David,
First of all, this piece of music is really, really good. I mean, *really* good. 9:30-9:50 especially caught my attention; something about it gave me goosebumps. It's not just the wry portamentos; those are all over the place in this piece. There's something very simple and elegant about most of this. It flows like a calming stream in an idyllic forest.
Second, I'd like to offer you what might be a unique (and hopefully uplifting perspective) in regards to the following point you made:
Originally Posted by: Acclarion 
It has always been the domain of the "cultural elite" and this infuriates me, as there is no reason classical music can't appeal to anyone, as long as it's part of the formative development of children.
I'm a young buck (early millenial) who grew up on an infrequent diet of thumpy electronica, thrashing metal, and whatever poppy, punk-esque nonsense was playing at the skatepark I used to frequent (I used to skateboard a lot). I was never exposed in an inclusive or educational way to classical, jazz, or more intellectually demanding/rewarding forms of music during my formative years. All I knew is that it was what the band kids did, and I'd rather be jumping down stairs on a piece of wood with wheels.
So, many years later, when I first started diddling with piano and happened to listen to Bach, I was surprised to find that I loved it! Same with Beethoven, Bartok, Chopin, Debussy, Gershwin, Ellington, etc. Music that is supposed to be "artsy", "pretentious", "inaccessible" - I found that I couldn't (and still can't) get enough of! You would think that a silly millenial with no music education or musical family (my mother and father are tone-deaf...frustratingly) would be completely averse to all this, but here I am!
I've puzzled over why this is, and I believe the reason is that I was never *told* what music was supposed to be and what I was supposed to like. Or maybe I was and I just stubbornly ignored it. I didn't have the practical benefit of music education (something I'm diligently trying to rectify), but I also didn't receive all the "shoulds" and "expectations" that I have since learned come with the multitude of music scenes and industries. In other words, IdiscoveredMusic with a capital M in an innocent vacuum of child-like curiousity - evenin adulthood when such things are not supposed to be possible - and I would have it no other way because listening to music fills me with a genuine, untouchable happiness that is hard to express.
My point is: yes, early exposure and education are crucial to allowing this kind of music to flourish in the minds of future generations and live on, but equally important, I think, is the *freedom* for said future generations to explore and discover the music on their own terms, sans expectations, pressures, and social implications of genre, style, etc.
Or maybe I'm just an anomaly that has something in his DNA that says, "This dude will likeFugues no matter what!" However, I know for a fact that, when I listened to your piece, I didn't hear "art music" or "pretentious" or "classical" or anything like that - I just heard music, and it was good, and I liked it, and I'm going to listen to it again now because I liked it :) And, for me, that's all that really matters.
Hopefully, one day, the general public will adopt the same outlook!
- Sam