Quotes from Alain Frogley

The possibility of a musical modernity that was not characterized by sensationalism

With my own pupils now I always try to remember the value of encouragement. Sometimes a callow youth appears who may be a fool or may be a genius and I would rather be guilty of encouraging a fool than of discouraging a genius.

Unfortunately, Vaughan Williams talked and wrote a great deal of sheer nonsense about his supposed amateurishness.

Yet for all his idiosyncrasies in writing for the stage, Vaughan Williams did create several works of great power and beauty. Given the degree to which he refused to compromise his artistic vision, and the long odds most English composers of his generation faced in having their stage works realized – not to mention the lack of encouragement from the English musical world in general – the fact that he met with any success at all is remarkable.

Frank Sinatra, for instance, who had a wide knowledge of classical music, revered Vaughan Williams and the composer's Job in particular,