LETTER of the MONTH

Invitation to the Dante

Should readers wish to explore further, as a footnote to Claire Jackson’s interesting article about Dante (November), another composer who was inspired by his writings was Boris Tishchenko (1939-2010), who wrote five very substantial ‘Dante’ Symphonies

(Op. 123) as a separate entity to his other nine numbered symphonies. They are all available on CD but, unfortunately, are public performances and the sound quality ranges from average to very poor. The audience coughs on the disc of Symphonies Nos 1 and 2 are so intrusive that, having listened to it once, I disposed of it. But the other two discs – one with Symphonies Nos 3 and 5, and the other with Symphony No. 4 (which lasts 51 minutes) are notably better, and the music itself is well worth hearing. New recordings would be a major undertaking and very welcome. We do not abandon hope!

Richard Howard, Banstead, Surrey