Evergreen tunes

OVER 200 years after his death, I can attend a concert featuring music by Mozart and not feel that the experience seems “stunted” or that I’ve participated in a “tribute.” I listen to the Beatles for the same reason that I listen to Mozart: because of the music, outside of any cultural or sociological context.

If Paul McCartney performed nothing live but his Beatles catalog for the rest of his days, I’d still feel enriched having attended. How sad that “music” critic Hilburn [Critic’s Notebook, Aug. 21] just doesn’t get it.

CAROL WEISSBERG

Chatsworth

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“AND they probably don’t care that McCartney hasn’t written a truly memorable song in, what, 15 years?” If you’d have said 10 years, I’d agree with you. But “Calico Skies,” “Souvenir,” “The Songs We Were Singing,” “Somedays,” “Little Willow,” “Winedark Open Sea” and the McCartney/Costello collaboration “The Lovers That Never Were” are all less than 15 years old.

GARY PARKER

Palm Springs