Madam, - We now know that your reviewer Andrew Johnstone (Nov 5th) has little time for the two works performed by Our Lady's Choral Society at the National Concert Hall last Thursday - Cherubini's Requiem in C minor or Karl Jenkins's The Armed Man.
He concludes, in passing, that "it was very much the choir's evening". This being so, could Mr Johnstone be commissioned to write a sequel - a review of the concert he attended?
In its absence, might I, as a member of the musical proletariat, be permitted to say that I found the entire evening exhilarating and parts of the performance truly sublime?
The "Benedictus" in The Armed Man, for example, literally had the hairs on the back of my neck standing on end.
Thank you, Our Lady's Choral Society, for a wonderful evening. - Yours, etc,
JOHN STANLEY, Clontarf, Dublin 3.
Madam, - Is it not the job of the critic to review the performance?
Andrew Johnstone's review of Our Lady's Choral Society's performance in the National Concert Hall on Thursday was nothing but a critique of the works of Cherubini and Jenkins. I had the privilege of being in the audience that night, and if electrifying atmosphere and audience appreciation are anything to go by, I seriously wonder if your reviewer and I attended the same concert. - Yours, etc,
MARY GILL, Nenagh, Co Tipperary.