Classical music will prosper if it embraces young disruptors Proms purists tend only to reinforce the genre's reputation as elitist and inaccessible 14 March 2021 • 8:15pm Channel-flicking the other evening, I happened upon an archive clip from 1967, showing the classical musician and critic, Hans Keller, in conversation with Roger Waters, the co-founder of Pink Floyd. It was an even-tempered exchange, which ended with Keller observing that the Floyd’s music struck him as “a little bit of a regression to childhood – but after all, why not?” There followed another would-be confrontation between classical and pop, with Sir William Walton invited to give his verdict on The Who. The composer of Façade and Crown Imperial said of course he liked The Who: his godson, Kit Lambert, was the band’s manager.