The Rise of the Concerto and the Fall of the Symphony in Britain

You will not be surprised to learn that I fundamentally disagree with you :)  I am happy to defend your absolute right however to express your opinion ;)

It may well be that a substantial number of younger composers are wondering whether there is any point in writing symphonies. Their reasons for that may differ between the fear that putting so much effort into composing in such a "weighty form" may not be rewarded with a performance at all and a more fundamental doubt that the symphony as a musical form has any real future per se.

You go on to elaborate a number of reasons why the symphony may be regarded as an anachronism in the 21st century and posit the theory that those symphonies which are being written by living composers are in the main "pastiche", mere replication of a tradition which is, or should be, regarded as now outmoded.

And, of course, to an extent-if I am being brutally honest-I can recognise the argument. There is no disguising the fact that my own personal preference is for symphonic music which does build on past tradition. Is that unhealthy or undesirable ??? ??? You, clearly, think so. I do not.

Are audiences really stuck in a musical museum dedicated to the regurgitation of past glories and pale imitations of such ??? Well, to an extent they are. But I still like to believe that audiences could be educated to an appreciation of both the music of the great composers of the past and of more modern music and that there IS also a middle-ground-not of pastiche but of composers who, just as their great predecessors did, can use tradition, can build upon it, to compose music which both looks backwards and forwards.

....and if I AM wrong, if you are correct in your forecast of what the future of musical appreciation and progress will really be like, then-from my point of view- fortunately I shall not be around to witness it ;D