Now it's back to the future

The historical background here is that, in the RSNO, there has always been a sort of cultural ambivalence towards modern music. Nearly 40 years ago, when the young Alex Gibson took up the reins, there was an indication that the orchestra, which then had no significant reputation beyond its own territory, might be about to develop muscle on the contemporary front.

Major - indeed, historic - performances of tough pieces by Arnold Schoenberg and Karlheinz Stockhausen were staged. More importantly, perhaps, such performances represented the seeds of a commitment to modern music.

First the Musica Viva series, then the long-running Musica Nova Festival, developed into what was seen by insiders as a powerhouse of concentration. No music was too forbidding for Musica Nova. There were no sweeteners. It was the real McCoy - rough, tough stuff. Which was great, for composers and the handful of anoraks that actually attended the concerts. However, the whole concept developed into a ghetto. No member of the general music public gave it a sideways glance or entered its portals.

And the really negative side was that, by and large, the orchestra - as an institution - began to consider that in this it was fulfilling its responsibilities towards modern music. With the result that whenever a modern work dared set foot in a mainstream winter season programme the traditional audience ran a mile. That's a general-isation of course: when Matthias Bamert was principal guest conductor of the RSNO in the eighties, he did important work bringing in audiences to hear the music of composers such as

Messiaen and Boulez.

Anyway, with the demise of Musica Nova some years ago, there was nowhere else for modern music to go. So, in recent years, it has - in an unstructured fashion - begun to creep back into the winter season, and, thanks largely to tireless efforts by composers such as James MacMillan, and the relative relish with which conductors and musicians tackle his music, the concert halls, while not exactly overflowing, haven't been empty.

But there is a need for a structure. And, in a two-pronged action, Simon Crookall, RSNO chief executive, has developed a policy to be implemented in the coming season. First, he wanted the orchestra to have a resident composer; not just any composer - he wanted a big name and a popular figure whose music could appeal directly to the most traditional audience.

And those requirements could not have been better met than by the appointment of American composer Michael Torke, whose catchy and brilliantly coloured compositions have given him a huge reputation and following in the US. The key factor here, said Crookall, was that the resident composer's music must go into the mainstream winter season. There was a taster earlier this year, when Torke came over for introductory sessions and a performance of his Bright Blue Music.

This season the composer starts his residency proper, and the orchestra (with American conductor Marin Alsop) will give the UK premiere of his huge Book of Proverbs, while Swiss conductor Matthias Bamert will direct Torke's fabulous concert opener, Javelin, written for the Atlanta Olympics.

Torke will come over for the performances, and will appear in schools and, no doubt, other areas of the public domain. He'll then go on to write - at the rate of one a year - major commissions for the RSNO, beginning with a percussion concerto for the sensational Colin Currie. But the major strategic development of the season lies in the introduction of the new five-concert Discovery Series which will run in parallel with the winter season in the Royal Concert Hall on Thursday nights.

Each will feature a major contemporary piece - Messiaen's Eclairs sur l'Au-Dela, James MacMillan's trumpet concerto, Epiclesis, Korndorf's Fourth Symphony, the Percussion Concerto by South American composer Sierra, and Sir Michael Tippett's last work, The Rose Lake.

But, rather than merely buttress them with other contemporary works, or sugar the pill with people-friendly sweeteners, Simon Crookall is trying a different approach, which leads to some bizarre-looking combinations.

It's a back-to-the-future approach. Where there are other works on the programme (the Messiaen is vast and will stand alone) they will represent an indication of where the new work has come from. Programmes, thus, are full of references and resonances.

James MacMillan (artistic director of this first series) will acknowledge the influence of Sibelius by including the Finn's most popular symphony, the Fifth, in his programme. Korndorf's roots are in Rimsky-Korsakov, so that composer's Tsar Sultan Suite will be included, along with - of all things - Mozart's Fifth Violin Concerto, to which Korndorf's symphony refers. And Tippett will be accompanied by music from his beloved Henry Purcell. Talk about reaching over the centuries.

It's different; it looks a bit wacky, though the logic is there. Each concert will be preceded by a study-day the weekend before, and, on the evening of the concert itself (which will be a little shorter and start a little later) there will be lecture-recital type demonstrations, with the orchestra on hand to introduce the music.

The full winter season in Glasgow and Edinburgh - brochures are about to be published - is standard fare and fairly self-explanatory. The number of concerts goes up from 20 to 22. Principal conductor Alexander Lazarev (also appearing in the Discovery Series) takes seven of the programmes. All the big Russians feature in his repertoire - Tchaikovsky, Rachmaninov, Stravinsky, Prokofiev and Shostakovich - though he's stretching his limbs into more Mahler, Richard Strauss (the epic Alpine Symphony) and his first encounter with Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, opening the season.

Walter Weller is back for two concerts with his own specialisms: Smetana, Dvorak, Beethoven, and a classic Mozart programme with the last symphony and the C minor Mass. Other conductors returning include Swiss Mario Venzago, who lit up the place recently on his debut appearance with the RSNO.

Among the few genuinely intriguing items in the repertoire will be the RSNO's first concert performance of the Joan of Arc Mass by Paul Paray - the orchestra and RSNO chorus recording of this rarity, which contains stunning music, was nominated for a Grammy Award earlier in the year.