PREVIN & THE PHIL

Martin Bernheimer is right on the mark in his sober, clear-sighted assessment of the Andre Previn regime at the Philharmonic (“A Problematic Partnership,” May 10).

I don’t long for the Brahms-laden Carlo Maria Giulini years, but the Previn stewardship of our most valuable musical resource is proving to be a big disappointment. The constant programming of music by the likes of Vaughn Williams and Elgar has become a joke in my circle of music-loving friends.

There’s not enough Mahler and the Mozart conducting I’ve heard has been mediocre or worse. Let’s face it--the man’s imagination is taken up with British marginalia. How many years of this will the public put up with?

Bernheimer is timely in posing the key question of his overview--does Los Angeles deserve better? I think the answer is already obvious and will become more so after another year or two like the last two. That answer is, of course, we deserve the best and we aren’t getting it.

MICHAEL McLAIN

West Hollywood