More MaxOpus

In my MaxOpus post I wrote about the innovative web site, complete with music downloads, created by our Master of the Queen's Music and maverick musician Sir Peter Maxwell Davies. (See also my review of his Sacred Music on CD).

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Peter Maxwell Davies lives on a croft on the island of Sanday in the Orkneys, and owns a television only in deference to his partner.

In an interview in Saturday's Guardian Sir Peter gives some interesting, and eminently sensible, views on the current artstic climate (open this link for the full text). The future of 'serious' music he says is......

"A question about the survival of civilised values, which can only be done by a commitment to music, theatre and so forth.

I will talk about the effect of television being by and large very negative. These things exhibit a lack of concentration in terms of timespan.

Most people don't ever think about music that doesn't have a lyric, and many of them don't know it can last longer than a single pop track........

I once experimented with (television) for about a year but found it intrusive., especially the BBC news presentation. The signature tune was in E major, such a special key, reserved for works like Bruckner's Seventh Symphony and Beethoven's opus 109 sonata."

Hear, hear (or should that be don't hear, don't hear?)

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