Letter: The rot in Radio 3

Sir: Fiona Maddocks (21 May) has got it quite wrong about Radio 3. The issue is not one of Kensington vowels, the "right pronunciation" and all the other decayed and derelict class-ridden rubbish.

The issue is one of putting across knowledge, information and insight about music. People who recall Patricia Hughes remember her not for her smart voice, but for the unique manner in which she found appropriate words and modulation for saying something valid about music.

The tragedy of the present regime at Radio 3 is that it has lost the way of saying and speaking appropriate things about music. That is not easy, and requires insight, imagination as well as a great deal of humility before the music itself. In these days of personality-driven media stars, perhaps it is this last element which is most irrecoverably lost.

CHRISTOPHER J WALKER

London W14