Sir, - Michael Dervan's outrageous assault on Dr John O'Conor as the musical "miss" of the year (Arts, December 16th) seems to me among the nastiest and most unjust personal attacks ever perpetrated on one of Ireland's most highly regarded and internationally acclaimed musicians. Dr O'Conor received remarkable acclaim from critics in the United States in the same concerto later this year, and Mr Dervan's view of O'Conor's performance of the Brahms Second Piano Concerto is clearly at variance with my recollection of the evening.
In my opinion, Mr Dervan's irritating delivery and dull scripts on Lyric FM's Countdown programme would be high on any list of real "misses" this year. People in glass houses, etc. - Yours, etc.,
Ian Fox, Rathgar, Dublin 6.