Mark Seeley writes:

>Funny he should mention that when I am boarding a plane in a few days to
>hear the Cleveland Orchestra perform the Ninth.

Well, Mark, what did you think.  We heard this in Cleveland a couple
of weks ago and it was superb.  Under CvD, the music is a sad and rueful
farewell to life, sometimes bitter, but certainly not despairing.  The same
could be said of his Das Lied von der Erde a couple of weeks prior to that.
Thew conductor's sense of balance and the orchestra's pristine clarity let
the music speak for itself.  It says a lot.

Eric Kisch