Rare and Precious Music

While Richard Ginell’s review of Duo Calabrese praised the performance, it was unjustly disparaging about the viola d’amore and its literature (“Duo Calabrese Studies Tunes for a Forgotten Instrument,” Dec. 5).

He stated that the viola d’amore “had a delicate, wiry tone quality that simply lacks the richness and depth of the violin, viola or cello.” Its sound, which is sweet and plaintive, attracted composers like Bach, Vivaldi, Janacek and Hindemith, who all sought to exploit its individual and expressive qualities.

Ginell’s comment that the program “didn’t reveal any long-lost masterworks” is certainly true, but irrelevant. In Los Angeles, our opera company has drowned us in “Madama Butterflys”; the “1812 Overture” is a yearly event at the Hollywood Bowl; and visiting ensembles are compelled to perform only the most popular and familiar music for the sake of attracting an audience. How refreshing, as in the case of the Calabrese concert, to hear such rarely played and precious music.

The masterworks of Bach, Beethoven and Brahms will be around forever--so why not bend an ear, occasionally, to unexplored musical territory?

GREGORY D. STANTON

Los Angeles