Before Christmas, I posted my tally of opera performances attended during the year. Having attended my final concert of the year last night, I can now do the same for concerts and, below, combined. I may have miscounted, forgotten the odd thing I did not review, etc. Encores are not included (if only because I have not always noted them down). One appearance in a single programme counts once. What does this show? Not very much, perhaps. It certainly does not reflect what is performed; I naturally tend to choose performances I think will interest me. On the other hand, if no possibilities to hear Webern had presented themselves - which sometimes they do not - I should not have been able to hear his music on six different occasions. Moreover, if I can hardly lay claim to anything approaching gender balance here, it is good to see three women composers - Charlotte Bray, Helen Grime, and Olga Neuwirth - receive more than one performance. Neuwirth would have had another, had bronchitis not had me miss one of hers.
It is good, in any case, to see Brahms - often the target of a bizarre loathing more suited to the nineteenth century than the twenty-first - come on top of the concert list and indeed to share second place in the aggregated list with Wagner. If Mozart comes out on top, I am certainly not going to complain. Click here, for the sake of comparison, for the lists for 2017.
It is good, in any case, to see Brahms - often the target of a bizarre loathing more suited to the nineteenth century than the twenty-first - come on top of the concert list and indeed to share second place in the aggregated list with Wagner. If Mozart comes out on top, I am certainly not going to complain. Click here, for the sake of comparison, for the lists for 2017.
Concert tally
11 Brahms
9 Haydn
8 Debussy, Schubert
7 Bach, Beethoven, Stravinsky
6 Schoenberg, Webern
4 Berg, Mahler, Mozart, Schumann,
Stockhausen
3 Ligeti, Liszt, Prokofiev,
Strauss, Tchaikovsky
2 Bartók, Berio, Charlotte
Bray, Dvořák, Helen Grime, Janáček, Olga Neuwirth, Ravel, Frederic Rzewski,
Szymanowski, Tallis, Wagner, Zemlinsky
1 Mark Andre, Berlioz, Gerald
Barry, Biber, William Bolcom, Lili Boulanger, John Browne, Bruckner, Byrd, Uri
Caine, Mario Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Cavalli, Chausson, Unsuk Chin, David Robert
Coleman, John Corigliano, William Cornysh, Dario Costello, Louis Couperin, Brett
Dean, Duparc, Duruflé, Andris Dzenītis, Elgar, Fauré, Andrea Gabrieli,
Gesualdo, Glière, Gounod, Christoph Graupner, Handel, Reynaldo Hahn, John
Harbison, Hasse, Henze, Anders Hillborg, Holst, Philippe Hurel, Kódaly, Krenek,
Lachenmann, Lassus, Gordon Lightfoot, Magnus Lindberg, Matthew Locke, Steven
Mackey, Alma Mahler, Massenet, Mendelssohn, Emilie Meyer, Milhaud, Mosolov, Thea
Musgrave, Mussorgsky, Offenbach, Palestrina, Edmond de Polignac, Poulenc, Purcell,
Rebecca Saunders, Sciarrino, Scriabin, John Sheppard, Nat Shilkret, Ravel, Esa-Pekka
Salonen, Antonio Sartorio, Takemitsu, Alexander Tansman, Taverner, George
Thalben-Ball, Ernst Toch, Joan Tower, Turnage, Weber, Hedy West, Jörg Widmann, Charles
Wuorinen, Wolf, Peter Yarrow
Overall
13 Mozart
11 Brahms, Wagner
10 Haydn
9 Debussy
8 Schubert, Strauss
7 Beethoven, Schoenberg,
Stravinsky
6 Webern
5 Stockhausen
4 Berg, Janáček, Mahler,
Prokofiev, Puccini, Schumann, Tchaikovsky
3 Ligeti, Liszt
2 Bartók, Berio, Benjamin,
Bizet, Charlotte Bray, Dvořák, Handel, Helen Grime, Olga Neuwirth, Poulenc,
Ravel, Frederic Rzewski, Szymanowski, Tallis, Turnage, Weber, Zemlinsky
1 Ondřej Adámek, Daniel Blanco Albert, Mark Andre,
Lennoz Berkley, Berlioz, Gerald Barry, Biber, William Bolcom, Britten, Lili
Boulanger, John Browne, Bruckner, Byrd, Uri Caine, John Casken, Mario
Castelnuovo-Tedesco, Cavalli, Chausson, Unsuk Chin, David Robert Coleman, John
Corigliano, William Cornysh, Dario Costello, Louis Couperin, Peter Maxwell
Davies, Brett Dean, Duparc, Duruflé, Dusapin, Andris Dzenītis, Gottfried von
Einem, Elgar, Fauré, Andrea Gabrieli, Gershwin, Gesualdo, Glière, Gounod,
Christoph Graupner, Handel, Reynaldo Hahn, John Harbison, Hasse, Henze, Anders
Hillborg, Hindemith, Holst, Humperdinck, Philippe Hurel, Elfyn Jones, Kódaly,
Krenek, Lachenmann, Edward Lambert, Lassus, Gordon Lightfoot, Magnus Lindberg,
Matthew Locke, Steven Mackey, Alma Mahler, Massenet, Mendelssohn, Emilie Meyer,
Milhaud, Monteverdi, Mosolov, Thea Musgrave, Mussorgsky, Offenbach, Palestrina,
Edmond de Polignac, Poulenc, Purcell, Rebecca Saunders, Sciarrino, Scriabin, John
Sheppard, Nat Shilkret, Ravel, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Antonio Sartorio, Takemitsu,
Alexander Tansman, Taverner, George Thalben-Ball, Ernst Toch, Joan Tower,
Turnage, Philip Venables, Huw Watkins, Hedy West, Alastair White, Jörg Widmann,
Charles Wuorinen, Wolf, Peter Yarrow, Na’ama Zisser
