Roger Hecht, forehead presumably furrowed in bewilderment: >But are I and my wife the only people in the world who can't stand >Slatkin's Second? We must be. I've tried several times and to me, it's >so drawn out that Slatkin seems to be draining the life out of the piece. >It's probably one of the few recordings that comes close to making me >dislike the piece--and that takes some doing! I think at this point, I'd >be grateful to hear from one other person who dislikes this performance. >I feel like I'm opposing motherhood here. Bad enough I'm an American who >doesn't don't like cars, but this? On the contrary, Roger! My first version of the 2nd was a little-known Boult version he made with the Scottish National (originally for the Waverley label, IIRC). I also tried his Lyrita version which was better but didn't affect me as much as the 1st always did. I heard Barbirolli (don't recall which), which I found too slow, Solti, rather perfunctory. I heard Slatkin on the radio, found myself involved in the music as never before, and just had to buy it. I remember striking up a conversation on a train between Edinburgh and London - the man I was talking to had very similar musical tastes to mine, but when I raised Slatkin's Elgar 2nd, which I'd only recently bought, I was left in no doubt that American conductors performing English composers, particularly Elgar, was total anathema. I don't recall the man's name but he lived in Blackheath. So you're not alone after all:-) Richard Pennycuick [log in to unmask]