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2022-12-22 -

Master of the small screen

With regard to your The Listening

Service column on Sounds of our Lives

(November), among the most effective television themes must be Wilfred Josephs’s score for The Great War series, first broadcast by the BBC in 1964. The initial chords immediately define a sense of catastrophe, which we rapidly follow seemingly into hell itself, before the appearance of a sombre minor figure which is echoed throughout each episode. What made this music especially powerful was the way in which it was synchronised with the programme’s opening visuals, with an ascending musical figure being displayed across a descending visual, as if the viewer is being flung into a battlefield trench. These moments remain with me decades later. It is more than likely that this was the first orchestral music that I ever heard, a formative experience for which I remain grateful. Andrew Kirby, Tucson, US

Glière gems

What a refreshing change to read Erik Levi’s December Composer of the Month feature on Glière, a composer who has been undeservedly neglected. A friend in America long ago brought to my attention Glière’s piano piece Romance Op. 16 – arguably more Rachmaninov than Rachmaninov. I also found in an antiquarian music shop several years ago his ‘Rusalka’, a song for soprano and piano. This work is a tour de force for both participants and, again, Rachmaninov would have been happy to have composed it. Both of these works are in my personal Top 10 to perform, but are just two of many works gathering dust on shelves. Is it not time for performers to give the overplayed composers a rest and re-introduce these neglected jewels? Brian Lamb, Zeist, The Netherlands The editor replies: We are glad you enjoyed the Glière feature. In Composer of the Month each month, we aim both to shed light on under-represented composers as well as explore particular perspectives on the more familiar ones. We have had pleasing feedback with regards to a number of this year’s lesser-known composers, and would welcome readers to get in touch and tell us about others they would like to see covered in future issues.

Percussion preference?

I agree with Stephen Binnington (Letter of the Month, December) about this year’s BBC Young Musician Grand Final. It once again had me questioning how percussion can be compared with other instruments. When the chair of the judges, Anna Lapwood, unwisely said that percussion was her favourite genre, I knew the game was up even before I heard the finalists. I am not sure a percussionist could ever elicit an emotional response in me like the violist did – he was a phenomenal player and a much rarer talent.

Dianne Knowles, Manchester

A fair hearing

I cannot agree with Stephen Binnington’s letter, in which he states that ‘essentially music is about listening’ in response to the final of the BBC Young Musician 2022. I’m sure we have all read accounts of how the virtuosos of centuries past captivated their audiences by their on-stage performance as well as their musicianship. Whether we are talking about Paganini and Liszt, or Elvis and the Beatles, they would not have been as popular as they were had it not been for what audiences could see as well as hear. Meanwhile, if the judges of BBC Young Musician are influenced by the ‘visual flamboyance’ of a percussionist as Mr Binnington suggests, why

have there only been three percussion winners in 44 years? The competition this year was remarkable, and we should let Jordan Ashman enjoy his win without suggesting it might have been unfair.

Shane Brown, Norwich

The value of music

I enjoyed reading Richard Morrison’s October column on why state schools should have music as part of their curriculum. He provided many examples of how music programmes have already enriched many state schools. Moreover, he makes the important point that music programmes in state schools seem to go hand in hand with academic achievement. I took up piano five years ago as an adult and, though I enjoy it, I find it requires a considerable amount of mental and physical effort as well as time. I am a scientist and I find piano as demanding as doing science. Listening to and enjoying music does not necessarily require much effort (unless you are a professional analysing music) but learning to play music certainly does and contributes significantly to a student’s development just as maths, literature and science do. I see no reason why it should not be taken as seriously as any other subject we teach. Music would seem to be a net gain for students and for one’s country.

Ariel Edery, Montreal, Canada

Shattered Dream

I’d like to add to your recent correspondence about concerts we wish we had attended.

In the early 1960s, John Barbirolli came to Dublin, where I was born, to conduct a performance of Elgar’s The

Dream of Gerontius. I was in my early teens and a neophyte in classical music, but I knew Sir John’s name and sensed the concert would be something special. Unfortunately, the concert was on a Saturday and, as a child of Orthodox Jewish parents, I was forbidden to attend on the Sabbath. In the weeks prior to the event, I would walk by the National Stadium where the concert was being held and see the posters for the concert, and my heart would ache, but my parents were adamant. Gerontius is not performed that often in the

US, where I now live, so I only finally heard it live on a visit to Australia at the Sydney Opera House in 2016. Fifty years is certainly a long time to wait to hear such a masterpiece! Mashey Bernstein,

Santa Barbara, CA, US

Glorious gift

The November issue letter from Martin Sixsmith on John

Barbirolli’s 70th Birthday Concert brought back memories of the occasion. In December 1969, I must have been home for the Christmas holidays from the University of Sussex and had taken the bus from my home in Burnley to Manchester intending to try and get a return ticket. I remember queuing at the

Free Trade Hall and when I eventually reached the door, expecting to be turned away, the attendant gave me a ticket. When I asked him how much it was; he replied ‘gratis’. The ticket was in the first few rows of the balcony, next to a family of prominent Mancunians who had donated it. I still have the programme today. The Elgar – the Introduction and Allegro – was on the first Hallé concert I went to as a teenager in Blackburn, organised as a voluntary outing by my school, but the Vaughan Williams Sixth and Beethoven Seventh symphonies were my first live performances of these works. Peter Hamilton,

Raleigh, NC, US

Digital option

Thank you for such a comprehensive magazine that allows me to discover new music and composers every month and inspires me in my listening choices.

The only thing that I struggle with is the CD on the front cover. At this time when we all need to be thinking of the costs to the planet, should we be moving away from producing lots of plastic such as the case and the wrapping? Would a more sustainable and environmentally friendly alternative be to have a link printed in the magazine to a webpage so we can listen digitally? This would also save space on my shelves, and I worry about all the CDS that get thrown away into landfill.

I do hope you seriously consider alternatives.

Heather King, Bracknell

Going green

I have been a subscriber from Issue 1 – a happy subscriber! It follows that I now have on my shelves 360+ cover CDS: some superb, many excellent, most of the rest just fine, a few duds. Thirty years on, and now eventually having sorted out downloads and all that, I do wonder whether – on practical and environmental grounds – the time has come to offer flacquality downloads (or better?) alongside, or as an alternative to, the CD. At a reduced subscription price, perhaps? All the better!

Eric Webb, via email