Thanks to Jim Tobin for an illuminating and encouraging review of Jan Swafford's "Johannes Brahms: A Biography." I have had the book for a couple of months but it has just sat on the shelf, glowering darkly at me from its 700 pages. I have a couple of transatlantic flights coming up next month, so Jim has encouraged me to add the Swafford book to my luggage. Incidentally, Jim refers in his review to Swafford's "Charles Ives: A Life with Music" -- highly recommended as a readable, educated and enjoyable introduction to an American composer who has always been something of an enigma to me. Indeed, I only got round to doing any digging on him when I discovered John Foulds (whose music is something of an obsession of mine) had been described as England's answer to Ives. If you don't already have the book, it is well worth adding to your library. I bought mine for pennies on the dollar through one of the remainders newspapers -- try www.hamiltonbooks.com and see if they have it. Tim Alexandria, VA