Classical music written by living composers seems to have been a problem with the musical estabishment since the Second World War. Part of my secondary schooling was in a small Scottish town and obviously that was the musical establishment for me then. The musical opportunities at that school were good for those who wanted to take advantage of them. When I won a music prize I was asked what book I wanted for the prize; it was obvious to me, I wanted Béla Bartók's Mikrokosmos 6. The piano teacher looked questioningly; I think she wondered if I was just wanted to be different or didn't know what that music was.

A few years ago at a recital in West London, a concert series where colleagues of mine had sometimes played music I had written, one of the organisers asked me if I lived locally as I could attend regularly and support their series. The reason I didn't attend was because most of the music programmed was from the traditional repertoire. She pointed out that recently they had programmed a work by Gordon Jacob. Gordon Jacob is from that generation of British composers who wrote music of the highest standard yet for some reason are unfairly neglected. In that group I would include Edmund Rubbra, who also wrote an excellent book on counterpoint, and of course, many others. Unfortunately these were the most modern composers played - and not that often. I think these composers should be programmed regularly but I would prefer these composers' works to be the oldest played, not the most modern.

A possible explanation is that the major European figures dominated the classical music scene in Britain, especially on Radio Three in the 1960s and early 1970s. It seemed that contemporary music invariably revolved around composers such as Stockhausen and his circle. Stockhausen and John Cage sometimes did sell out concerts, although this was far from usual. The total serialists and others described as avant-garde, were genuinely unpopular with most of the concert going public. This was made worse by the introductions to such music on the radio, or programme notes in concerts; these often referred to descriptions of the composer's arcane techniques. The whole atmosphere was obsessively intellectual. So extreme was this that (if I remember accurately) a twenty minute composition for string ensemble was preceeded by a twenty-five minute explanation when broadcast. I believe such things have added to the idea that contemporary music is something different from that of the past and therefore, not easy to listen to.

Some listeners may want to hear the sound and the abstract structure, both uniting in the asthetic experience. Some forms, such as sonata form or the fugue, can be heard; the original theme can sometimes be detected in traditional jazz improvisation; but it is highly unlikely that the techniques of total serialism can be heard - one critic even described it as "number fetishism". The listener should not need to be aware of these techniques in order to appreciate the music. No one needs to understand construction engineering, flying buttresses or foundations to appreciate a beautiful cathedral, although studying these things may well enhance one's appreciation. Compositional forms and structures are the musical equivalent of construction engineering, they ensure the music does not fall down. Advanced serial techniques - sometimes derived from mathematics, such as permutations and stochastic theory - can easily be shown to be the music equivalent of this statement about Gothic architecture: "the structure and the aesthetics are one and the same thing". [Carmelite Gothic website (copied 5 October 2024)] However concepts from one art form do not automatically apply to another.

The most often heard complaint about contemporary music is that it doesn't have melodies - even though some of it does. This is misleading, a better word than melody would be theme; the word melody can have narrow connotations. The themes of some fugues or symphonies can hardly be described as melodies in the usual sense - short, distinct motifs are often more suitable to the thematic development used in sonata form. A better description is that most contemporary classical music does not sound melodic. Debussy, Steve Reich, Ambient and House music invariably sound melodic but may not have distinct melodies. Some successful popular music is built around one note, such as Ça Plane Pour Moi by Plastic Betrand and many Taylor Swift songs. Duke Ellington usually opened his concerts with his well-known composition C Jam Blues, a theme using only two notes - dominant and tonic of the key. And then there are singer songwriters where the words are the most important element, the melody taking a second place; Jacques Brel is an obvious example.

There is another convincing explanation why contemporary classical music is not popular. By the mid-1960s rock music and so-called middle-of-the-road music had become an exceptionally high standard. The lyrics to much popular music were original, well-written, insightful and relevant to 1960s disaffected youth. To return to my small Scottish town, there were anti-war protest songs on the jukebox in a small cafe, this was at a time when an imminent nuclear war was thought possible and rock music reflected these concerns. I think rock music in particular has attracted the audience that once would have been a classical audience. Many rock musicians say they were influenced by Stockhausen - Holger Czukay, founder of the German Kosmische Musik group Can, studied with Stockhausen 1963-1966. However they still worked within the rock idiom, they did not start writing classical music. It is also difficult to hear exactly what that influence was, except in tape manipulation and electronic sounds, including the use of short-wave radio.

The new ideas from rock music rarely found their way into classical compositions. The instruments used in rock music were different, typically electric guitar, bass guitar, drum kit and electric organ. The electric organ was used in classical works, Stockhausen used two in Momente, at the premiere in 1962 the ensemble included a Hammond and Lowrey organ. The other instruments are not so easily transferred. Rock electric guitarists develop a range of overdriven sounds which cannot be produced without a lot of practise. At that time probably no good electric guitarists read music, and probably no classical guitarists could produce the right sound. The gulf between classical and rock music was immense: different instruments; atonal as opposed to tonal; arhythmic instead of a frequent regular pulse; one using strict, complex notation, the other usually learned by ear and partly improvised; one acoustic, the other amplified. As for vocal technique, the two are just about unrelated. However it is unfortunate that the techniques of rock music did not find their way into classical music: the melodic forms, regular rhythms, instrumental textures, harmonic structure, and techniques to produce a cosmic, other-worldly atmosphere.

Many contemporary classical composers believed they were the only unabsurd continuation of the European tradition, driving forward what was intrinsic in our shared musical culture. Unfortunately in the process they lost most of the audience.