Music critic’s praises sung

Regarding: “Israel Phil’s Worthy Heir to Mehta” [Nov. 11]: This is a love note to Mark Swed — to how he weaves his knowledge of music through the sinews of his responses, of his humanity, and elevates and focuses the impact of the past upon the present, like starlight.

Reading Swed’s reviews, I look up into a sky that is always there, and I am gripped by the reality of sources of light from the past, captive in that moment and opened to feeling, connection, mystery and awe.

So it is when I read Swed’s review of the exploration of suffering in Mahler; of the presence of it in Ben-Haim’s work; of the new magician, conductor Lahav Shani, and his Israel Philharmonic orchestral limbs, voices, breath, manifestation; of the music that is drawn through the veins and hearts of living beings, through our gift and curse of consciousness, and the immediacy and incomprehensible depths of these created instants of intense contact.

Leah Sullivan