David Horne and Alasdair Spratt

Alasdair telephoned from the Conservatorium in the Hague to say he would be coming over to stay en route for Schipol. He is an ex-student of David Horne who is an ex-student of mine. So a sort of “grandson” as far as writing music is concerned.David is now a formidable composer and teacher, bright as anything and he will dispute till the cows come home on many subjects, though it never gets abrasive. I have to think my ideas through carefully before tackling him or I end up flat on my face in the mud…………he-he.http://www.davidhorne.net/Alasdair and I have been having a correspondence by email for some time, mostly about religious matters. They interest us both very much. He sang in the chorus at the Edinburgh premiere of The Coming of Wasichu, a big cantata I wrote about native Americans back in 1998. That’s a very religious piece and it marks, perhaps, the point at which my interest in religion began rapidly to increase. Exponentially in fact. Incidentally, I don’t at all like the term native Americans. I would prefer something like Original Americans or First Americans.Alasdair is a composer of course. I only know one piece so far, but that’s all about to change. In addition, he writes about music.