The estimable John Proffitt wrote:

>Few music lovers would be without, e.g., the Mozart Requiem or Puccini's
>Turandot or Bartok's Viola Concerto, among other repertory works rendered
>"complete" by other hands.  Of course, Bernstein refused to consider a
>completed Mahler 10th, but then, that was not the first or only time
>that Lenny was flat out wrong.

I have enjoyed John's postings a great deal but this comment has prodded
me out of lethargic state and caused me to take keyboard in hand.

I think it may be a tad presumptuous to say that Bernstein was 'wrong'
in not considering a performing version of the Mahler 10.  He is just
as right as any conductor who decides to perform one of the versions.
Is a conductor more right in performing the Cooke or the Carpenter?
The Mazzetti I or the Wheeler?

Many fine conductors, some of whom have made a name as Mahlerians, have
chosen not to perform the 10th - Boulez, Haitink and Abbado, to name but
three.  Jascha Horenstein also said in a private interview that he did
not care to perform the then new Cooke I.  A conductor is just as 'right'
to dismiss these versions as he is to perform them.

That said, I enjoy both the Mahler 10 and the Bruckner 9 often.  I don't
know which completion (a term I dislike) I would recommend, since I
listen to various ones as my mood dictates.  What I can say, without
pause to reconsider, is that each version shows that had the composers
lived to complete the works themselves, they may well have been their
very greatest symphonies.

Respectfully submitted,

Ray Osnato