EFTA00957696.pdf
dataset_9 pdf 144.3 KB • Feb 3, 2026 • 2 pages
From: Jeffrey Epstein <jeevacation@grnail.com>
To: President 4
Subject: Re: Thanks
Date: Mon, 25 Mar 2013 01:33:03 +0000
when treasures are "re discovered" . ( not sure the re is appropriate ). it needs to be evaluated ( here you can use
"re" ). it requires close examination to ascertain its new value. the auction house , is a nice way of deterring
it. and a long way on its path to recognition.
On Mon, Mar 25, 2013 at 1:45 AM, President < > wrote:
I am finally home.
First, let me wish you a happy passover; second, thanks for the candor and the friendship. So you won't mind if
I push back.
There are, as I can see it, three issues and if each can be addressed, with a third round of checking, you might
think differently. I have had Lynne send on names.
I) The repertoire. The works we do are worth doing, sometimes because a masterpiece is unearthed, and
sometimes, something good but influential and worth hearing has been revived, and and sometimes as a foil
from history against which we measure our so called greatest hits. In all cases, the works have to be performed
and experienced and therefore performed. And we have a loyal following in the hall and on the intemet. So
something is working.
2) The format of the concerts is a curated one that links music with literature, politics, history--a necessary part
of what music is. In that sense the ASO is totally unique.
3) Botstein and the ASO. The truth is that I have been such a thorn of the side of critics, conductors and
managers that I am not surprised at what you found. But you will find support and real support within the
profession. Pardon the expression but I have not gotten medals and awards for anything but my work in
music. I just got the Bruckner Medal this month (the other recipients have been Toscanini and Walter, among
others). And I got the same Austrian Cross for contributions to music as Sir Simon Rattle--the same year. I hate
that stuff, but there it is.
On 1--again think of Nabokov, whose favorite Russian poets were often obscure figures derided by all the
other critics. He stood alone. The Marschner is beautiful opera and a crucial link between Beethoven and
Wagner. So I stand in the Quixotic defense of works that are worth it--even if they are not as good as others.
Music does not follow Darwinian patterns (a longer discussion). It is not science. That is, if i may say so, a
commonplace; the idea that history is a judge that seems right but is not. One of the greatest plays was
forgotten after the writer died and rediscovered in the 1920s, 100 years later--Woyzeck. That is just one
example.
As to 2, that is one way to build an audience, by linking music to other forms of life--to pretentiously
paraphrase Wittgenstein.
And to No 3) I am still haunted by early criticisms by angry competitors and idiot ignorant critics who hated
my ideas and the fact that I was an outsider with another career in scholarship and education.
That being said, why not give me one last shot at proving the majority wrong. I have been at it for nearly 25
years, and in the next five, if there can be no measured improvement on the execution front--then that will be
that. But 120,000 sales and a Grammy nomination for a rare work--a Popov symphony from the 1930s,--and
more than 20 years of some real success (we have generated a body of new scholarship in music history--is
EFTA00957696
cause enough to inspire you to give us help.
This is my plea. But I am not Moses, and if there were a God, he would not be on my side. (Another reason to
help).
I greatly cherish this new friendship and I have real admiration for how you go about doing things----tough as
it is often I truly enjoy the argument. But this time I and not your preliminary findings and researchers--am
right. Given the firestorm I created 20 years ago I am even surprised I did as well in your research, whatever
grade you put on the result. It is not the final exam, only a badly constructed mid-term, I am a bit proud not to
have gotten a top grade. True controversy rarely leads to praise in this business. Nabokov became famous and
admired only at the end.
Leon
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