James Tobin replies to me: >I have never been happy with the final movement of Bernstein's first (?) >recording, even though I understand the rationale for the abrupt shifts; >it just doesn't sound right compared to, say, Hohrenstein's ot Tennstedt's. >I'd like to hear your reasons, though. It comes down to Bernstein's inability or unwillingness to keep decent rhythm. With the exception of his Seventh with the NY Phil, which I still believe one of the best I've heard, I would gladly forgo all my Bernstein Mahler recordings. On the other hand, they were tremendously exciting when they first came out, but a lot of that excitement had to do with the rediscovery of Mahler through those recordings. >>Furthermore, the NY Phil, while he was music director, generally hated >>Bernstein. > >This doesn't square with my understanding, based on, admittedly limited, >accounts from no later than Boulez' tenure there. The players were >referred to as "Lenny's boys," and I never understood a double-entendre >there. Sure, when Boulez was there, they all of the sudden found they *loved* Bernstein all along, in no small measure because he wasn't Boulez. When Bernstein was actually chief conductor, he had a horrendous time trying to get them to do what he wanted. They generally acceded to his requests, but with a real bad grace. Some of the worst, nastiest stories about Bernstein from around that time came from NY Phil players. And they never played all that well for him - a shame, because it meant missed opportunities. Steve Schwartz