Andrew Carlan <[log in to unmask]> writes, in an effort to codify reasons why Brahms lacks luster for many of us: >Brahms lacks what otherwise unites the symphonic tradition up to him and >that is the primacy of propulsion. There is something static about the >Brahms symphonies. Their energy level is one-tenth of Beethoven's. And >for all that, my favorite Brahms is his most relaxed symphony and the slow >movement of that, which for me is very unusual. I think "propulsion" is precisely the problem, which often translates, for me at least, into boredom. D. Stephen Heersink San Francisco [log in to unmask]