Roger Hecht wrote:

>Well, if it makes you feel any better, I sympathise part way: I like
>the finale only in a few performances.  Stokowski's London is one.  But
>generally, I've found that movement a step down from what went before,
>which, sorry, I do like very much.
>
>Again, I can go halfway. I don't care for the piano concertos but do like
>the sonatas.

Yipes!  I can't think of a single composition by LvB which I dislike.  I
can hear something new and enjoy on its own merits every last performance
of the Ninth Symphony (all 4 movements!) I've ever heard.  Ditto for Piano
Concerti.  I hear LvB loud and clear in everything he set down on paper.
Unusual as it may sound to some folks, I even love "Wellington's Victory".
I could never tire or get enough of Beethoven all the way to my very end!

Norman Schwartz
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