Rather thanb repeat myself, I'll point you at my SoundStage!  review of the
recent Polyansky recording:

   http://www.soundstage/com/music/reviews/rev061.htm

Aaron Rabushka ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>The on-going ostinato and dozen or so repetitions of that cabaret-like
>tune that form the bulk of the first movement are boring as all get-out.
>In "Bolero" Ravel challenged boredom and routed it as resoundingly as has
>any composer.  DSCH took on a similar task in this symphony and failed.

I'm assuming that the people who feel this way about Bolero and the
Leningrad are not big fans of minimalism....:-)

FWIW I enjoy both Bolero and the Invasion  in DSCH 7.

Mark Shanks ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>...  The Seventh is burdened with the obvious, blatant propaganda
>surrounding it's composition, the disgusting grasping of it's American
>premeire (a battle of egos between Stokowski and Toscanini worthy of a
>"Hillary and Jackie"-style

This is not really fair to Stokie, is it? He persuaded NBC to get hold
of the score, which was microfilmed and smuggled out of Russia.  (BTW the
Western premiere was given by Sir Henry Wood in London before Toscanini's
performance) and was scheduled to give the premiere, whcn Toscanini decided
that *he* shold premiere this work by a "young anti-fascist" composer.

What happened afterwards may have been discusting and grasping, but (and I
hate to sound like a 5 year old) Arturo started it.

Deryk Barker
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