this curse, however.

Let’s take my home city of London as an example. Last September, Antonio Pappano and the LSO programmed Beethoven’s Fifth Symphony. This marked, to the best of my knowledge, the first time since at least Covid that this piece was performed by one of the “Big Five” London orchestras. Which would mean that the piece is less often performed than Mahler’s Eighth (twice), Turangalila (at least twice), the full Daphnis and Chloé ballet (at least three times) and Scriabin’s The Poem of Ecstasy (so many times I’ve lost count).

As far Beethoven is concerned, the decline in frequency of his appearance on concerts by “big name” orchestras can partly be attributed to the (some may say suffocating) influence of the Period Performance Movement, which has taken proprietary ownership of Baroque, Classical and early Romantic repertoire. Still, it is surprising to see Beethoven’s Fifth appearing less often than his Seventh, which seems to be a favourite of many of today’s conductors.

What are some other pieces that are less often performed than you’d expect?