Audience Scrabble

Discussions about reaching new audiences only have value for me if they also talk about the music. So I was delighted to read an article on BBC Learning - Scotland titled Classical music with youth appeal in which a 'doubter' explains:
Heck, I even started listening to Radio 3 for inspiration and discovered a piece of music by Arvo Part, Spiegel im Spiegel, which I would now proudly make part of my Desert Island Disc playlist (I think it would sit right fine next to Prince, the Afghan Whigs and the Rolling Stones). There were lots of other gems I discovered along the way, and many of them appear in the series. For example, James MacMillan's The Confession of Isobel Gowdie, Elgar's Symphony No 1, Reynaldo Hahn's beautiful À Chloris and an absolutely enchanting rendition of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies' Farewell to Stromness, performed by the Caliban Quartet of bassoonists.
I will say no more than this article is essential reading and one of the most regularly read posts On An Overgrown Path remains my 2005 Farewell to Stromness.

* Trivia quiz - what is the connection between this post and El Sistema, other than the very obvious one of music education?

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Comments

Pliable said…
Topical and relevant James MacMillan news http://news.scotsman.com/scotland/Revealed-discord-over-music-for.6602327.jp

Here is James MacMillan's blog referred to in the Scotsman article but not linked to, presumably because it is on the Telegraph website

http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/culture/jmacmillan/100048309/how-trendy-liturgists-tried-to-stop-my-mass-being-performed-for-the-pope/

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