28 OCTOBER 1995, Page 34

Selective formulation

Sir: Robin Holloway's wounded response (Arts, 21 October) to my Times article about modern composers attributes the fol- lowing quote to me: 'If a few composers miss a few deadlines, so what? The world is not short of music waiting to fill any awk- ward gaps.'

What I actually wrote was the precise opposite: 'If a few composers miss a few deadlines, so what? The world is not short of music waiting to fill any awkward gaps. That is a seductive but disastrous argu- ment.'

Mr Holloway accuses me of 'journalistic crudity', but I hope I am never so crude that I resort to such a blatant piece of selec- tive quoting.

Richard Morrison

The Times, 1 Pennington Street, London El