I was stunned to open the new Gramophone and find, without fanfare, a
review of a new Decca Mahler 8th.

Before I even read the review, I bet myself $35.99 that it would go
something like this:

   (a distillation:) "technically assured and polished...a star-studded
   cast...and yet--a curiously earthbound performance...."

Well, I owe myself $35.99.  Whether the above is a disease of modern
performers or modern critics, I don't know.  In any case--Mahlerians out
there--say it ain't so!

John Smyth