Proms concerts are not to everyone’s musical tastes

SIR – Les Taylor’s question (Letters, September 13) about the absence of Asians and other similar communities from Proms and other classical performances may have a simple explanation. I am passionately fond of music. But it has to be Hindustani classical, though I often fi nd Carnatic music (from south India) deeply moving. Despite my interest in music, Western classical music is not only over the top but it is completely over the top of my head. Listening to it never produces the sort of visions that its aficionados obviously enjoy.

This is a cultural problem exacerbated by the very divergent approach to music. Hindustani classical music is based on a formal scale laid down for each raga and the beat chosen by the artist. Western classical music is more about harmony. Absence from Proms may not represent a failure to integrate in the British society, but merely express the cultural difference in approach to music. Gp Capt Kapil Bhargava ( Retd) Bangalore, India SIR – I am old enough to recall Proms at the Queen’s Hall, where my father occasionally conducted, when most of a precisely behaved audience wore evening dress. I agree that applause between movements is both ignorant and distracting (Letters, September 13) but there is an overwhelming feeling that here we see people enjoying music. I would rather have a concert hall full of boisterous musical enthusiasts than see a decline in audiences as we betterbehaved oldies drop off the rostrum. Arthur Ord-Hume Guildford, Surrey SIR – Perhaps we need to remember Sir Henry Wood’s reason for establishing the Proms: to make music available to those who would not necessarily have the chance to attend a live concert. If one can forgive a lack of decorum in a musical concert, then surely a Proms concert is the forum for one to do so. Paul Cheater Oxford