One of the most important (and difficult and enjoyable at the same time...) things for a concert is the programming. What pieces to include... and what order to place them within in the concert to give the entire concert an emotional arc and journey for the audience to experience.

The temptation is to put all your most amazing and most interesting pieces in a program... but in a way, that is quite counter-productive. Too much of a good thing leads to audience switching off, and then not really being able to point out a favourite moment or piece... and like binging on sugar, well... you end up scoffing the whole bag without enjoying any of it. Whereas a little morsel of delight... is memorable and treasured.

Of course, that doesn't mean that you can have one great piece and then pack the rest with garbage... sure the difference might make that outstanding moment something unique... but it is more likely that the audience will have switched off long before that, and will remember the tedium which will also taint the unique moment.

So, the best way is to have pretty good pieces... but not the best... and then vary the style, instrumentation, and types of emotion/affects that you are trying evoke in the audience. And sometimes that does mean that you have to face the hard decision of leaving a treasured piece that you really wanted to program behind... because it is a great piece, that just doesn't fit in the program around it.

... so, in the pocket for a different concert and a different time. Sad, but not lost forever...

For our first concert of 2025 for our ensemble, my wife and I are now in the final stages of the program construction. And the big choice that we are trying to settle upon is the opening and closing pieces.

We have narrowed it down to the two large ensemble pieces... it is nicer to finish everyone on stage, less faffing around dragging people in from the green room! And if we can, we do also prefer to start with everyone as well before reducing in size and composition before building up again.

So, the two choices are one that is the distillation of joy... and the other, a gentler joy that hinges on regret.

Now, the easy way is always to end on a triumphant joyous end... and definitely, we have chosen that route a few times. Something strong in affect... joy, happiness, anger, or something similar... loud, fast, and strong. A guaranteed finisher... and so the temptation is to finish with the joyous one...

... but the concerts where we have finished successfully with a gentler emotion have been the really stand out ones for our audiences... it is much more difficult to pull off, as if it is not done well, it can be a moment "oh, is that it?"... which is sort of awkward.

... but if done well, well... we have had audience members writing in or talking to us afterwards with tears in their eyes. And this exactly what we are in the job for... to evoke these feelings and emotions in our audience and ourselves.

The stand out one was a concert where we took them through a range starting with strength, then weirdness, to humourous, then to a resigned hope... The piece that we finished with (that people found to be so touching), people tried to find it on recordings, and despite finding it... they told us that it wasn't the same.

... and that is due mostly to the context that you hear the piece in. In isolation, or in a different context... you respond to it differently.

So, we will try the same for this concert... it is again a bit of a regretful wistful ending... and we will start with the stupidly joyful one! Will it work? Who knows... we take a gamble on this, and then rely on our musicians and the whim of the concert to see if it will work... with an ending like this, anything can break the moment... a missed entry/shift... a baby crying... a dropped water bottle... all of which will distract the moment just enough. Definitely harder than playing loud and fast, but so much more rewarding!

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