A friend attended the Friday afternoon (12/1/00) Boston Symphony Concert
and issued the following common complaint:  "...You might want to hear the
BSO concert tonight.  Check out the Corigliano Second Symphony for Strings.
(The) Audience yesterday wasn't impressed; consequently there was so much
damn NOISE it was hard to appreciate the work on any level.  Krystian
Zimerman was, as always, astonishing in the Rachy 2..."

To which I replied:  "Friday audiences have been largely made up of damn
philistines.  The exceptions, of course, sat in your seat and beside you.
Not to damn the Friday crowd altogether, I have discovered that at least 10
percent of the Thursday 10 (series) subscribers stay away from a program
with anything composed after 1900."

Charles Ives was right about symphony audiences, they are nothing but
Namby Pamby's.  All "Rollos," indeed!  (You may remember the apocryphal
Ives story about Rollo the plumber who visited Ives' home while he was
composing.  Rollo complained about the noises emanating from the piano.
In reply Ives barked "...Rollo, take your dissonance's like a man")

The previous tirade is not intended to demean plumbers or anyone else who
may sit quietly for music they may not particularly enjoy.

Bernard Gregoire
Hingham, MA