Mimi Ezust wrote:

>One of my all-time favorite performances of the Rachmaninov Symphonic
>Dances for two pianos is on a London Double Decker.  Ashkenazy and
>Previn are magnificent!

Also his Rachy Symphonic Dances.  The only version, in my experience, to
leave the tam-tam reverberating on the last chord, as the composer asks -
and very exciting it is also.  On the subject of Rachmaninov Previn was the
first to record the complete Second Symphony, when he was with the LSO, for
EMI.  They toured Russia with it and played it in Moscow at a time when the
cut version was usual.  Many wept openly during the concert.

Previn is greatly admired and respected in this country.  He lived
here for many years, led two of our orchestras and genuinely popularised
classical music in a way that was not patronising or as the result of a
dumbing down.  What he did for British music around the world has to be
appreciated.  As an interpreter, like Beecham, what he does he does well,
sometimes brilliantly.  The fact that he chooses not to conduct vast tracts
of repertoire (like Beecham again) is, for me, to be applauded.  If an
interpreter doesn't feel in sympathy with certain composers, or certain
works of certain composers, then she/he should leave them alone and
concentrate on what they do best.

I would nominate all of his Walton, all of his Vaughan Williams, all of his
Rachmaninov to be of note.  His Shosty 5th and Walton 1st with RCA I count
the best on the market.

Tony Duggan
Staffordshire,
United Kingdom.