Benjamin McArthur’s “The War of the Great Books” (February) illuminates the way the long-standing opposition of the ancients and the moderns (or of their partisans) reveals more about the combatants than about the merits.

Listeners who love Bach today can learn the different delights of Brubeck and the Beatles tomorrow; admirers of Picasso can learn to see the joy of Rembrandt as well. Readers who look for quality wherever they find it, without asking whether it comes from the right side of the tracks, know that both the ancient and the modern writers are with us.