Don Satz wrote about Volodos at Carnegie Hall winning Gramophone's Instrumental Disc of the Year award.] >I'm sorry to hear of that result. The other finalists were Kovacevich >for his Beethoven sonata disc on EMI and Schiff for his Haydn sonata disc >for Teldec. My opinion is that Schiff, of the three, was easily the best >- great sound, great music, and great interpretations. The sound for >Kovacevich was brutal, and the Volodos repertoire left much to be desired. >Once again, my views are not held by the majority. I could develop a >complex about this. I'm with you on this one (though I haven't heard the Kovacevich). Volodos is an amazing talent, but the Carnegie recital was weirdly programmed -- too much vaporous Scriabin for one thing (and I like Scriabin in appropriate doses); his debut disc was much better. The Schiff Haydn collection was superb throughout. But then Sony bought a lot of ad space for Volodos. Gramophone is becoming increasingly hard to digest. If it weren't for my interest in English music and in the London concert scene I would have bailed on my subscription some time back. And now they sport (again) a brand new design, apparently trying to emulate cluttered, graphics-loaded web pages. Art Scott Livermore, Cal.