future directions for symphonic music

The British conductor Sir Neville Marriner who founded the Academy of St Martin in the Fields in 1958, died last Saturday aged 92. Sir Neville began his career as a violinist, playing with the London Symphony Orchestra. Along with the Academy of St Martin in the Fields, he eventually became one of the most recorded…

The dreaded ‘C’ word. Not ‘Classical’, but ‘Crossover’.  The very name implies an abandonment of values, of stepping over to the dark side, of crossing the floor. Regarded by ‘classical’ followers as lightweight, and by ‘pop’ afficionados as a wolf in sheep’s clothing, ‘Crossover’ is like a bastard child, desperately wanting to belong whilst simultaneously trying to shape…