News
Harvard Grad Union Agrees To Bargain Without Ground Rules
News
Harvard Chabad Petitions to Change City Zoning Laws
News
Kestenbaum Files Opposition to Harvard’s Request for Documents
News
Harvard Agrees to a 1-Year $6 Million PILOT Agreement With the City of Cambridge
News
HUA Election Will Feature No Referenda or Survey Questions
To the Editors of The Crimson:
Kenneth Hoffman ("Concerto Program at Kirkland," Oct. 17 Crimson) does Robert Portney a serious injustice in gratuitously assuming that Portney held a "cavalier attitude toward [the] audience." Instruments will fall out of tune, especially when it's very hot, and in my view Portney's decision to stop and tune in the cadenza (where a pause matters far less than in the body of the piece) showed not disdain for the audience, but consideration for its members' ears.
I also take issue with Hoffman's criticism that Portney's "hair-flicking, soul-stirring mannerisms" worked to the detriment of the performance. A virtuoso show-piece such as the Tchaikovsky needs to be played with a flourish (the age of the player is irrelevant); to demand that it be presented dispassionately is to miss to a large extent the point of the music. Jim Meadors '74
Want to keep up with breaking news? Subscribe to our email newsletter.