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New Zealand Listener, Volume 15, Issue 380, 4 October 1946, Page 5

Sir,-I congratulate "Constant Reader" on his criticism of the "Warsaw Cone certo" and similar pretentious tripe: this is a statement of fact that has been crying out for expression ever since the thing appeared. My explanation of the phenomenon is that with the recent enormous increase of interest in serious music there has been a proportionate increase of those ‘who are incapable of giving, or are not prepared to give, any thought to what they listen to, and derive their enjoyment of music from "sitting back and letting it flow through them and-carry them away." (Of» this number, to judge by their letters in your issue of September 13, are F. Bloomfield and Mrs, Carter, in spite of their disagreement over the Warsaw compilation). In these highly-commercialised days, therefore, it is to be expected that these people will be taken advantage of by productidns whose imposing air of what they have come to regard as "classicism" (save the mark!) recommends them, no matter of what rehash of other people’s undesirable qualities the things are compounded. We shall no doubt hear enough Warsaw concerti and Cornish thapsodies now that the way has been opened up.

To Mr. Bloomfield I would suggest that people who enjoy music most keenly enjoy its beauty by actively following it as a book (that is, by recognising the necessary element of time) rather than by passively appreciating it as a flower; and I would remind him that on this plane the enjoyment got out of music is directly proportional to the effort put in. Enjoyment of music therefore requires a certain minimum technical knowledge, and a person who has this has a mind enquiring enough to decide why he likes or dislikes a work. As for Mrs. Carter’s heroic but misplaced defence, I would advise her not to confuse interpretative artists with original ones. People who record these things are necessarily among either the exploiters or the exploited. If the "Warsaw Concerto" were written only as incidental music to a film (I doubt it), it is a pity that it was ever taken off the eaund-

track,

E. de LACEY

(Timaru).