David Harbin wrote:

>The stunning #2 by LPO/Slatkin.  I can add more than the review by
>Gramophone.  Slatkin layers waves of sound and the timpani is most
>impressive (try the 3rd movement).  The organ is included in the 4th
>movt.  A very impressive CD.

The Elgar 2nd with Slatkin (LPO/RCA) was my first Elgar 2nd on CD, which
has been collecting dust practically since the time I bought it ten years
ago or so.  I thought it was a bad recording.  Now, many stereo upgrades
later, I wiped the dust off of it, and gave it a listen. I was surprised
by how good it sounded.  I'm not commenting on the performance here --
I'd didn't get a chance to give it a good listen from beginning to end,
although I'm sure I'd find no fault with the performance.

If I may be a little off topic: After the aforementioned many stereo
upgrades, I now do all my serious listening with a headphone system,
consisting of the EarMax Pro headphone amp (with decent replacement
tubes), Sennheiser HD600 headphones with the Cardas replacement cable,
Proceed PDP3 DAC, Proceed PDT3 transport, and Transparent interconnects.
As a result, my judgment of recordings is very biased, i.e.  what sounds
good on a system with external speakers may sound terrible on a headphone
system, and what sounds good on a mediocre sound system may sound terrible
on an excellent system, and vice verse.

Mike Leghorn