Wes Crone:

>To my surprise I find that more people than not express an
>opinion of dislike for Leonard Bernstein as conductor.

To my mind, Bernstein is one of the great conductors of the century.  I
have scores of his recordings and, although I have some quibbles with a few
interpretations that I think others have done better with, and others I
simply passed over because I was sure I would prefer the recordings of
others, I find most of the ones I own profoundly satisfying.  Some of his
early Columbia recordings may be better than his late remakes, but I even
like the really slow tempi in, say, his DG Shostakovich Sixth.  I find his
early Sacre du printemps exciting and Boulez dull in comparison.  In
American music he is unsurpassed.

Jim Tobin