Down in the publishing vaults of Schotts, beside the River Main, they have been rummaging through Beethoven’s nail clippings and sundry other relics to see if anything got left out of their most performed works of the 21st century.
Sure enough – why didn’t anyone spot the omission? – top of the pops for Schotts is the compelling British composer Gavin Bryars, whose Tchaikovsky-based Amjad for string quartet has had its socks danced off by sundry companies in Edouard Locke’s exciting choreography. Amjad scored 115 performances since its Ottawa premiere in April 2007.
Three works by Penderecki have also done pretty well, as has one by Steve Martland.
Computing them into the rankings, here is the updated Top Twenty:
20 John Adams: The Dharma at Big Sur (2003) for electric violin and orchestra, 72.
19 Steve Martland, Tiger Dancing (2005), 73
18 Jörg Widmann, Hunt Quartet (2003), 74
17 Kryzstof Penderecki, Ciaccona (2005), 76
15= Penderecki sextet (2001), 79
15 Oliver Knussen violin concerto (2002) 79.
14 Detlev Glanert’s opera, The Three Riddles (2003) 80
13 George Benjamin Dance Figures for Orchestra (2004), 82
12 Detlev Glanert opera Jest, Satire, Irony and Deeper Meaning (2000) 83
11 Philip Glass, Concerto Fantasy, 87
Top Ten
10 Colin Matthews Pluto (2000), 87
9 Krzystof Penderecki Concerto Grosso (2001) 89
8 Christopher Rouse Rapture (2000) 97
7 Howard Goodall’s Requiem (2008) 102.
6 Nathaniel Stookey, The Composer is Dead (2006), 104
5 Joby Talbot Entity (2008), 110
4 Gavin Bryars, Amjad (2007)
3 Tan Dun, Crouching Tiger concerto (2000) 139
2 Joan Tower, Made in America (2008), 145
1 Karl Jenkins Requiem (2004) 311
These new entries do not materially change the conclusions of the previous chart and report. Dance remains the most vigorous driver of contemporary music performance – considerably more so, to general astonishment, than movie scores.