In a Gramophone poll of music critics for their favorite orchestras, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra placed fifth; first place went to the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra. See: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId - 291390 In the article, James Inverne cites the CSO's "incredible brass sound." I guess nothing changes. When I was a high-school kid with a copy of Edward Kleinhammer's book, the Chicago brass sound set the standard, at least among us young players and our teachers. Roger Hecht *********************************************** The CLASSICAL mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software together with L-Soft's HDMail High Deliverability Mailer for reliable, lightning fast mail delivery. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html