Steven Schwartz writes:

>It could very well be that the story and the goings-on on stage might
>have been enough to carry it through, just as "advanced" music has proven
>very effective in horror movies.  I don't think it's a non-starter of an
>idea.  The kids could very well have a harder time with Cosi or Fidelio.
>And how many times can you resort to Hansel and Gretel?

Quite.  The gentle sophistication of "Hansel and Gretel" in particular is
really the last thing any child, however obnoxious, should be subjected to.
We should make it our business to introduce people initially to new theatre
works instead of the dearly cherished museum artefacts.

Another point.  Many of the posts on this (and the Copland) thread have
been assuming that popularity, at least amongst the relatively small band
of aficionados who actually have some interest in Real Music, is in some
obscure sense a Rough Guide to quality, or longevity, or something.

Throughout western musical history, popularity has never has mattered a
jot - except to the poor composer trying to make a living.  Some of the
musicians we are encouraged to think of as 'great' were or are broadly
popular, some were or are not.

It doesn't matter, because programming for each succeeding generation's
Live and/or CD life is managed entirely by a minuscule subset consisting of
some mercantile princes out for prestige, a few critics and musicologists,
plus a handful of enthusiastic performers.  On the whole the Musical Public
eats what it's fed.

Take Berlioz.  His significant works are not and never have been in any
sense remotely popular, particularly in France.  There, the Musical Public
still think of him - if at all - as a wildly eccentric oddball.  None the
less, critical pressure rightly insists on his continued exposure, and so
for the moment he is right up there in the Top League for concert and CD
programming, like him or lump him.

On the other hand, Mendelssohn's work is not being pushed by any of the
Mighty Few at the moment, so CD and concert programming is thin and his
stock is down - to the point where some even come out with the bizarre
notion that sister Fanny was the better composer.

When it's only a matter of time and chance which of The Greats is up,
down or out, how can a few dreary vox.  pop. opinions on Birtwistle
possibly matter one way or another? In any case, as Steve Schwatz suggests,
infinitely more people have heard and been moved by the work of, say,
Elisabeth Lutyens in her Hammer Horror music scores than ever decried her
stuff in the concert hall.

Personally, I may not find Birtwistle's music very stimulating - but at
least he's alive.  Rather than whingeing, surely much better to revel in
the glorious fact that he, and a few others, are making some sort of living
from proudly carrying the Real Music torch onwards.  Leave the future to
bury the dead - or exhume them at pleasure.

Christopher Webber,  Blackheath, London,  UK.
http:\\www.nashwan.demon.co.uk\index.htm