The Swed Report

Since my favorite form of music is the piano concerto, the arrival of a new one is a happy event. Thus I began Mark Swed’s review of the premiere of Shchedrin’s Fifth Piano Concerto with anticipation (“Shchedrin’s Fifth, a Dazzling Debut,” Oct. 23).

He obviously was enthused about the work, but there is a reason so many people have difficulty with modern music, and key phrases in his review were sure to raise alarm in them: “percussive theme” . . . “never predictable” . . . “surges of 16th notes” . . . “wondrously modern sound.”

Among all the verbiage I kept looking for one particular adjective and never found it. Tell me, Mr. Swed, is there some reason you left out the word “beautiful”?

ROBERT A. FRUG

Toluca Lake

In his review of Laurie Anderson’s “Songs and Stories From Moby-Dick” (“Pursuing the Great White,” Oct. 22), Mark Swed insults, by omission, Bernard Herrmann, who composed the cantata “Moby Dick,” and Philip Sainton, who scored the John Huston film “Moby Dick” (recently reconstructed and recorded by William T. Stromberg and John Morgan) in his list of composers who have tried to tackle the subject matter of Melville’s novel.

BRIAN LEE CORBER

North Hollywood

I have kept my mouth shut for long enough. Is Mark Swed trying to teach Music 101 or is he supposed to be giving a concert review? In his review of the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Mahler program, once again he sounds like a professor who loves the sound of his own voice (“Uplifted Orchestra, Uplifting Mahler,” Oct. 16).

What about the beautiful English horn solo played by Carolyn Hove in the final Mahler song, whose final note played with such control while dying away into nothingness.

What about Dennis Trembley’s solo in the First Symphony, which is known as one of the most exposed bass solos in the entire orchestral repertoire?

What about Don Green’s lovely trumpet solo in the opening of “Blumine”?

Does Don Shirley not mention the outstanding actors in his theater reviews? Does Don Heckman not mention the musicians who give special performances in his jazz reviews? Does Howard Rosenberg not mention actors who give moving performances in his TV reviews? Does Bill Plaschke not mention the players who made out of the ordinary contributions to that particular game?

The musicians in the Philharmonic have spent their lifetimes honing their abilities to give beautiful performances night in night out. By keeping them in anonymity, Mark Swed not only disrespects them, he insults them.

EVAN N. WILSON

Principal Viola,

Los Angeles Philharmonic