MUSICAL NOVELTIES
SIR,—Mr. Cairns recalls with undisguised pleasure the occasion when Forest Murmurs managed to get itself included among the month's 'Novelties' in the Festival Hall diary.
I would not for the world rob him of the chance to resuscitate that glorious gaffe. But his reference to it in the context of his article on the state of London's music has made me wonder whether it was quite as silly as it seemed at the time.
Is not any work a 'novelty' to the person hearing it for the first time—or after a long interval of time? Unless Mr. Cairns is prepared to maintain that only those works composed after a certain (unspecified) date are capable of providing 'adven- turous listening' to the percipient ear, Forest Mur- murs would seem to have as much right to be listed as a novelty as Palestrina's Super Fiumina Babylonis or the Five Orchestral Pieces of Webem.
In saying which, I expect I shall now be fathered with the opinion that a diet of lollipops is all that is necessary to cure music's ills—real or imaginary. Generail.mE BEAN Manager nnaagner
The Royal Festival Hall, SEI
Previous page
