Letter: Disharmony

Sir: Thank you for reporting Sir Dennis Stevenson's timely comments on the contemporary music scene in this country.

Real music does not need explanation. Does Beethoven have to be explained, or Bach or Mozart? Even "programme" music should stand in its own right as a musical argument.

The main problem in your country (I come from America) is the BBC. The only composers they accept are those sold to them by the spin-doctors of the music profession. In the absence of any absolute criteria they choose those composers using the right sort of trendy gimmicks and presenting the right "image". Hence so much work heard on the air is meretricious modern garbage written by people who should never call themselves composers. If music is any good it gets through to the audience on its own terms.

ROGER de BLANCKE

London NW7