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Sadly missed
I was sorry to read of the death of Christopher Gunning (Farewell to…, June). As you rightly say, he was well known for his Poirot theme on television and he also composed a wonderful concerto for saxophone and orchestra called On Hungerford Bridge, which John Harle recorded some years ago. I have not been able to listen to it, as well as most of my CD collection, following a stroke in 2020, but this piece is one of the memorable ones which I do miss! Ian Morgan, Malvern Link
Red light Ravel
I’d be glad to know what evidence, other than hearsay, Oliver Zeffman has for claiming Saint-saëns was homosexual (Smooth operator, June). As for Ravel, in 1966 his biographer HH Stuckenschmidt recalled being told by the conductor Désiré-émile Inghelbrecht that Ravel ‘had occasional encounters with prostitutes’. Ravel scholars were cautious about accepting this, knowing the bad blood between Ravel and Inghelbrecht. But more recently, Ravel’s friend and pupil Manuel Rosenthal has been quoted as recalling a phone call he made to Ravel, which gave him a crossed line, so that he heard a conversation between Ravel and a woman who was berating him for wanting to cancel a rendezvous. Rosenthal said her tirade left no doubt as to the nature of their liaison. Ravel wrote, ‘Artists are not made for marriage. We are rarely normal, and our lives even less so’, and he often worked long into the small hours, resurfacing in time for lunch. So he was not ‘very repressed’, just intelligent.
Roger Nichols, Herefordshire
Huw and cry
During the BBC’S coverage of the Coronation ceremony, I was particularly looking forward to hearing Handel’s Zadok the Priest in the context and surroundings for which it was written – but I was in for a shock. Presenter Huw Edwards came close to ruining it by talking over the orchestral introduction! I was no less shocked to discover (courtesy of Youtube) that Richard Dimbleby did the same in 1953. Donald Mackinnon, Grangemouth
Howe too spel
Dear Sharlot Smythe, As a faithful reader and subscriber of the Bee Bea Sea magazine, I am disappointed with your magazine using the spelling ‘Rachmaninov’. He chose the spelling ‘Rachmaninoff’ and used it for almost 30 years. In the same way that we do not decide the spelling of your name is wrong and change it without your permission, you
should not change his. The same goes for Gretchaninoff and others.
Michael Keyton, via email
Ins and outs
John Greenway (Letters, June) hits the nail on the head when he suggests Rachmaninov – and thank you for sticking to the elegant westernised spelling – was ignored by academia because he offered nothing new in terms of musical development. It was the same when I was an undergraduate: Berlioz was definitely so ‘in’ (much to my chagrin) that he was out the other side; Brahms and Strauss were ignored, but Tchaikovsky was very ‘in’, much to my glee. Rachmaninov received no mention at all. Years later, during my shortlived and disastrous career as a musicshopkeeper, my beloved final year tutor John Joubert came in and picked up some Rachmaninov scores. ‘Never wrote a dud note,’ he declared. Christopher Morley, Halesowen
Maidenhead monsters
In clearing my recently deceased father’s flat I have stumbled on a silver drinks platter (see above) that bears a curious inscription pertaining to George Gershwin’s time in the UK. I am well aware of who the ‘undersigned’ are and that George was in London in 1924 working on stage musicals, but who might the ‘most inhospitable people in Maidenhead’ be? And what was the occasion? I am not a collector of such memorabilia, have no idea how it came to be in the hands of my father (a lowly RAF officer), and would much rather it went to some institution who can breathe life into it and display it for the public. Any thoughts on who might be interested?
John Clark, Nottingham
Leamington sparkle
This year’s Leamington Music Festival, from late April to early May, was a simply brilliant, uplifting five days with some of Britain’s finest musicians and a sprinkling of international stars including pianist Andrey Gugnin. His concert was one for the memory banks of many, while cellist Gemma Rosefield and pianist Tim Horton also delivered a remarkable concert. In its 15th instalment, the festival more than lived up to expectations, but as a subscriber to BBC Music Magazine it has surprised me it is not included in your annual Festival Guide (May issue). Is there a reason?
Clive Peacock, via email
The UK is blessed with so many first-rate music festivals that we cannot fit all of them into our guide. But be assured that we do read about and consider for publication every event we are sent details of.
Wagner introduction
At risk of over-egging the pudding, might I add my voice to those who have gone before (Letters, May and June)? My first ever Wagner performance was at the Grand in Leeds, where Sadler’s Wells were performing Twilight of the Gods and my then headteacher had given me permission to miss an afternoon’s games session to get there for a 4.30pm start. I was hooked. When the first complete cycle was mounted in St Martin’s Lane, I queued overnight for standing tickets for each performance and went to every subsequent revival. Here was singing, music making and story telling of the very highest order, and how fortunate I consider myself to have been able to be there. Simon I’anson, Bath
Admirable Nelson
I enjoyed reading John
Nelson’s retrospective look at his recordings (Rewind, April). Your readers may be interested to learn that the
1972 concert performance he referred to was done by the
Pro Arte Chorale, a very fine amateur choral organisation located in New Jersey where my wife and I were singers. Back in 1972, when Nelson was music director of the Chorale, John Coulter, its founder and executive director, proposed the idea of performing the complete Berlioz Les Troyens. The idea was approved by the board and the Chorale then borrowed $50,000 and hired Carnegie Hall and 11 soloists, including Evelyn Lear as
Dido. The performance was a great success, which led the Metropolitan Opera to mount a performance in the following season, hiring Nelson to prepare the chorus. Just before the first performance, the conductor hired became ill and Nelson stepped in at the last minute, again to great success. The rest is history.
Charles Repka,
East Windsor, NJ, US
Not the first
In April’s ‘The month in boxsets’, you state that the Silesian String Quartet ‘was rather ahead of the game’ with its first survey of Weinberg’s complete string quartets. May I point out that already in 2012 the Quatuor Danel completed its survey of Weinberg’s 17 string quartets plus two shorter works for the cpo label, which it began as early as 2007?
Gerhard Pilzer,
Cologne, Germany