Mary Esterheld wrote:

>Whatever the reason, IMO I think they have the ability to bring out the
>depths of the richness of the music.  Are they less inhibited? Do they
>have deeper emotional feeling? Are they smaltzier? It may be something
>that comes from the rigor of living in Hungary.

I remember a story on NPR some time ago about the music education program
in their schools, which was far more thorough and intensive than could be
found in most countries.  I think that it is a country which cares a lot
about music, and as far as I can see, always has.  Certainly they produce
fine musicians in every category, not just conductors.  But I would bet
that if the U.S.  public school systems put as much effort and resources
into CM education as the Hungarians do, we would turn out the same
proportion of big leaguers.  I think musical talent, like intelligence
and other talents, is distributed evenly throughout the human race.

Jon Johanning // [log in to unmask]