The not inconsiderable literature on Cardew frequently gives a view of him (merely) as a ‘man of ideas’, rather than as a composer of music whose qualities need no moral support from their conceptual infrastructure, and which may be judged on the same level as any music by composers less concerned than he was with the nature and status of themselves and their work.
http://journals.cambridge.org/action/displayJournal?jid=TEM The final, definitive version of this article has been published in the Journal, Tempo, 60 (238), pp 2-7 2006 © 2006 Cambridge University Press.