“Music is the most profound, magical form of communication there is,” Lesley Garrett.

As generalisations go, she may be right and she may be wrong. I know way too little about opera specifically, and music generally, to comment.

What I do believe, because my chum Matthew who really does know a great deal about music told me, is that in his view there is no such thing as music that is good or bad, there is just music that you like and there is music that you do not.

We learned today about the death of Sir Peter Maxwell Davies, a composer about whom I was completely ignorant.

His obituary on the BBC said: “Famous for pushing boundaries, Sir Peter’s earlier works have been described as unplayable, generating controversy amongst audiences and critics alike. In 1969, people shouted “rubbish” at the premiere of his opera Eight Songs for a Mad King; while the inaugural performance ofWorldes Blis caused a mass walk-out at the BBC Proms.”

On Channel 4 News, his death was illustrated with a clip that explained very clearly why that occurred.

I clicked the link from the BBC site to sample his most famous piece ‘Farewell to Stromness’ on YouTube  and could not stop listening.

After a busy day at the salt mine, its calm notes muted to silence the incessant vibrations, phone tones and pings that were still ringing in my ears. Communication made magic? No question.

This article was originally published on LinkedIn on 14 March