Krishan P Oberoi  writes:

>Why can't a newcomer go straight to Britten, Copland or Philip Glass
>without first going through Mozart and Bach?

There's nothing to stop him/her.  That's the best way to get acquainted
with the music of Britten,Copland and Philip Glass.  But it's no way of
getting to know the heartland of clsical music, which is the Received
Canon.It's true, though, that by listening to B&C&PG, you may, just
incidentally, garner some useful inferences about the heartland.

Denis Fodor