Roy Ellefsen:

>I don't have a recording of the Tschaikowsky Sym. 4.  What's your advice?
>Naxos has several.   I am partial to Naxos because, of course, money is
>indeed an object.  Anyone know them?  I am from Utah and am therefore
>partial to Abravanel and the USO.  Any advice there?   Or is there some
>other recording that you consider THE recording to have?

For me, the first and last movements separate great from okay recordings
of this work.  The middle movements tend to take care of themselves.  So
I would recommend (not necessarily in this order) Mravinsky, Szell, and
Wit.  Mravinsky is full price (about $30 at Amazon, but you get symphonies
five and six as well), Szell is mid-price, and Wit is Naxos, but I don't
believe you can get his account on one CD, so it works out to the price
of the Szell.  I'd pick Szell over Wit.

Steve Schwartz