Also sprach Deryk Barker, concerning Igor Markevitch's version of The Rite
of Spring:

>Doesn't the Testament reissue contain both his mono and stereo recordings?

Indeed it does, from 1951 and 1959.  I only know the 1959 version.  That's
fabulous IMHO and probably in Deryk's as well.

He also asked:

>Anyone else heard the Marco Polo discs of Markevitch's own music BTW?

Only some of them.  I own one which contains Cantique d'amour, L'envol
d'Icare and Concerto Grosso, and have heard on the radio Rebus and another
work whose name I can't remember.  I find it very difficult music to listen
to and yet at the same time, it has a strange attraction.  It sounds like
no-one else's, at least, that I've heard.

Some of my favourite records are conducted by Markevitch - Verdi's Requiem,
Mozart's Coronation Mass (latterly on Belart), two Berwald symphonies
(rereleased by DG), a badly-recorded but powerful Brahms 4, a Nielsen 4
I've yet to hear bettered, an incomplete but wonderful Berlioz Faust.  I've
heard him conduct Gesualdo, Haydn, Honegger, even zarzuela overtures.  I
can't think of anyone who recorded such a wide variety of music, and I have
no doubt he should be regarded as a great conductor.

Richard Pennycuick
[log in to unmask]