Robert Clements replies (sort of) to me:

>...  Harrison Birtwhistle is a profoundly unpopular composer who has
>remained on the British concert schedule because of a small group of
>supporters in the local critical & performance industry.  Unlike Wagner,
>there's no groundswell of opinion waiting for Der Meister's new utterance:
>but plenty of critical hype instead.

Granted.  But I can't think of a really popular living classical composer.
Can you? Even John Adams, Steve Reich, and Philip Glass, fellows who
actually make a living from their concert work (as opposed to John
Williams, who makes his living from his movie work), aren't terrifically
popular, even among classical aficionados.

>His selection as an ideal subject for student performance has more to
>do with funding quotas being tied to specific kinds of projects than
>any intelligent assessment of musical needs: you have to run student
>performances & Flash Harry is a critical darling deemed worthy of
>sponsored performed; so: voila!....

What a cynic.  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?

Steve Schwartz, who has never heard Gawain