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English Music DaySunday 23 April 2006 18:00-18:30 (Radio 3) English music is usually defined by Tallis, Purcell and the 20th Century pastoral tradition. But what is English music today? Tom Service chairs a live edition with contributions from the composers Anthony Payne, Mark-Anthony Turnage and George Benjamin. Duration:30 minutes In this programmeEnglish Music Day
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What is English music? As part of Radio 3's day devoted to English composers this Sunday, Music Matters looks at the history, identity and the future of music by English composers. Tom will be joined by two important figures in contemporary music, George Benjamin and Anthony Payne. 
For some, English music begins with Byrd and Dowland, goes off the boil in the 18th and early 19th centuries, and then comes back to prominence with Elgar at the very end of the 19th century, to be followed in the 20th by the folk music inspired revival of Vaughan Williams and the pastoral nostalgia of Delius and Holst. 
But for others, early 20th century English music is not a story of heroic musical nationalism but a regressive musical sell-out: for Vaughan Williams, think the musical equivalent of warm beer and cricket, or worse, the embodiment of the so-called 'cowpat school' of composition. For those who came after Vaughan Williams, there was a difficult legacy to deal with. Tom has been talking to Harrison Birtwistle and Peter Maxwell Davies hearing how they had to escape the clutches of m0020usical conservatism during their student days in Manchester, to create their own, modernist vision of music in England. 
But are they English composers? Some would find it hard to think of Birtwistle's abrasive music in the same breath as Elgar or Delius, but on the continent and in America, he tells Tom that people think of him as a definitively English composer. What does that mean at the beginning of the 21st century: is there a new English school of composition? Mark-Anthony Turnage explains what it means to him, and we'll be looking forward to today's young composers, and what the future holds for English music. Find out if we're on the cusp of a new musical vision of Albion on Sunday in our half-hour special, starting at 6pm, live on BBC Radio 3.