Mats Norrman responds to my review of the Naxos/Cui disc:

>>is further inducement to check out a 2nd tier composer at his best.
>
>I know that for example Sjostakovitz had agreed completely here, as he
>uses the same word(2nd rank) to describe Cui's musicmaking, but I guess you
>came up with an insult as well.

Insult? I think not.  My reason for using "2nd tier" was to convey
to readers that Cui is not in the same league as Chopin, Scriabin,
Rachmaninoff, etc.  Beyond that, I enthusiastically recommended the disc
of Cui's Piano Preludes, and that's hardly along the lines of dishing out
insults.  Actually, you would be hard pressed to read as positive a review
of this Naxos offering as the one I wrote a few days ago.

Please keep in mind that there are a host of 'tiers' besides the 1st and
2nd tiers, and that I'd place many composers lower than the level I reserve
for Cui.

Don Satz