Howler du jour

We can hope that he is not actually the ignoramus which this unctuous remark would seem to indicate, but in any event it is no great credit to The Guardian when Peter Conrad writes: As a young man, John Adams upset the sedate peace of American symphonic music.

What utter rot. There are symphonies Peter Mennin wrote when Adams was a young man, which out-energize Adams’s sedate soundscapes. Symphonies of which, one guesses, Peter Conrad glides along in blissful un-awareness.