Sean Wales’ article on the important and precious role of silence in our lives (Parish Practice, 23 August) reminded me of a notable tribute to silence from the distinguished musician Alfred Brendel. “I like the fact that ‘listen’ is an anagram of ‘silent’. Silence is not something that is there before the music begins and after it stops. It is the essence of music itself, the vital ingredient that makes it possible for the music to exist at all.”John D