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Armando lannucci mustn't feel guilty about his addiction to box-sets. ("Finding my place", September). It is a weakness that many of us share - if, indeed, it is a weakness. In my view it would be foolish to resist the wonderful bargains available: Martinon in Debussy/Ravel, Sir Colin Davis in...

It is well known that Jacques Offenbach wrote one grand opera, Les contes d'Hofflnann, of which there is no shortage of versions in current CD catalogues. It is sad, however, that musicologists have paid scant attention to the fact that Offenbach wrote another grand opera early in his musical...

"Digital radio has its place - but it's not about quality," claims Andrew Everard. Here is one reader who fundamentally disagTees. I am fortunate enough to have a TAG tuner which boasts both a DAB as well as an FM band. Comparison of the two is at the press of a button. Having just listened to...

In reply to Mr R Friend's letter about film of Sir Adrian Boult (October), there is a DVD of him conducting the Beethoven Romance for violin and orchestra, Op 50, with Yehudi Menuhin and the LPO, filmed in the Royal Festival Hall on April 26, 1966. The film is of excellent quality and allows the...

In the British Music feature (September), the UK premiere of James MacMillan's Sun Dogs was missed off the list of performances. It took place at the Three Choirs Festival in Hereford on August 10, conducted by the composer. I know because I sang in the chorus! It is a fascinating work, but your...

Peter Dickinson writes: My review of the second volume of Scott's orchestral works on Chandos (7/06) mentioned Early One Morning as receiving its first performance. John Greensmith and Desmond Scott, the composer's son, have kindly pointed out that this work was included on the Lyrita LP SRCS82...

British music scene of past decades. In a career that included being controller of Radio 3, director of the BBC Proms and director of the Edinburgh International Festival, he was a committed champion of new music and an outspoken opponent of what he saw as growing philistinism.

Smetana's Md v/art, J Strauss il's Blue Danube, "Divinités du Styx" from Gluck's Akeste, and Schumann's Symphony No 3, Rhenish. The link is rivers, and the winner is Joy Monteith, from Greenock.