Nick Perovich <[log in to unmask]> writes about the art of conducting so
that tempi seem to fall naturally:

>Furtwaengleris not the only example, but he's surely a good one, of a
>conductor achieving all of these with very fluid tempos.  To take a couple
>of examples, listen to the cumulative effect over fairly long stretches of
>the fourth movements of just about any Furtwaengler performance of Brahms's
>First or Beethoven's Ninth...

...or, for that matter, to Celibidache, disciple of Furtwaengler's, doing
Brahms 1.  I'm referring to the performance as part of a cycle of Brahms
symphonies brought out by the Deutsche Gramophone as a 1999 reengineering
of mid-70s recordings.  These were conducted by Celi along with the
Stuttgart Radio Orchestra.  Celi's Brahms 1, I find, handles everything
just so--even an orchestra that otherwise classified as no more than Good
Provincial.  Celi must have rehearsed the bejesus out of them.  The tempi
here are characteristic of the pre-Munich Celibidache--brisker, less
meditative than his later pace.  (The side clocks in at about 47 minutes;
he used to take rather more in Munich).The only trouble with the set is
its expense; I haven't seen it cut-priced anywhere hereabaouts.

Denis Fodor                     Internet:100766.2076@compuserve