James Tobin replies to me:

>I have never been happy with the final movement of Bernstein's first (?)
>recording, even though I understand the rationale for the abrupt shifts;
>it just doesn't sound right compared to, say, Hohrenstein's ot Tennstedt's.
>I'd like to hear your reasons, though.

It comes down to Bernstein's inability or unwillingness to keep decent
rhythm.  With the exception of his Seventh with the NY Phil, which I still
believe one of the best I've heard, I would gladly forgo all my Bernstein
Mahler recordings.  On the other hand, they were tremendously exciting when
they first came out, but a lot of that excitement had to do with the
rediscovery of Mahler through those recordings.

>>Furthermore, the NY Phil, while he was music director, generally hated
>>Bernstein.
>
>This doesn't square with my understanding, based on, admittedly limited,
>accounts from no later than Boulez' tenure there.  The players were
>referred to as "Lenny's boys," and I never understood a double-entendre
>there.

Sure, when Boulez was there, they all of the sudden found they *loved*
Bernstein all along, in no small measure because he wasn't Boulez.  When
Bernstein was actually chief conductor, he had a horrendous time trying to
get them to do what he wanted.  They generally acceded to his requests, but
with a real bad grace.  Some of the worst, nastiest stories about Bernstein
from around that time came from NY Phil players.  And they never played all
that well for him - a shame, because it meant missed opportunities.

Steve Schwartz