Alex Renwick wrote:

>Have we no people on the list who started with Russian composers.[?]

It's funny; I'm so presently unattached to Russian composers that I forgot
how much two meant to me at one time.  In my previous article- length post
(apologies after the fact:) I wrote (referring to my dad):

>What did he think it meant that I used to stack four or five classical
>records on the arm of my turntable each night before going to sleep?

The records stacked on the spindle (not arm) of my record-player were
from a 3-LP set of Tchaikovsky's string concertos.  I remember the one
that I most favored as well as the packaging (as many other seem to) and
the fact the performers were the "Copenhagen String Quartet." Shortly
thereafter I discovered Symphony #6 and I didn't even take it badly when
my entire english class laughed when I chose "the Patetique" to accompany
a reading of a poem--a class assignment.  In subsequent years I liked
Rachmaninoff but, as it coincided with graduate school--which precluded the
pursuit of many non-academic things--I never dug down very deep, and over
they years have remained "greatest hits"-familiar.

I've never returned to the Russian composers because (in general) they
possess too much fervor for me, there is too much fury and drama, and
too much high e-string violin work.  I don't reject that as aesthetically
invalid, of course; it's just that it's not the right temp- eramental match
for me anymore.

So yet another question to come out of this fugue-like thread:  can anyone
recommend Russian composers that are sparse, slow, structured, and calm?
That are more (aesthetically) "baroque" than "romantic"? I'd be surprised
but pleased to hear of some.

--Jayne Willingham