Sibelius began planning his Sixth Symphony, op. 104, in 1918, before the Fifth reached its final, definitive version: the Sixth took virtually five years to complete, and was first performed in 1923. It immediately attracted attention, and critics began at once to explore its structure. Sibelius seems to have been genuinely surprised at some of the revelations of the analysts and is recorded as saying that though investigators might find several interesting things going on in the work, ‘most people forget that it is, above all, a poem’. Sibelius's warning – typical of most composers, who generally seem content to forget the scaffolding of a work once it is completed – has done nothing to prevent analysts from probing into the Symphony.

It is perhaps curious that only a year after this exchange took place in 1981, Ligeti completed his Horn Trio – which uses traditional ternary form, a passacaglia (although a disguised one), a strong melodic focus, and a harmonic language which contains clear triads and dominant sevenths in abundance. In spite of his assertions above, it does seem as if Ligeti, in addition to rejecting the Avant-garde, is looking to the past for major elements of his musical language.

What kind of contribution can a person make to the study of music for which they have no intuitive sympathy? Music which doesn't ‘click’ with them, which fails to generate a compelling affective response? Many possibilities, surely, are ruled out. One would hardly expect that anything approaching meaningful analysis might emerge where the work in question was not being artistically understood; nor would reasonable criticism seem to be possible in such circumstances. On the other hand, at least a little may be ‘ruled in’. Were 1 myself, for example, not baffled by Delius, I might not have made the observation upon which the present article rests.

The recent spate of world premières, concerts and several newly-released and imminent CD recordings have indicated a renewed interest in the music of the British composer Graham Whettam, who celebrated his 70th birthday with a concert in 1998 (see review in Tempo 206) and is still busy producing new works. As recently as February he completed his Fifth Symphony, for chamber orchestra (a Sixth is in progress) and his String Quartet No.4 is scheduled for a première later this year.

• Thé du Châtelet, Paris: Adams's ‘El Niño’ Robert Stein 37

• London, Royal Academy of Music: Finnissy's ‘The History of Photography in Sound’ Geoff Hannan 38

• Milan, La Scala ‘Tat'jana’ George Newman 38

• London: Alan Bush centenary events Martin Anderson 42

• Schoenberg's Chamber Symphonies Michael Graubart 43

• Günther Wand in profile Peter Palmer 44

• CUP Ravel Companion Anthony Gritten 46

• American Women Composers Guy Rickards

• Sadie Harrison Malcolm Galloway

• Gurus of American Electronic Music Roger Sutherland

• Ohana on CD Caroline Rae

• Ginastera and Chávez Calum MacDonald

• Tadeusz Baird Guy Rickards

• Sciarrino Nicolas Hodges

• McCabe's ‘Edward II’ Bret Johnson