Bob Draper asked:

>Didn't Furtwaengler record any other Haydn? I wonder if other group members
>find it as annoying as I do when record companies mix works by different
>composers on the same CD.

There was a live wartime Haydn symphony in muddy sound and with exaggerated
rallentandos among those Furtwaengler tapes returned from the Soviet Union
in the 1980's and also issued on DG.  The studio recording I was talking
about is part of a straight re-issue of the original 1950s' DG record.  It
has a photo of the original yellow record cover on the front.  It may even
be that these are the only works recorded by F for DG at all.

Why do records containing works by different composers annoy you? I have
to confess the idea has never come into my head.  In fact, now that I think
about it, it would seem to me - regardless of my reaction as a listener -
healthier if recording musicians feel free to mix and match those works
that they are good at, rather than being forced to record particular pieces
merely for the sake of neatness.  I am convinced that one of the most
pernicious trends in the recording industry in the past few decades has
been the convention for everybody, down to the most obscure, to record
'complete' sonatas, preludes, nocturnes, symphonies, concertos, often when
they are not suited or prepared for it.  We are awash with superfluous
recordings.

Felix Delbruck
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