Sir – I read Colin May’s letter (October 25) with interest. Certainly the East Oxford Orchestra should be recognised for constructing a daring and unconventional programme for their concert but who would really want to listen to such stuff?

For my part, I hope that Oxford’s professional orchestras do not follow the East Oxford Orchestra’s lead in including Ligeti and Xenakis et al in their programmes. I realise that one cannot subsist on a constant diet of Mozart and Beethoven, that it is important to try new ideas, explore new avenues. But the bulk of the music of today is a motley assemblage of rampant cacophony and atonal maundering.

Its creators and its promoters on Radio 3 claim that it is “challenging” and “intellectually stimulating”. How can one be stimulated intellectually by cacophony? My personal response is a mixture of revulsion and boredom, as is that of other concert-goers I have spoken to. Certainly the Oxford Philomusica will not enhance their reputation by including the composers listed by Mr May in their repertoire. I like to think that in 100 years from now — bar some man-made or natural catastrophe — audiences will still react to the spiritual wholeness and cerebral power of JS Bach. They will still delight in the poise and grace of Mozart, will gladly partake in Beethoven’s struggles, thrill to Wagner’s raptures and even enjoy the tunes of Tchaikovsky.

This, after Ligeti, Xenakis, Sally Beamish, Howard Skempton, Jonathan Harvey, etc, etc, have all been long forgotten.

Nicholas Wilson, Summertown