THE music of Sir Harrison Birtwistle is often described as atonal. But there was no mistaking his tone when he took the stage at an awards ceremony yesterday to deliver a crescendo of criticism against pop music.

Sir Harrison, 71, had been invited to the Ivor Novello Awards for composers and songwriters to receive the classical music accolade for his contribution to contemporary British composing.

But it was all too much for him, mainly because he had to listen to the Kaiser Chiefs, K T Tunstall, X-Factor reality TV show winners and, worst of all, James Blunt, performer of You’re Beautiful, voted international hit of the year and the first British song in nine years to top the US charts.

Taking the stage to accept his own award, Sir Harrison chose the moment to compose some particularly discordant phrases. “Why is your music so effing loud?” he asked the predominantly pop-orientated audience. “You must all be brain-dead. Maybe you are. I didn’t know so many clichés existed until the last half-hour. Have fun. Goodbye.” It was one of his shorter works.

The composer, the doyen of British modernism, explained that he was not opposed to pop music as such. “I’ve just discovered Roy Orbison — he’s a real singer,” he said.

Among many music-lovers, the ballads of Blunt have a capacity to irritate just as much as a snatch of Birtwistle, but Sir Harrison is the first to say so in such a public way.

Amanda Ghost, who won two Novello awards for transforming Blunt’s original song idea into a global hit, conceded that the composer might have a point. “Pop songs are disposable, like McDonald’s, whereas Sir Harrison is producing a bouillabaise by comparison. I listen to a lot of Wagner, Mahler and Beethoven and that influences my chord progressions.”

Ms Ghost, a singer-songwriter in her own right, added: “People probably told Salieri that he was composing brain-dead music. It’s a bit lazy to dismiss a whole genre of music.”

Other noise creators sprang to the defence of pop. Guy Chambers, co-writer of the Robbie Williams hit Angels, said: “The great thing about the Novellos is that someone like Sir Harrison can come and express his opinions. But I don’t think all pop songs are clichés. Sometimes ‘I love you’ is the simplest thing to say, and the right thing.”