Madam, - I was very sad to hear of the recent death of John Beckett, a musician and a man of unquestionable integrity, who gave so much to our cultural life. It was a great privilege and benefit to have been even a very minor member of his musical circle here.
He was, of course, much associated with his series of cantatas by Bach. He also greatly admired the voice and musicianship of the late Frank Patterson. But my personal memory of him which predominates is that of his (and the late John O'Sullivan's) performances of the frenetic Rumba Toccata for piano duet in James Wilson's The Hunting of the Snark. It was reminiscent of Prokofiev's "Toccata", which Horowitz played in four minutes. The rumba was longer and faster.
The two Johns sat at the piano waiting, like greyhounds in the traps at Shelbourne Park. All I had to do, as conductor, was nod at them and they were off. Every dynamic, every note was gloriously exhilarating. And at the end of it, they just sat impassively, as though they had been playing slow five-finger-exercises. What is more, they ended together, which is more than can be said for Horowitz and Toscanini on a very celebrated occasion! - Yours, etc,
BRIAN GRIMSON, Howth Road, Dublin 5.