3 and 5 rank among my favorite contemporary works. I remain a believer in the symphonies of Rautavaara. I've heard the other three Gorecki symphonies and I have my doubts about them, especially the Fourth, one of the most abominable works I ever recall hearing. I agree that the Gorecki Third is a worthy symphony for the standard repertoire. Our arts world is certainly undergoing a renaissance, but the changes may not be all positive for us 'classical' music listeners. Perhaps in a few decades we will have a better sense of who and what is worthy of greater preservation and performance, and who and what is better left to drift into oblivion. Can we really afford to not include the grand old masters and their well established, well proven symphonies in those few concerts in favor of pieces which may prove more curious than important since time has not yet had its opportunity to put a permanent stamp on the work? I'm sure that in Beethoven's day concert goers heard contemporary music that we today have never heard at all. One of the problems is, there is so much music and so few concerts. But at least the orchestra management is trying to get the sounds out. Other recent symphonies were part of Visiting Artist programs. But Balada works in Pittsburgh and is part of the musical scene there, so I don't suppose it is so surprising that his music turns up on PSO concerts. I've heard a few contemporary symphonies at PSO concerts over the years, among them a symphony by Leonardo Balada who deserves to be more widely heard. (*I fully agree, at the height of its popularity I do think Gorecki's Third was an international standard repertory work and I fully agree, it does seem now to be fading.) Not one-in 50 years! Those who, during the 1960s, seemed well on the road to international acceptance (Nielsen, Martinu.) have remained stuck at whatever positions on the road they had managed by then to reach, like victims of Pompeii. During the whole of the 50 years 1970-2020, no post-1970 symphonic composer has managed to enter the repertoire* nor has any previously unaccepted pre-1970 symphonic composer done so. Those who were already accepted by that time have remained accepted since. Then in the late 1960s the position seemed to fossilize. During the -1970, that happened to Bruckner & Mahler (posthumously), Sibelius, Prokofiev, Rachmaninoff, Stravinsky, Shostakovich, probably some others that I've overlooked. When I was young, and before I was young, unfamiliar symphonic composers were entering the standard international concert repertoire every decade. While this is a fun story, and to the modern ear the little nuances of “devil-like” material are easy to miss, it’s still a remarkably emotional piece that is definitely a stand-out violin work from the Baroque Era.I'll tell you what I'm starting to think. The story goes that this piece was based on a dream Tartini had in which he made a pact with the Devil to be at his service on all occasions, and afterwards heard the Devil play a beautiful violin solo that he would try to transcribe from memory after waking up. However, none of his pieces have seen the public infatuation that his Devil’s Trill Sonata has. Pieces like his 50 Variations on a Gavotte by Corelli, as well as his numerous violin Sonatas, show off his attention towards sporadic motion and fragile, whimsical gestures. Tartini was known to have possessed a raw passion for the more delicate side of violin playing, and his fascination with this can be heard in much of his violin music. Going back a hundred years, we have the legendary Baroque composer and violinist Giuseppe Tartini. Giuseppe Tartini statue on Tartini Square in Piran, Slovenia

Standard violin concerto repertoire