I recently acquired Maria Yudina's recordings of Bach's Goldberg Variations, and Beethoven's Diabelli and Eroica Variations, all on the Philips Great Pianists Series. I'm glad to report that I'm enjoying them tremendously. What inspiring readings! (even if the reading on the whole is rather personal.) To me, her Diabelli only confirms how overrated Schnabel is as a Beethoven interpreter, whose Diabelli is also on his Philips GP title, which I just heard several days back. And her Goldbergs show that one can be individual without having to sound wayward, as in the case of Glenn Gould, whose playing is really something of an acquired taste. I strongly recommend her Philips set! Just curious: The liner notes mention that Yudina was not one who was into sweet-talking and pleasing the political dictators of her time, and also mentions that she was a champion of Shostakovich's music. I might be wrong, but I thought I came across somewhere (possibly on this List or maybe somewhere else in cyberspace) that like Goldenweiser, Yudina was amongst those who at some point joined the Stalinist camp and denounced and censured composers like Shostakovich and Prokofiev, either out of necessity or their own volition (I can't remember which). Anyone know anything about this? Thanks in advance. Lionel Choi Singapore http://www.singnet.com.sg/~lionelc/dummies.html