Nice survey by John Proffitt. I am glad to see Kurt Sanderling mentioned, as his Shostakovich partial cycle with the Berlin Symphony is extraordinary. I do not expect to hear a better 15th (much better than his own remake of it with the Cleveland Orchestra on Erato). Sanderling interprets this work with a great deal of irony and darkness, which is not immediately evident in most interpretations. His comments on this symphony are very enlightening. I also feel that he has a great 'Babi Yar' in him and hope he gets to record it some day. Someone in the 'rec.music.classical.recordings' newsgroup commented on attending a performance of the 8th with Sanderling and the BPO and called it a shattering experience. How I envy him. Regarding Rozhdestvensky's cycle, I have some Japanese JVC issues which sound much better than the issues that have turned up in the U.S. There is also a new reissue box of this cycle coming up, but I don't know if they have remastered it or if they're just "boxing" it. Ramon Khalona