Dear Editor,

Regarding Simon O’Connor’s review of John McLachlan’s Horizons concert (March/April 2003) , it appears that he has very little sympathy for the music he was reviewing and this seems to have blunted his objectivity. ‘Beauty’ is the most subjective term of all and whether the music is within the boundaries of his taste shouldn’t be central to the review.

Furthermore, in the final paragraph O’Connor seems to be invoking the spirit of the free market by suggesting that such music as he was reviewing would benefit from communicating on a similar level to hip-hop, etc., but surely no good can come of anyone trying to tailor their music to an audience. A less tentative performance would have been better but the criticism here seems to blame the tentativeness on a matter of style, which is hardly fair.

Scott Mc Laughlin
Dublin 3