Letterhead of Garbet Hotel, Kinlochbervie, Sutherland, IV27 4RP, with added at home 11 Campden Hill Sq., London W.8. - Is pleased to hear of the success of 'Equus', but disagrees that Canada is more English looking than Ireland; hopes he is writing a comedy; hoped to see him but has to go to Colombia and Venezuela; had a letter from Ray [Leppard] from San Francisco, but Leo doesn't think that running away will help matters in England, it's bad enough that talent like Peter's should be driven out; is in northernmost Scotland visiting Brian & Rosemary Howell; at the Edinburgh Festival went to a sublime performance by [Carlo Maria] Giulini and one of the worst performances of the 7th Symphony he 'ever hopes to see', conducted by [Pierre] Boulez; visited his Austria cousins; reviews the new 'Siegfried', which raises his estimation of Colin Davis as a Wagnerian and admires the Mime; contrasts that to the production of 'Belle Hélène' at the Coliseum; moves to Campden Hill Square at the end of October, it will be a wrench to leave after 30 years, but very necessary.
Esther Honens International Piano Competition, Third Floor, 116 Eighth Avenue SE, Calgary Alberta T2G 0K6 - Recalls evenings at Tanglewood with him in the sixties; recently took a job in Prague as dean of a new music academy, but found himself 'bamboozled' alas; is now in Calgary working on the competition for professional pianists, was devastated by Leinsdorf's death; remembers Murray Abraham as compere of the Van Cliburn competition which he ran, not realizing he was a Texan until he saw his boots; found the stuffiness in the music world about 'Amadeus' just stupid, perhaps envy; enjoyed his description of Mozart's music as bountiful and economical; paraphrases what Colin Davis used to say about Mozart, that much of the music went by like clouds on a windy afternoon, and the trick was to make those moments felt without losing the sweep of the work.