Letters to the Editor: Hollywood Bowl audience enjoyed National Symphony's more popular picks

• Click here to listen to this article

See more from the L.A. Times in Google Search. Set us as preferred

To the editor: Mark Swed’s review of a recent concert by the National Symphony at the Hollywood Bowl is an illustration of the critic at his snarkiest (“The newly homeless National Symphony finds shelter at the Hollywood Bowl,” Aug. 20). I attended the same concert but had a completely different reaction. I must confess that I am not a highly trained music critic, but I have been attending concerts at the Hollywood Bowl and elsewhere for more than 70 years. In addition, I hold a doctorate in higher education from the UCLA School of Education.

Swed describes the Bowl concert as “unimaginative” and spends the bulk of the remainder of his review talking about what the National Symphony should have played rather than talking about what it actually played. The program included music by Leonard Bernstein, George Gershwin and Antonín Dvořák. These are all outstanding works that were thoroughly appreciated by me and countless other members of the audience.

Swed laments the choice of Bernstein’s Symphonic Dances from “West Side Story,” rather than some of the more classical and far less well-known works that Bernstein composed. The truth, however, is that Bernstein’s music for “West Side Story” and “Candide” is enjoyed and appreciated by far more people than the serious classical pieces that Bernstein wrote during his extensive career.

It is highly unlikely that the Bowl audience would have had the same appreciation and enjoyment had the National Symphony played Bernstein’s “Slava! A Political Overture,” “Three Meditations” from “MASS” or “Songfest.” Instead, National Symphony conductor Gianandrea Noseda presented a program of much more well-known works that were performed excellently by a great orchestra.

Richard Seligman, Simi Valley