Big Five (orchestras)

In the context of classical music in America, the Big Five refers to a group of five specific symphony orchestras considered to be the most prominent, significant, and accomplished ensembles when the term gained widespread use by music critics and journalists in the late 1950s. The "Big Five" are (ordered and shown with year of founding):

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• New York Philharmonic (1842)
• Boston Symphony Orchestra (1881)
• Chicago Symphony Orchestra (1891)
• Philadelphia Orchestra (1900)
• Cleveland Orchestra (1918)

The term "Big Five" is a seemingly unchangeable relic of the time in which it was created, coined in an era coincident with the advent of long-playing recordings, the expansion of regular orchestral radio broadcasts, and annual concert series in New York City by all five orchestras. Earlier orchestral rubrics had included the "Major Seven" in the early 20th century. With recordings and radio broadcasts at first available only from major east coast cities, the term later evolved and solidified into the "Big Three" (New York, Boston, and Philadelphia).

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The "Big Three" label was still in prominent widespread use in 1958 (Newsweek, February 17), but Cleveland (under George Szell's direction) and Chicago (under Fritz Reiner) were being noticed to have gained considerable artistic ground. With the opening performances at Philharmonic Hall (now Avery Fisher) in New York's Lincoln Center, which featured a select group of invited guest orchestras in September 1962, Cleveland was acknowledged among the nation's best. And by 1965, the term "Big Five" was being widely used in magazines, newspapers, and books.

Related Topics:
George Szell - Fritz Reiner - Lincoln Center

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The term "Big Five" is today considered by many to be outdated, but its use has become so common and its meaning so synonymous with the quality of achievement that so many American orchestras strive for, that its use now continues well past the specifics of why it became fashionable and meaningful. A variety of music critics, at both the local and national level, have written thoughtful and passionate articles proposing new members to the upper echelon of American orchestras (including Michael Walsh in Time Magazine, 1983; Tim Page in Newsday, 1990; and Mark Swed in the Los Angeles Times, 2005). The evidence of recordings and reviews suggests that several orchestras have at times risen to this exhalted level of performance, with today's San Francisco Symphony and Los Angeles Philharmonic, and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra of the 1980s and '90s, most frequently mentioned or praised. Additionally, there can be little question that the orchestras of the "Big Five" have at times faltered and shown considerable negligence concerning consistent artistic execution, and thus undeserving of the "Big Five" label.

Related Topics:
San Francisco Symphony - Los Angeles Philharmonic - Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra

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Despite attempts to propose specific new criteria and membership for a "Big Seven" (adding Los Angeles and San Francisco) or "Big Ten" (adding various ensembles), or even a "Big Twenty-Five," there is not a consensus about which orchestras would be included on such lists, and so the term "Big Five" continues in widespread, but disputed, use and representing less a specific group of orchestras than a kind of high standard to which most professional orchestras in the United States endeavor to achieve.

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