Robert Pirsig
December, 1974
Usually, when a new British musical sensation is introduced to the American public, the phenom in question is either still in diapers or else burning them onstage to show Mum and Dad where it's at. Neither is the case with this year's phenom; Sir Michael Tippett--a "classical" composer, though he's modern as can be and an unashamed intellectual--is nearly as old as the century (69) and thoroughly a mensch. He first won international acclaim in 1941 with A Child of Our Time, an oratorio...
