Madam, – I am astonished at the closing sentences of Michael Dungan’s review of Peter Sweeney’s Dún Laoghaire recital (Reviews, August 19th): “Sadly, no texts or translations were provided, nor were there any printed or spoken introductions to any of the works. The presumptions this implies about audiences help perpetuate the perception that organists form a musical community interested mostly in playing to itself”.
Anyone who is interested in organ music in Ireland will know it is an unfair and inaccurate assessment of the organ community. I am thinking in particular about the audience development work and artistic programming carried out by Pipeworks over the past 10 years (I am a Pipeworks patron and former chairperson) but also of events such as the film screenings in Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin (David Briggs) and Christ Church Cathedral, Waterford (Eric Sweeney) with live organ accompaniment earlier this year.
There are many people who work very hard (mostly in a voluntary capacity) to promote this wonderful instrument and bring both it and its music to as wide an audience as possible. It is disappointing to say the least that a critic on the only national newspaper in the Republic with any serious arts coverage should choose to write such a dismissive comment. – Yours, etc,