The first time I ever heard MTT interpreting Beethoven was by accident:
about a year ago, I tuned into a late night concert on BBC 3 and had
just missed the opening bars of the Eroica...and didn't know who the
performers were...

The more I heard of it, the more I was impressed by itt all.  The
interperation and playinbg sounded very European...possibly is Berlin
or Vienna....and I wondered was I hearing Karajan, or Boehm or Klemperer
or Tennstedt.  or Bernstein..or either Erich or Carlos Kleiber.  It was
a gripping performance..dramatic...thoughtful...and I was convinced that
I was hearing a top-class Beethovenian.

Imagine my surprise to hear that it was MTT and his San Francisco
Orchestra.  Altogether I felt it was one of the finest and most satisfying
performances of the "Eroica" that I've ever heard...and I've heard many
performances over the past six decades.

But no sign of a recording in the standard catalogues.  I waited for
months...then, to my delight, I located a DVD recording of it in MTT's
"Keeping Score" where he tells you all about it...and then plays it...
A unique musical experience.

I got it through Arkivmusic.  MTT does the same for Tschaikowsky's 4th
symphony, Stravinsky's "Rite of Spring",and a musical portrait of Aaron
Copland.

If you're wondering what to give yourself for Christmas...MTT is your
man!

Sincerely
Norman H Walker, Dublin. Ireland

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