Writing for the online British magazine Classical Music, violinist Elena Urioste and pianist Tom Poster note that neglected music, notably pieces by women and composers of color, stays neglected because scores are full of errors and often are very costly to rent for performance.
They cite an example: Samuel Coleridge-Taylor’s Nonet “costs £265 [about $347] for score and parts; by comparison, a set of parts for Mendelssohn’s Octet will set you back about £30 [$39]. . . . [I]t seems as if some publishers choose to ignore the fact that disproportionate purchase or hire costs are thwarting musicians’ dreams to perform lesser-known repertoire.”
Pianist Alexandra Dariescu, shortly after performing last fall with the Richmond Symphony, was planning to introduce Florence Price’s Piano Concerto to her native Romania, but had to replace the piece on her program because the score was so expensive.
“It’s hard enough convincing promoters and conductors to take a chance and program unknown works by female composers, but when a premium is charged for the materials, it’ll simply be impossible to play this repertoire and it feels like we’re taking a giant step backwards,” Dariescu told Urioste and Poster:
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