MUSIC / Upbeat: Coda

MOST played work of the season? The oratorios and carols apart, there's a fair chance it is by a living composer: Howard Blake's children's favourite, The Snowman, will have clocked up 23 performances this month. Two of them are in Germany, one in Helsinki, and one by the North Suburban Symphony Orchestra of Winnetka, Illinois. This weekend alone, three of Britain's professional orchestras are breaking the ice with it: the Northern Sinfonia (twice), the BBC Scottish and the BBC Philharmonic.