Steven Schwartz <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Lebrecht is not a Yank, but a pommy British bastard.  I think he writes for
>some London paper.  He has written two books, one claiming that classical
>music will die because star performers make too much money and another
>contending that conductors are to a large extent talentless SOBs.
>
>A lot of it seems to me yellow journalism, hazy on facts and shakier on
>argument, but it *does* get the blood moving, like the guy who announces to
>all and sundry that Bach and Beethoven were, after all, no good whatsoever
>and kicked the dog, besides.  I have seen very little evidence in his
>writing that he actually knows something about music.

I have on occasion written about the need for civility on the Internet,
but I can't muster any for Lebrecht.  His book, The Maestro Myth, is,
in large part, outrageously sleazy character assasination.  For many of
Lebrecht's most vitriolic conclusions and factual assertions, his footnotes
are worthless.  There's simply no way, based on his vague assertions and
footnotes, to analyze the factual accuracy of many of his freqently
outrageous statements.

Lebrecht writes for London's Daily Telegraph.

Drew M. Capuder
Fairmont, West Virginia USA
[log in to unmask]