Hi Chris, I'm speaking primarily of freelance orchestras, which are the groups by which a non-famous composer might realistically have their work performed in the US. But even in the full-time orchestras, standards of personal preparation for new works are often extremely low. This is true even among groups that are supposed to specialize in new music.
It varies from orchestra to orchestra, and of course the reputation of the composer and the conductor-orchestra relationship makes a difference. But there is a reason Steve Reich gave up writing for orchestra, and it's not like his music is overtly virtuosic or anything. Cheers, - DJA ----- WEB: http://www.secretsocietymusic.org On Nov 1, 2012, at 8:43 AM, Christopher Smith <[email protected]> wrote: > > On Wed Oct 31, at WednesdayOct 31 10:53 PM, Darcy James Argue wrote: > >> Any composer working in the United States writing for orchestra needs to be >> absolutely, acutely aware of what types of notation are most easily read at >> sight, because you're never going to get everyone to check out the parts in >> advance. (If even 25% of the players do, it's a minor miracle!) > > > I have to step in here. Maybe standards are different in the States, but > around here ALL the string players HAVE to check out the parts beforehand, > and if the woodwind players don't they take their lives in their hands. This > applies not only to the Montreal Symphony, but even in the secondary > orchestras, like the one I play in. Even the brass players look over the > concert repertoire (that they get two weeks ahead of time by union agreement) > to see if there's anything they have to practice, and anything that's > unusually-notated definitely gets some woodshed time. > > Christopher > > _______________________________________________ > Finale mailing list > [email protected] > http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale _______________________________________________ Finale mailing list [email protected] http://lists.shsu.edu/mailman/listinfo/finale
