Today I get notice that someone replied to a thread on a site I haven't visited in years! Head-fi lives!

That is so correct, and usually ignored and misunderstood. When the church goes, western culture is going right along side. We've already seen it to a large extent. The church in the USA used to be a big deal in communities large and small.  A significant proportion of the population attended on...

In general, I think you're right - but not completely. His recent Prokofiev Romeo & Juliet is just sizzling. One of, if not, the greatest. Searing intensity. His Mahler cycle isn't really that terrible, in fact there are a couple of the symphonies that he does quite well, not surprisingly 6, 7...

Warts and all, this is a tremendously emotional reading of this awesome score. The LONG, SLOW last movement aren't to everyone's taste, but the very ending is so gripping. Is there anyone out there today who can conduct this way? I doubt it. This is simply great.

Agreed. That's one of most interesting and fun things about collecting classical music is to hear and compare different interpretations. Most people today wouldn't tolerate the ubiquitous use of portamento that was the norm in string playing a century ago. Elgar's own recordings are interesting...

He was visiting the welte-Mignon factory in Leipzig in 1904 and made four recordings. He liked the idea. He was just in Berlin listening to Oskar Fried rehearse the 2nd, and was distraught about everything: the tempos were wrong, "too fast by half". So much for Fried's recording of the 2nd...

Couple of problems here. Yes, Walter knew and worked with Mahler. Heard him conduct many of the symphonies. So did Klemperer. And Mengelberg, Scherchen, and others. But their performances couldn't be more different. Compare Klemperer and Walter in symphonies 2,4, and 9 and Das Lied. Totally...

That's the one. Kondrashin did the 7th earlier with a Leningrad orchestra and the difference in interpretation over the 20 or so intervening years is amazing. Kondrashin was a great, under-used conductor. I saw him live once - at the Hollywood Bowl of all places.

I've never been an MTT fan for his Mahler. I know there are admirers who think it's great, it just doesn't seem quite right to me. His earlier 7th with London was better than the SFO remake IMO. The only problem with the finale is a conductor who takes it too seriously. It's more Marx Bros than...

Great choices, overall. I loved the sound of the Zinman's, the overall quality is fine, but somehow the performances just miss the mark. Maybe it's a certain reticence or just the inability to let loose. The contrast of Zinman's 6th with Sanderling's tells the story. The latter is a great 6th...

Here's something to keep in mind about serialism/dodecophany, and the derivatives: there is not a single work from that "school" that has been retained in the standard canon of the concert repertoire. Not one! Some come close. Some work of Berg and Webern show up from time to time. Wozzeck of...

A fine musician, brilliant technician, and sometimes a great conductor. The way he could get an orchestra to do what he wanted was amazing to hear in-person. The best baton technic I ever witnessed. He was often seen as cold and calculating, and hesitant to let music loose - but when he did, the...

Yes, indeed. Same with the new Mahler cycle with Maazel and the Philharmonia . Sadly, those of us who listen to and buy classical are a small minority, and those of us who buy SACD even smaller group. I suppose there's just no compelling reason for record companies to go to the expense of making...

Most people on this site got here I assume because of interest in playback systems, headphones specifically. It's not a music specialist or fanatic site - there are plenty of those on the web. Most people here have limited exposure to classical (God, I hate that term) and for those people the...

The CSO is amazing to hear anytime - such precision, depth, balance, blend - surely the greatest orchestra on this continent. And the hall they play in on Michigan Ave is tops, too. Despite the modern look and feel, LA's Gehry designed hall doesn't sound nearly as good.