CONDUCT UNBECOMING

I take issue with Charles Solomon’s remarks about Irwin Kostal and the so-called “pick-up” orchestra (“‘Fantastic ‘Fantasia’,” Aug. 26).

First, while Leopold Stokowski was a world-class symphony orchestra conductor-and one of the best-Kostal is a world-class film conductor, composer and arranger. The two kinds of conducting are not necessarily the same. While I am an admirer of Stokowski, I doubt that he could have done as fine a job as Kostal did in synchronizing music to a film already finished. When Stokowski conducted the music, the music was done first and the drawing afterward, so that the interpretive part of music could have full consideration. When Kostal did his conducting, the work of synchronizing with the action as well as having a fine interpretation of the music, was an enormous job the likes of which is admired by musicians. Second, the orchestra. Studio musicians are a very skilled breed. They have honed their skills to read the music flawlessly without very much rehearsal and to respond to a conductor’s indications with authority and style. Further, they are really not “pick-up.” Most of the personnel of the 127-piece orchestra perform often with each other and are intimate with each other with the same rapport as those who work together in a symphony orchestra.

Abe Luboff, Studio City