Mark Seeley writes: >Funny he should mention that when I am boarding a plane in a few days to >hear the Cleveland Orchestra perform the Ninth. Well, Mark, what did you think. We heard this in Cleveland a couple of weks ago and it was superb. Under CvD, the music is a sad and rueful farewell to life, sometimes bitter, but certainly not despairing. The same could be said of his Das Lied von der Erde a couple of weeks prior to that. Thew conductor's sense of balance and the orchestra's pristine clarity let the music speak for itself. It says a lot. Eric Kisch