ABSTRACT
Whereas opportunistic artists fear discussing their successors publicly (though become eager to make decisions about them privately, as in granting prizes, say), Thomson suffered no such fears—not when he worked at The Paper or afterwards. Thanks to breadth of taste, he could praise composers who opposed each other and damn equally. The 1968 essay on Pierre Boulez is extraordinarily prescient about a composer/performer whose reputation has not worn well, at least in America. Once Thomson decided he had nothing to fear, he went to work, penning capsule sketches that are really models of their kind for both insight and style .
