Alan Stone writes regarding Fidelio:

>You ought to listen to the new Naxoswith Halasz conducting.  His unique
>lyrical approach makes Fidelio sound as lyrical as if was written by
>Weber

And while you are at it, take a listen to Halasz's Mahler 7 on Naxos as
well.  A lovely approach to this difficult work.  Halasz is a patient,
unmannered conductor, and these traits serve this symphony well.  He brings
all the seemingly unrelated bits and pieces together into a cohesive whole.
He is only surpassed in this work by Scherchen, Horenstein, and Klemperer,
in my opinion.  And that is damned good company.

And then Alan pulls no punches on Danny B.

>Once again Naxos has shown us that the road to hell for classical
>music is to play the rock personality game and con people into thinking
>that some hack like Barenboim (listen to the beginning of his sloppy Verdi
>Requiem) has mystical powers frankly i will take Halasz over any of those
>fakes you mention.

I am not familiar with Barenboim's Verdi, but I do know Barenboim has
Bruckner in his soul, and better than that he can get his orchestra to
communicate these feelings as well, whether they share them or not.  I came
to Barenboim's Bruckner only this year.  I would not want to count how many
recordings of Bruckner I have for fear of my wife asking me and my having
to tell the whole truth, nothing but the truth.  Not all of Barenboim's
Bruckner recordings match the level of intensity and immediacy of his
recent 2nd, but they are certainly not fakes.  Too many conductors let
Bruckner speak for himself, just play the notes, so to speak, and figure
something will get across to the listener.  Barenoboim has stuff to say,
much like Schuricht, Knappertsbusch, Bohm, and he says it.  I find that
refreshing.

Thomas Heilman