Glock watching

It was surely unworthy of

Paul Spicer to refer to William Glock’s tenure as Radio 3 controller as ‘the dark ages’ (Choral revivals, January issue), as it perpetuates the myth that Glock only promoted the avant-garde and, to quote, ‘alienated many music lovers’. Even a cursory study of the details in Radio Times of that period (1959-72) will show that the vast majority of the BBC’S music output was still from the early, Baroque, Classical and Romantic periods.

There was, to be sure, some Schoenberg and Webern as well as Maxwell Davies and Birtwistle, but certainly not at the expense of the standard repertoire; it is inaccurate to demonise Glock in this way. The excellent British choral music Paul Spicer refers to was to be heard in the weekly Choral Evensong broadcasts, as it still is today.

Michael Boyle, Woodford Green