Jeff Dunn wrote:

>In my opinion, "Odyssey" is a great work, but too long.  Too many
>composers- -especially those paid by the minute--are bad editors.
>As far as I'm concerned, you can delete Part 1 of Odyssey altogether.
>If Maw follows my advice, he might get more performances of it.

You do have a point but the other argument also applies.  There is a
typical type of composer commision that results in a work 10-20 minutes
long.  Whilst this may be ideal in some cases it is god that there are
still composers prepared to write longer works.

David Lewis