Beethoven Lives

It’s interesting to speculate as to why the Cleveland Orchestra musicians reacted to John Eliot Gardiner as they did (“Roiling Over Beethoven,” May 16).

Could it be that those who were there during George Szell’s tenure remembered the excitement of playing Beethoven with him? Or that the younger ones have heard Szell’s spectacular recordings of those pieces? Perhaps the scholars among them read the response to composer-pianist Muzio Clementi’s criticism of one of Beethoven’s Op. 59 Quartets: “Surely you do not consider these works to be music,” said Clementi. “Oh, they are not for you but for a later age,” replied Beethoven.

Or maybe it’s just 100 extraordinary musicians who hate to hear music they love robbed of everything important but the notes.

DAVID M. SHERR

Santa Monica