‘Disparagement and Invidious Comparisons’? Assessing Critical Reactions to Mathias's First Symphony

Abstract

A composer can't, and shouldn't, expect to please everybody. What is really important to me is whether what I've produced is exactly what I mean, and on that I'm prepared to stand. That doesn't imply, of course, that I don't think that some of my works are better than others – that is inevitable. One of the problems in modern music is that some composers tend to feel that they should be saying what they ought to mean; they're thinking about the process of writing too much, and relying too little on the tremendous power of the instinct, which must be trusted in the end.