27 APRIL 1991, Page 25

Salieri Holloway

Sir: Robin Holloway confesses that he walked out half-way through the first performance of 23-year-old Frederick Stocken's oratorio `The Cathedral' (23 March). Strangely what he does not reveal in his lengthy condemnation of the piece is that, until last year, Frederick Stocken was a composition pupil of his at Cambridge. This concealment, combined with his stagy exit and the work's huge popularity with the audience, leave the distinct impression that Holloway is a jealous `Salieri' in his attitude to the career of a young 'Mozart'. Nicholas Wilton

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