Cautious Notes Will Kill Our Orchestras ; Cash-Strapped Bands Are Reprogramming Old Favourites to Chase Box- Office Sales. But It Won't Save Them in the Long Term

Summary

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THE sun was high, the coffee steaming, and clustered around a Salzburg garden table were six of Europe's most influential culturati. "So what's coming up in London this season?" wondered a festival director. "All 15 Shostakovich symphonies at the Barbican and the complete works of Schoenberg at the South Bank," I beamed provocatively.

You could have heard a swallow drop its worm. Stunned they were, and smitten with curatorial envy. "I don't think there is another city on earth that would dare to stage one of those cycles," conceded a German intendant.

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Cautious Notes Will Kill Our Orchestras ; Cash-Strapped Bands Are Reprogramming Old Favourites to Chase Box- Office Sales. But It Won't Save Them in the Long Term

"Let alone the two of them together."

I recall the conversation word for word because it marked London's orchestral high point. It was the summer of 1988 and most of Europe still lay beneath Herbert von Karajan's leaden hand, in thrall to old music and oblivious to the here and n...

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