Sir, - Michael Dervan's negative opinion of Dialects, a new work for uilleann pipes and orchestra by Gerry Murphy, would have been plain enough without his parenthetical remark that the piece has been recorded "at the composer's expense" (The Irish Times, March 20th). Are we to infer that no one except Mr Murphy would have considered this worthwhile?
In fact, it has never been unusual for composers to have to pay for or otherwise support the publication, performance and recording of their own music. This should not be assumed to reflect badly on that music's artistic value. - Yours, etc.,
Andrew Johnstone, School of Music, Trinity College Dublin.