Liu explains how localized Western music is in China, concentrated in the big cities. In this vast country, only 30 orchestras give more than 10 performances a year. And, Liu said, most of the provincial outfits "would make you want to commit suicide", so low is the standard. Even the top orchestras in Beijing and Shanghai have a long way to go before they can compete with those in the West.

One hopeful sign, Liu said, is that most provincial cities are building new concert halls, part of China's current construction mania fuelled by economic growth.

Someone will have to perform in them, and Liu hopes this will lead to a new generation of orchestras. The other key development is the mass production of musicians in China: a staggering 20 million youngsters are said to be learning the piano, 10 million the violin, and the conservatories are bulging.

The new multi-storey Central Conservatory building in Beijing will house no fewer than five recital halls. This, surely, is the future - the source of the salvation Price talks about.

Perhaps. But a visit to former army accordion-player Jiang Jie's central piano school (he has 14 others in Beijing, with 30,000 pupils) made me doubt the value of the numbers game. There, in rooms arranged around a spiral staircase, children aged 6 to 18 were rehearsing, many overseen by eager parents.

I asked one youngster to play a piece for me. "Some Chopin?" I suggested, but he insisted on Liszt. It was showy, bashed-out virtuosity, not too accurate, though impressive in its sweaty energy.

Musical education in China seems to be about passing exams, becoming a virtuoso, and getting to a music school so you can earn lots of money by taking private pupils. It is musical pyramid-selling.