Letter: That music made me ill

OPINION: I cannot agree with reviewer John Button on the return of Leif Segerstam to conduct the NZSO concert on October 31.

It would have been better had the conductor stayed away, not least because it would have prevented the audience from being subjected to 25 minutes of unremitting noise classed by Button as atonal.

The so-called Symphony No 191 created by Segerstam was so unpleasant that I was rendered physically unwell - so much so I could not get up to walk out. By the end of the piece, I was in tears from the pain of the noise.

The Karelia Suite was the NZSO at its best - possibly because they have made it their own and the conductor left them to the performance at one stage, acknowledging this point.

Having been to the pre-concert talk and heard some of the great sopranos sing the Four Last Songs with sympathetic orchestras, Saturday's soprano didn't have a chance because the conductor didn't match the orchestra to her voice, allowing it to override her.

I have never been to such an unpleasant concert and trust that the superb NZSO will not have to play any more like it.

PAMELA GEORGE

Khandallah

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