The orchestra musicians want to know that if they ask questions about something in the score they want to kind of find out and size out if the composer knows what they’re talking about — that he knows what he wants.
André de Rideer, conductor
Yep. To be honest, I think there are times that we do that to “test” a composer. Especially someone who might not be “one of us.” Okay … maybe I’m speaking (writing) out of turn here, but I still think it’s true. And we do it to conductors as well. 😉
Both Rafael and St. Carolyn have elements — moments of things I might do in a National song or Aaron my brother might do in a national song but they’re taken further. We allow them to develop for longer we push them towards levels of complexity that we couldn’t do in a rock song. […] There’s a need to explore new sounds, new ideas, new composers and this is an old tradition, this is something that’s been going on for years. I mean there’s a lot of talk about how classical music is aging and how audiences are getting older, but I actually disagree with that. I think the reason people like me who could perfectly well [can’t hear word] around in my rock band and just do that, the reason I’m drawn to this culture is that is there is a certain appetite and energy for adventurous music.
—Bryce Dessner, composer
