I think it was Richard Baker who was sent to interview Malcolm Williamson after his appointment as Master of the Queen's Music, and managed to address him as "Malcolm Arnold" live on air. Williamson was very unhappy about it.
Williamson was an Aussie, just wondered how he bumped someone equally (if not more) talented and obviously better-known who was home grown?
Well the Queen of the United Kingdom and Northern Ireland is also the Queen of Australia (and New Zealand, and Canada...... :)) so Williamson was not an "improper" choice.
The fact was that the appointment was made in 1975 on the recommendation of the Prime Minister. Had Bliss died two years earlier then the Prime Minister at the time would have been Edward Heath-who was passionate about classical music. Heath's successors have shown no such interest :( :(
The possible candidates in 1975-apart from Williamson-would have been Herbert Howells(at 83 too old), Gordon Jacob(80 and probably not taken seriously enough), Alan Bush(75 and probably politically unacceptable ;D), Sir William Walton(73, living in Ischia and would probably have refused the job), Edmund Rubbra(74), Lennox Berkeley(72), Michael Tippett (70), William Alwyn(70) and a whole group of British composers in their 50s or 60s almost completely unknown to "the general public" and, generally speaking, little performed publicly or recorded commercially. The exception was, clearly, Malcolm Arnold. By 1975 however it was well-known that Arnold was "in a bad place" mentally, his music was becoming unpredictable, his behaviour even more unpredictable and often downright appalling. What was probably not evident (or was not sufficiently investigated) was that Williamson himself was or would soon prove to be similarly -although to a lesser extent-unpredictable and erratic and that this would lead to royal commissions not being delivered on time.
Frankly, no one really wants the job of Master of the Queen's Music ;D The holders of the post pre-Edward Elgar were nonentities. Elgar took it as the pre-eminent British composer of his time. He could hardly refuse (even if he had wanted to -and my guess is that he was proud of this further sign of his recognition). Vaughan Williams is believed to have refused the appointment in 1934 when Elgar died. Arnold Bax was a strange choice as Elgar's successor since his music was unsuited to royal occasions and he composed very little suitable music whilst in the post.
Maxwell Davies accepted the job with serious reservations, imposed conditions and will resign in any case this year. His successor ??? ??? Now there IS a question ;D ;D
Sir Paul McCartney ??? ??? ??? ::) ::) For all the interest David Cameron takes in classical music it could be anybody :(
