Letters to the Editor

I am a classical and "easy listening" record collector. There is a particular contemporary composition that I am unable to obtain from any presently available source--that is "Dream Concerto" by Alfonso D' Artega. I use to hear it played over the radio in the early 1950's. So far, at present, I cannot locate any available recording of '' Dream Concerto.'' A listing from the "yellow pages" catalog of record dealers listed it but it was not in the particular record when I bought it. It was a very good composition that I am sure other listeners will appreciate it. I am wondering possibly, if MHS can produce and distribute the recording. It will be an exclusive since no otther recording is available at present. "Dream Concerto" was approximately 25-30 minutes playing time when I use to hear it. The musical score (piano) is published by Bregman, Vocco and Conn (1947).

If any MHS reader or member is aware of any available recording or have heard of D'Artega's Dream Concerto, I would appreciate hearing from them.

I would also like to see popular classical recordings played on the zither (example are the recordings of Ruth Welcome on Capital Records).

Sincerely,

Dr. Mario J. Robles Bristol, CONN.

In searching through at least twenty of the latest MHS Reviews, I have found but one, ever-so-slight reference to Gustav Mahler. The vast MHS catalogue of recordings contains nearly every name in music from past to present, both significant and forgotten only to the exclusion of Gustav Mahler, indicating that none of his music has been recorded for MHS at any time.

This might be somewhat understandable in view of the fact that MHS dedicates a great deal of time and energy to lesser known music, however each issue of the Musical Heritage Review is studded with pictures, articles, and information about the greater composers: Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schu­mann. Schubert--the list goes on. And among the "lesser-known" works of these composers are their recorded symphonies, cantatas. and concertos.

Mahler's contemporaries and followers-­Strauss, Schonberg, and Max Reger to name a few have all been given some attention by MHS. It seems absurd to ignore the man whose music marks the most crucial turning point in musical history--the end of the classical romantic age and the dawn of the modern era.

Believe me. his absence is glaringly conspicuous.

Jane Stensland

Corvallis, ORE.