Tony Duggan wrote:

>In fact it would be hard to overestimate the contribution of British
>composers to 20th century music.  It far outweighs that of some countries
>I could mention.

I assume that the US is one of those "other countries", perhaps the
principal unmentioned one? If so, that's an interesting topic for
discussion. Other than Benjamin Britten, who is probably my personal
favorite composer and arguably one of the greatest compositional geniuses
of the 20th century... who else made significant contributions from that
side of the pond? RVW was perhaps a pioneer in his use of folksongs, and I
like much of his music, but find it often to be painfully repetitive (which
is not to say that he couldn't have been influential; but I don't see it).
And don't you think that the issue of *influence* in the 20th century is a
very tricky one? Still, I find this a fascinating thread...

Krishan Oberoi
Providence, RI  USA