Deryk Barker wrote:

>I eagerly bought the final box on LP when it appeared (I cannot love
>the earlier symphonies).  After a few years it sunk in to me that I never
>listened to it anymore.  On digging it out and relistening I relaised why
>- it's horrible.  The kind of performance (acidic strings, dubious
>intonation) which gave "Authentic" performances a bad name in the
>early(ish) days.

I agree.  I had one of the early LP sets which included the Haffner.  I was
and am an early music, period-performance nut, but these often sounded like
a high-school orchestra was playing.

HOWEVER, the Geminiani concerti, if you can find them, by the same forces,
is a *wonderful* disc.  I first heard it at Tower and the glassy beauty of
the slow movements made everyone stop and listen with some wonder.  I have
that in both LP and CD.

Andrys in Berkeley
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