HOWARD GOODALL'S 20TH CENTURY GREATS

JOHN LENNON & PAUL McCARTNEY knowing only a handful of chords between them, turned themselves into the most influential composers of the late twentieth century. Their music wasn't just immensely popular. It also proved that traditional western harmony - the main building block of European music - still had plenty to offer. (Even though avant-garde composers had turned their back on it.) By mixing pop and classical techniques, and cross-fertilising them with Indian, and electronic music, The Beatles refreshed and revitalised western harmony. They also transformed the recording studio from a dull box where you recaptured your live sound, into a musical laboratory, of exciting and completely new sounds. This was one of the most crucial advances in the way popular music was to be produced. But Lennon/McCartney didn't just influence all popular music that followed them. They influenced classical music too. The leading classical composers of our own era have turned back to traditional ha