Some recitals offer an anthology of great autonomous works from the canonical repertoire. Others place works in a sequence to narrate the grand story of a composer, genre, or tradition. A more recent kind of recital assembles a variety of works not in any particular order but in an experimental constellation that encourages their interaction. The listener of such a recital has a lot of flexibility to rearrange the program, invent juxtapositions, add connections, and in general contribute to the performance. This participatory music making entails an entirely new mode of collaborative listening.
P.S. (9/11/20) ‘After decades of respectful, even beatific enshrinement, classical repertoire is being challenged, tested, and “tough loved” by its fondest champions. Among the smartest recording labels, one-composer programs — the norm since the arrival of the LP record in the early 1950s — are giving way to conceptual collections of music that juxtapose the ancient and modern, progressive and retrogressive, as well as the familiar and the obscure.’
1 September 2020
Piano Poetry Pantelis Politics 