Reader to Reader

Leonard Zane dismisses Stravinsky’s lofty reputation as a “typically intellectual viewpoint” and argues that his music won’t endure like that of Rachmaninoff, Sibelius or Vaughan Williams because it doesn’t “prove itself to the soul,” whatever that means (Letters, March 4).

I suppose, then, that those of us who packed the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion last weekend for the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s remarkable performance of “The Rite of Spring” and responded with a unanimous, immediate, deeply felt and emotionally charged extended ovation were just a bunch of soulless intellectuals.

Funny, but I don’t remember any piece by Rachmaninoff, Sibelius or Vaughan Williams eliciting such a visceral response.

NORMAN WESTON

Mission Viejo

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Two letters because an article did not contain all notable countertenors (Letters, March 4)? Enough already from slighted partisans! Please advise writers/editors of articles even remotely interpretable as all-inclusive that an “honorable mention” list must be included, either at the end or perhaps in the Letters page space previously occupied by the duck or the equally blank space now occupied by “Silent Pictures.”

E.S. WALLER

Los Angeles