To the editors:
Regarding the letter by Ross Feller [August 21] concerning Ted Shen’s review of the May 15 Goethe-Institut concert.
I was disturbed to not find a reply from Ted Shen and (or) Frank Abbinanti regarding the latter’s non-performance of Nono’s Post-Praeludium per Donau. The implications are appalling and enormous for anyone interested in the authentic rendering and reviewing of music.
Marc Perlish
Chicago
Ted Shen replies:
In reviewing Frank Abbinanti’s performance of Post-Praeludium per Donau, I assumed he followed, more or less, an arrangement of Nono’s essentially aleatoric (and incomplete) piece. After reading Ross Feller’s letter, I checked into the matter and found that Mr. Abbinanti indeed had observed as faithfully as possible Nono’s trickily notated score. Mr. Feller evidently is trying to drag me into a private quarrel he has with Mr. Abbinanti.