Ben Malkevitch wrote:

>Incidentally, I have a good amount of respect for Marin Alsop but I have
>yet to be amazed by her Bernstein performances, especially the "Chichester
>Psalms" on Naxos.  The interpretation is serviceable but only seems to
>highlight the "joie de vivre" (if I may) that Lenny's own seems to have
>had.  Thoughts?

I concur...yet I find her concert performances to be much more to my
tastes.  Her Barber Second Symphony (a favorite work of mine) on Naxos
seems so sterile when compared the Minnesota Symphony broadcast I have.

I wonder if she does not feel the pressure to be more conservative in
her recordings, lest she offend those critics who prefer the note perfect.

That said, I have great hope that she will help us, as has Slatkin,
Tilson Thomas, Koussevitzky, Stokowski, Hanson, and many lesser knowns
like Guy Fraser Harrison, Karl Krueger, Walter Hendl, Thor Johnson,
Richard Bales, and record producers like Lance Bowling of Cambria and
Peter Kermani of Albany, and Heymann of Naxos (and the Ledines who have
done much for the American Music series on that label)to recognize that
the US has been blessed with some of the most gifted composers.  I don't
say this out of any sense of patriotism...I just happen to find a vitality
in much of American concert music (not unlike the vitality in our popular
music) that cannot be found elsewhere.

My God, it sounds like I am giving a eulogy...I hope not!

Karl