The great Hungarian composer Gyorgi Ligeti died yesterday. His music was full of detail and (a new type of) movement, and he developed a number of ideas and techniques about timbre and the non-tonal aspects of music. Others can comment on his life and music, but his death made me think again how odd it is that he was eclipsed in the popular imagination (give or take his contribution to A Space Odyssey) by the likes of Steve Reich, Philip Glass and John Adams and, even more antiseptic, Michael Nyman or Gavin Bryars.

There should be a campaign to turn the tables and promote the tradition of Ligeti and, even more so, of Xenakis and, today, Iancu Dumitrescu. We could get really militant about it and protest outside the venues for minimalist performances, getting into trouble with their supporters. If anyone gets the manifesto together, I'll join.