OLIVIA O'SULLIVAN,
Madam, - It has become over the years a sad fact of life for Ireland's concert-going public that, having enjoyed an outstanding musical performance of one sort of another, those of us who read The Irish Times are liable to see that performance subjected to the derision of your music critic, Michael Dervan.
Last Saturday I attended Opera Theatre Company's new production of Handel's Ariodante. I have not often enjoyed a performance so much, and heard many others present say the same. Mr Dervan's review on Monday morning, however, had little good to say.
He asserted that there was "little dramatic or musical tension to animate the proceedings", a statement clearly at variance with the audience's experience of this production. Throughout the evening the excitement and enjoyment in the auditorium was almost palpable - one could have heard a pin drop - and the applause at the end was hugely enthusiastic, particularly for the excellent band of period instruments.
Mr Dervan treated the singers to faint praise at best, insult at worst. The musical direction, according to him, was "too consistently placid" on the one hand, yet masked the voices on the other. I heard nothing of placidity in the vivid handling of the score and judging from the applause, the rest of the audience was similarly impressed. - Yours, etc.,
OLIVIA O'SULLIVAN, Kennington Lawns, Templeogue, Dublin 6.