Jon Gallant wrote:

>I don't know.  I keep listening to one exceptional and obscure thing
>after another by Miaskovsky, hoping to find SOMETHING half as good
>as the symphony #21, and never finding it.  Has anybody else had this
>experience?  [Well, all right, the cello concerto is maybe one third as
>good.] Perhaps Miaskovsky is one of those composers (like Hovhaness)
>whose discography might just as well be short.

While I have all of the Symphonies in recording I will admit, I haven't
plowed through all of them.  I do like both the Violin Concerto and the
Cello Concerto...

So, how many out there have gone through all of the Brian Symphonies...for
me, he was at his best in the opening measures of the Gothic...and then
it was downhill all the way.

As for Hovhaness...I think I have about 20 or so of the Symphonies...I
like the first three the best, but wouldn't part with my recordings of
the others...Nos.15 and 16...very different works but quite worth the
listen.  Do I think it is "great" music...a few of the pieces, probably
close to...most of the recordings feature less than stellar performances...
I wonder what we would think of his work if everyone of his Symphonies
were given such fine recordings as has his Second Symphony "Mysterious
Mountain?"

For me, while I marvel at the quality of the Haydn Symphonies...listening
to them leave me cold.

Karl