The Society for Twentieth Century Music
Silt —May I make a few points regarding Mr. Martin Cooper's review of the inaugural concert of the Society for Twentieth Century Music? Firstly, such a society would certainly not need to exist if the main concert-giving organisations included a contemporary work in each of their programmes as a matter of course, as is the usual practice in Germany and many other countries; but unfortunately many of them seem to be more interested in Grand Tchaikovsky Galas and Nights in Vienna. Secondly, it is untrue to say that the audience were bribed to attend the concert by the offer of free drinks; the wine-tasting during the interval was provided, not by the society, but by the generosity of The Friends of Wine, and no announcement of it was made until just before the concert started, when the audience were already in the hall. Thirdly, though personally I do not agree that Constant Lambert's Li-Po Songs and Piano Concerto are not his best or-most representa- tive" works, they are in any case the only major chamber storks (except for the Piano Sonata) which could have been performed in a pro- gramme of this kind. I might add that, apart from the B.B.C., no other concert-giving body appears to have entertained the idea of paying a tribute to this distinguished compbser, who did so much for music in this country. I am not sure whether the historical approach to modern music is in fact the best or only one; at any rate no one was observed to walk out of the hall after Varese's Octandre !—Yours, &c., HUMPHREY SEARLE. Chairman, The Society for Twentieth Century Music. 6 Strathray Gardens, N. W.3.
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