LET WYNTON BE IGOR

Reader Joan Sapiro (Letters, May 10) huffily dismisses Wynton Marsalis’ adaptation of Stravinsky’s “The Soldier’s Tale,” declaring that “a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer might be more concerned with creating what he or she hears, rather than re-creating a master innovator’s personal vision” and that Marsalis “should have more internal resources and less external concern for ‘updating’ the genius of, say, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis and now Stravinsky.”

Sapiro appears to be blissfully unaware that Stravinsky himself “re-created” Pergolesi in his ballet “Pulcinella,” and “updated” Tchaikovsky in his ballet “The Fairy’s Kiss.” Marsalis is just doing what all innovative composers do sooner or later: He is paying homage to past masters.

NEAL McCABE

Los Angeles