Art and sour grapes

I am moved to write after reading I. M. Beck's contribution Quote Unquote, particularly the paragraph entitled But Is It Art?" (January 14).

It was very interesting, yet not surprising, that I. M. Beck immediately defends his beloved National Orchestra in the first paragraph, he being the National Orchestra's company lawyer. He also goes on by deciding to name me as "an entrepreneur from Fgura by the name of Calleja", then, soon after, "as the entrepreneurial one commented he".

Now this is either funny or tragic. The reason being that I. M. Beck, known to me as Andrew Borg Cardona himself, knows exactly whom he is talking about, as well as my first name.

Firstly, his good self drafted a letter where I was mentioned not so long ago, and, secondly, him being the company lawyer of the National Orchestra, he knows full well that I, as head of marketing and sales of the Malta Trade Fairs Corporation, concluded three deals in one contract for six performances with the company he represents on January 28, 2005.

The deals were six grand-scale concerts, within a short span of six months and contributed to the National Orchestra's finances not just a buck or two. Which proves that I am not someone he just suddenly read about in the newspaper; he knows exactly who I am.

So why hide the truth? But I digress...

But is this art? Well, I will not challenge I. M. Beck's legal abilities, but I will challenge his statement: "slinking out of the Manoel in sheer boredom while on stage some English chap with a couple of females in attendance warbled his way through a selection from the collected works of Lloyd Webber. Quite a few of the punters were having paroxysms of joy and exclaiming that the show was superb, marvellous and generally the bee's knees".

His reference is to Beyond The Barricades, a show that was very well produced by Anthony Bezzina of Masquerade Theatre Company. Another thing is that the larger part of musical highlights involved not Andrew Lloyd Webber's works but rather highlights from various productions produced by Sir Cameron Mackintosh; in fact the name itself Beyond The Barricades lends itself to Les Miserables and not to anything by Lloyd Webber. Interestingly enough, Sir Cameron has just been appointed member and arts special consultant to the Malta Council of Arts and Culture. So how's that for art?!

If I. M. Beck chooses to think that the people acclaiming Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of The Opera, which has just celebrated its 8,000th performance at Her Majesty's Theatre in London and has grossed over £1.7 billion worldwide and is running in six different countries, do not count as culture lovers then perhaps he should put on his "bah-humbug nit-picky hat" and think quietly this time.

If he has doubts "whether what will be presented will be art for art's sake or whether it will be art for the masses' sake, which would not necessarily be art", he should think back to May 2005, September 2005 and November 2005 when the National Orchestra itself participated in four sold-out productions of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and A Night with Lloyd Webber, both at the Republic Hall of the Mediterranean Conference Centre, and two jam-packed performances of the Malta premiere of Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's Requiem at St John's Co-Cathedral. This meant that circa 10,000 people witnessed these productions, which attracted some 1,000 tourists from all over the globe, purposely visiting Malta for the occasions.

Is this, which was deemed art at the time, not art anymore once competition is in?

So, no, Mr I. M. Beck, the last question is not about whether he should be too finicky, but rather whether he thinks sour grapes are in.