Madam, - Arminta Wallace makes a very good case for the performance of Suk's sadly little-heard Asrael symphony and I would like to thank her for her mention of my work in this area (Arts, February 6th). On the question of the economics of commissioning and performing a symphony or any other type of orchestral work the figures are not really prohibitive at all.
The present Contemporary Music Centre recommended rates for full orchestra are about €1,000 per minute, which means you could have, for example, Sibelius's Seventh for €21,000 euro! I have never received more than €15,000 for a symphony - like everything else, rates rise over time.
If the RTÉ National Symphony Orchestra is scheduled to perform a new work it costs nothing more than performing a standard repertoire piece. All the costs are inbuilt.
The question of access to Irish orchestral music, especially in CD format where it is sorely needed, really lies in the interface between the Arts Council and RTÉ. One has the money and the other has the orchestra. When Ciaran Benson was chairman of the Arts Council there was co-operation which resulted in a string of Irish music recordings appearing on the Naxos Marco Polo label. This was a brief period, alas.
As to the future of the symphony, it is no more under threat than the novel. We just need composers to write them. - Yours, etc,
JOHN KINSELLA, Marley Rise, Rathfarnham, Dublin 16.