Henk van Tuijl wrote:

>>Tchaikovsky is not "over the top" when played by someone like
>>Rubinstein.

And Donald Satz replied:

>I appreciate Henk's comment and will keep it in mind.  My current feeling
>is that it would be over the top even if Brendel and Norrington were the
>performers.  However, I have been yielding.  I recently bought all T's
>symphonies performed by Markevitch(1-3) and Mravinsky(4-6).  It's been
>hard going - I cringe often.  I think I would have been better off if
>I went for the ballets, and that's what I'm going to do next.

I share your response to Tchaikovsky completely, except for his operas.
Forget about his ballets, and try Eugene Onegin and The Queen of Spades

Julia Werthimer <[log in to unmask]>
California, USA