Just now I decided to finally check out this "Horenstein thing" via
Berkshire Record Outlet, partly because I've never seen as complete
a consensus on a classical recording as the one that exists for his
Mahler 3.  All I have of H.  right now is his Mahler 7 on Descant and his
Bartok/Sibelius Violin Concertos on Vox with Ivry Gitlis (where Ivry's very
striking input is MUCH more audible than Jascha's!) I sorta gather that
neither of those is a very good thing to assess his achievement by-- I can
live with the sound on the Mahler 7 but the orchestral screwups ultimately
prove fatal for me.  Love the thrust of JH's interpretation though.  This'd
be my Mahler 7 if the playing were just 10% better.  Anyway, here's what
I just ordered:  The notorious Mahler 3.  I heard Unicorn is going out
of business and I know I'll hate myself if I don't grab one of these.
Already heard Bernstein (60's), Levine, Solti (LSO-- yuck), and Kubelik (my
favorite so far)-- can't wait for this one!  Beethoven 9 on Vox.  What the
heck, it was only 1.99.  Tchaikovsky 6 on Royal Classics.  Again, only 2.99
and I don't have a favorite for this work yet.  Sibelius 5 w/ Schoenberg
Chamber Symphony #1 on Intaglio.  Sound will probably stink but I'm
obsessed with the Sibelius as a "problem piece", and the Schoenberg is my
favorite thing of his besides the Piano Pieces op.11.  Mainly hoping the
Sibelius will kick my face in, as currently I favor a regrettably imaginary
blend of the Askenazy and Kajanus versions.  Liszt Faust Symphony with the
BBC Northern, on Intaglio.  Masur and Chailly haven't done it for me yet.
Too objective.  I trust that will not be the case here.

Sound like a good cross-section of Horenstein? Any high points I oughta
consider checking out?

Jon Lewis, American Cartoonist
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