If I remember correctly, this is one of those all-time sacred, untouchable recordings that's practically never been out of print. Right now it's in print in the Great Performers of the Century series (the beige, newspaper-headlines series) for $9.99. Steve Smith ssmith36@sprynet.com NP - rlw, 'Tulpas' disc 4 (Selektion) -----Original Message----- From: zorn-list-admin@mailman.xmission.com [mailto:zorn-list-admin@mailman.xmission.com]On Behalf Of William Crump Sent: Monday, December 09, 2002 6:19 PM To: Zorn List Subject: Re: classical orchestras (Cleveland)
From: "Steve Smith" <ssmith36@sprynet.com>
(Here's a tip - NO orchestra is infallible, no matter what anyone says... but the Cleveland Orchestra is the closest thing to perfection I ever expect to hear.)
Until I was about 20, my background was nothing but pop and rock, rock and pop. My parents had a small stack of vinyl, but it was all Mitch Miller, Eddy Arnold, the Longines Symphonette, etc. But there was one classical album that completely laid me out flat: Brahms' Piano Concerto No. 2, Szell conducting Cleveland, Rudolf Serkin at the pianner. I never understood, and still don't, why that recording made my blood sing like it did and no other piece of the standard classical literature ever has since. The vinyl is long since gone, but I listen to snippets of it in my head to this day. (I wonder if it's in print somewhere.)