The Chicago Symphony bassist Michael Hovnanian writes a delightful blog, and here is one bit of terminology that I’ve not heard used before. He refers to the classic orchestral programming scheme known as the “shit sandwich”. I’ll let him explain in this excerpt from his blog:
The program of Strauss, Ligeti, Strauss was almost your classic shit sandwich. (My apologies for the language – s.s. from now on.) For those unfamiliar with the lingo, s.s. refers to a distasteful modern piece served up between two more palatable audience favorites. The classic construction is an overture or concerto, followed by the modern piece, ending with a beloved symphony or tone poem. The s.s. may also come open-faced, where the modern piece is first, or upside down where it is last. But the savvy reactionary audience member easily foils these schemes by arriving late or leaving early.
My definition of the terminology shouldn’t be taken as acceptance of the underlying narrow-mindedness. There is a tiny minority of us in the orchestra – I can think of two others who would dare express their views openly – who like 20th (and even 21st) century music and think we ought to play more of it. At some point, the audience has to be led kicking and screaming out of the 19th century, hopefully some time before the 21st century ends. After this week I wonder if 93 years might not be long enough for the task.
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3 replies on “orchestral sandwich construction”
This is great!! I’ve never heard the expression applied to a new piece before. I attended a classic s.s. last night: “Sorcerer’s Apprentice;” new work; Prokofiev 5. As a composer, I identify with this all too well – it’s a shame we can’t figure this whole thing out. Aren’t we beyond this yet? Most new pieces are audience-friendly anymore these days, so why all the avoidance?
There’s one more type of construction of the sandwich thats bears mentioning: “the calzone.” This is the new conerto that was written for the big-time soloist, like Josh Bell. Sort of a stuffed crust. This is a REAL dilemma. You paid to see Josh Bell, but you sure as hell don’t wanna hear anything new. What to do????
“the calzone” – awesome! the classic of this genre would be the “chef’s choice”, where the soloist is announced in the season brochure, but with “piece tba” – thus springing the unsuspecting public with some scary new music abomination (in the viewpoint of the audience, that is).
“Come on, Myrtle! We gotta hurry up and go hear that Midori. What the. . . ? She’s playing the WHAT concerto??? Well, she had better play some freakin’ Kreisler for an encore, or we’re outta here!!”