Donald Satz writes:
>Reviews at the time of initial release were generally good,
Including mine, IIRC. I'm unwilling to re-read 'em at this distance, mine
or anybody else's.
>but I am surprised that Gramophone rates Menuhin as best for nos. 40 & 41.
Possibly they couldn't pin down another coupling involving an *English*
conductor.
>I found the performances good but not at the top of the pile.
I shouldn't encourage you, Don, besides, you don't need encouragement....
but tell us, what's on top of your CD pile in this repertoire?
>Lately, Virgin has been reissuing 2-cd packages at a very low price.
>Perhaps Menuhin's two discs are among them.
If so, I'd call it one of those must-have bargain reissues, comparable
to the Philips twofers of Haydn symphonies led by Colin Davis.
I issued an impressionistic posting from work earlier today, responding to
the inquiry at the head of this thread. Now that I can get at the CDs, I
see I was mainly correct: Sinfonia Varsovia/Menuhin, recorded in Warsaw
in January 1989. VC7 91078 contained Symphonies Nos. 38 & 39 [56:01] VC7
91082 contained Nos. 40 & 41 [57:43]. The numbers are probably no longer
operative, and the discs are a little short-timed.
The sound is better, more detailed and transparent than I recalled, but
details of my audio system have changed, too.
John Wiser
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