Pianist: Keep politics out of it

It is with disbelief that I read Mark Swed’s favorable review of Krystian Zimerman’s so-called recital on Sunday night [“A Rousing End, If That Is What It Is,” April 28]. Perhaps Swed would have had a different reaction had he paid $92 a ticket as I did to hear what I hoped would be a memorable concert. It was -- for all the wrong reasons.

Zimerman’s playing throughout the evening was dreadful, as if he were thumbing his nose at the audience. This was confirmed when, in the second half, that is exactly what he did, when he verbally attacked the audience for U.S. military policy.

I paid good money to hear him perform, not to hear his anti-American remarks. I am deeply offended. His diatribe was inappropriate. Beautiful music should be uniting us, not dividing us.

Mark Richman

Sherman Oaks