The classical repertory isn't lost in the past; it just takes its sweet time catching up to the present. The American Symphony Orchestra League has published its latest report of the Top 10 repertory pieces, and the new findings confirm what I said in my "Whither classical?" article in February — that the mainstream repertory has been permanently invaded by such twentieth-century composers as Prokofiev, Shostakovich, Ravel and (borderline case) Rachmaninov. Mahler and Richard Strauss have shown up in past years, although the Berlioz bicentennial seems to have pushed them off the 2003-04 list. In any case, they're fin du siècle kids, whereas Shostakovich (1906-1975) is a twentieth-century thoroughbred. He's less dead than Hendrix, man.
