My name's John, and I'm new to the list. I must confess that I've always felt Dvorak to be a little weak in the gravitas department; but it doesn't keep me from loving his music. The works of his that earn my greatest respect continue to be the 7th sym. (and yes I do hear a lot of Brahms in it) and a couple of chamber works, particularly the op.81 quintet; with the 8th & 9th symphonies striking me as lesser, though still admirable, works. Of his concertos the one for cello is obviously the leader of the pack, though I feel the violin concerto to be as good if not as appealing a work. The cello concerto held my attention for my earlier years, but lost its position of top cello concerto to Schumann whose shorter cto deserves more hearings than it gets perhaps in part because the spotlight is so much on the Dvorak. But I'll never lose my excitement about works like the Scherzo Capriccioso, Roman Carnival ovt, 1st mvmnt of the 8th sym., some of the Slavonic Dances, etc. when conducted with care and vitality. But the issue of weightiness I mentioned at the top of my post is as much a matter of outward style than of any lack of depth in the creative artist himself, by which I mean I have no hesitation calling Dvorak a genius. I've not read a Dvorak bio, but I remain curious why there was such a huge leap in his creative skills between the 6th and 7th sym's? I'm interested in hearing about what recorded version of the 7th people on this chatlist have heard, particularly among recently released versions, they they especially like; I can't find a definitive recording. The first 7th that really got my attention came, in the 70s I think, from a conductor whose recordings I like about a third of the time, Zubin Mehta on a beautifully recorded London LP. John Polifronio Los Angeles