HDTenEightyP/NetNews huggingface dataset:
From: schissel@mace.Princeton.EDU (Eric Schissel)
Subject: Re: Moses und A(a)ron
Keywords: Schoenberg, opera, Moses
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 22:33:36 GMT

Stuckenschmidt's larger biography of Schoenberg.

schissel@math.cornell.edu

Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
From: schissel@mace.Princeton.EDU (Eric Schissel)
Subject: Re: Beethoven's 10th. Symphony
Organization: Princeton University
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 09:52:07 GMT

In article <1992Sep10.170055.10910@Princeton.EDU> roger@astro.princeton.edu (Roger Lustig) writes:
>In article <00960672.DA715FE0@vms.csd.mu.edu> 6145goldino@vms.csd.mu.edu writes:
>Yes.  EMI, I think.

MCA, if i'm not mistaken?
All responses to schissel@math.cornell.edu
(It will be some time before i can read news again.)
From: mvalinis@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu (Michael J Valinis)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: choral group recommendation
Date: 12 Sep 92 14:28:58 GMT
Organization: The Ohio State University

May I recommend a group that does not seen to have been mentioned yet?
Definitely fitting into the small group category, with 5 members, is a favorite
ensemble of mine, the Collegium Vocale of Cologne.  There are three albums of
theirs with which I am familiar, all available on CBS, though I only have them
on cassette, I believe that they are also available on CD:

1) The Most Beautiful Madrigals (sorry -- no album # available)
   a rather broad overview, geographically and stylistically of the madrigal
   tradition.  On three cassettes.

2) Gesualdo: Madrigals from book VI (cassette: CBS IMT 37758)
   Only a selection, I know, but very polished, tight performance of not the
   easiest music to sing.

3) Folksongs (cassette: CBS IMT 39060)
   A very mixed bag of "classical" treatments of "folksongs" - It has, besides
   Greensleeves, folssong treatments by (in recorded order) Schumann,
   Schoenberg/Scandello, Silcher, Isaac, Mendelssohn, Reger, Brahms, Bach,
   Rimsky-Korsakov, Tchaikovsky, de Rore, Dvorak, Kodaly, Poulenc, Barber, and
   several anonymous songs as well. The kind of album you either love or hate!!

How "authentic" these performances are?  I leave that to the more 
knowledgeable, but they are a delight to listen to!

For a larger group, what about the Rundfunkchor Leipzig?  I have them on two
albums, both of which are favorites of mine:

1) Mozart : Requiem (casstte: Philips 7337 320 - also on CD)
   Performed with Margaret Price, Trudeliese Schmidt, Theo Adam, and the
   Staatskapelle Dresden, under Peter Schreier.    Awesome!!

2) Mendelssohn : Choruses (cassette: Philips 7337 362  - CD???)
   Under the direction of Horst Neumann.  Wonderful, lush, tight ensemble!!!
   This is a revelation for anyone only familiar with the more often
   performed Mendelssohn repertoire.
-- 
=>   Michael J. Valinis   -=+{*}+=-   mvalinis@magnus.acs.ohio-state.edu   <=
+>=>      "Language, n.  The music with which we charm the serpents      <=<+
=>+>=>         guarding another's treasure."   -Ambrose Bierce         <=<+<=
+>=>+>=>+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+<=<+<=<+
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
From: taube@isa.de (Christian Taube)
Subject: Copland Discography, anybody?
Summary: Does anybody have one?
Keywords: Aaron Copland, discography, lesser known works
Organization: ISA GmbH, W-7000 Stuttgart 1, Germany
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 15:05:56 GMT

G'day,

I'm on the hunt for recordings of some of the lesser known works of
Aaron Copland, notably anything that is not "Appalachian Spring" or
the Third Symphony :-), which are of course widely available.  In
particular, I'd be interested in recordings of his film scores, e.g.
for the documentary "The City", 1939 -- don't tell me to go see them,
they're kinda hard to come by, even in the States, let alone here . . .

Thanks a lot for any responses, and please mail them to me directly,
as we don't have a feed for this group (I'm not even sure this will go
where I want it to . . . ).

Christian

-- 
Christian Taube (taube@isa.de), ISA GmbH, 7000 Stuttgart 1, Germany
Any opinions expressed are mine, and mine only! Thought for today:
A deboned picnic mutates consciously.
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
From: suhre@meltami.dsd.trw.com (Maurice E. Suhre)
Subject: Re: Korngold
Organization: TRW, INC.
Date: Tue, 8 Sep 1992 23:51:23 GMT

In article <CB.92Sep8124257@tamarack13.timbuk> cb@tamarack13.timbuk (Chris Brewster) writes:
>Bob Kosovsky writes:
>>  I've never seen his last film, MAGIC FIRE (1956) - a bio about Wagner...
>I didn't know there was such a film.  Has anyone seen it?

Well, I've seen it.  In Southern CA it shows up late at night sometimes
on Ch 13.  I'm not a movie critic, but it's like other Hollywood
versions of the lives of the famous composers -- I think they take some
artistic license.  The scenery is good and they play a lot of music.
My music theory professor just today mentioned the Wagner was manic
depressive.  I don't remember that being brought out in the movie.  They
certainly did portray Wagner's exploits with other people's wives, etc.

-- 
Maurice Suhre
suhre@trwrb.dsd.trw.com
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
From: steve@fid.morgan.com (Steve Apter)
Subject: Re: Martinon's EMI Ravel
Organization: Morgan Stanley & Co., New York, NY
Date: Tue, 15 Sep 1992 15:49:44 GMT

EMI Studio CDM 7 69566 2 (1975):

	Daphnis et Chloe (1,2,3)
	Valses nobles et sentimentales

EMI Studio CDM 7 69565 2 (1975):

	Bolero
	Ouverture de feerie (Sheherazade)
	Rapsodie espagnole
	Menuet antique
	La Valse

Both with Martinon cond. the Orchestre de Paris.  
Both cut out.

Also recently deleted, Martinon's recordings of
_Symphonie Fantastique_ and _Lelio_, on EMI.


Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
From: cb@tamarack13.timbuk (Chris Brewster)
Subject: Re: Du Pre recital
In-reply-to: schissel@mace.Princeton.EDU's message of 13 Sep 92 18:26:48 GMT
Organization: pubs
Date: 14 Sep 92 16:32:04 CDT

Eric Schissel writes:

   Reasons I recommend the Abbado on DG for the 6th:
   excellent sound and dynamic range- i have it on 2 tapes and for tapes
   this is not believable.
           ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^ 
An English-usage suggestion I've made before: if a product's purpose is
to reproduce something accurately and it succeeds, it is believable and
credible, not unbelievable and incredible.  Without the word "excellent"
on the second line above, I would have taken the comment as a criticism.

Chris Brewster
cb@cray.com
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
From: smith@honesty.Stanford.EDU (Jeremy Smith)
Subject: Re: Le Sacre, Stravinski
Reply-To: smith@honesty.Stanford.EDU.Stanford.EDU (Jeremy Smith)
Organization: Stanford University Computer Science Department
Distribution: usa
Date: Fri, 11 Sep 1992 05:41:55 GMT

In article <10SEP199213574384@portal.lasc.lockheed.com> le01167@portal.lasc.lockheed.com (Ron Nadel (x2025)) writes:
>In article <1992Sep10.170804.12479@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU>, smith@honesty.Stanford.EDU.Stanford.EDU (Jeremy Smith) writes...
>
>>and Montreal is perhaps the most technically proficient
>>Symphony Orchestra in the world today. 
>
>I guess I have not been keeping my eye on the Sports page.  When did they
>win this title?
>
>Ron

Sorry, no official award for Montreal, just a hypothesis i've made
after hearing numerous demanding pieces by them.  The M.S.O. is very
accurate, very in tune, more so than recent recordings of other symphony
orchestras i've heard.  Listen to their recording of Stravinsky's
Firebird, Ravel's Bolero and Rhapsody Espanol, Holst's Planets,
Saint-Sean's Organ Symphony, Rodrigo's Concerto for guitar and
Orchestra...

In each case the playing is very fine(even if the interpretation is
not).  London's recording technology doesn't hurt either.

Jeremy.

listening to recordings less than ten years old
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
From: ujwb@uxa.ecn.bgu.edu (Jeff Beer)
Subject: Xenakis / Arditti box
Organization: Educational Computing Network
Date: Wed, 9 Sep 1992 16:36:54 GMT

I heard rumors of the complete string quartets of Xenakis by the Arditti
Quartet, I think on the Montagne label.  I haven't ever seen them at
Tower.  Does anyone know anything about them?

Jeff
From: dpotts@sw.stratus.com (David Potts)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: Haydn's "The Seasons"
Date: 14 Sep 92 14:45:07 GMT
Organization: Stratus Computer, Inc.

CUT IT?  REPLACE IT?  Please.

This is one work which is, IMHO, under-performed.  So what if it lasts 2+ hours?
It's a work which deserves to be heard.  I don't subscribe to the opinion that
it all contains a certain sameness.  Each of the sections representing the
different seasons has its own uniqueness.  I say perform it as written.
From: sec@otter.hpl.hp.com (Simon Crouch)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: Re: Wagner Weekend and Karajan
Date: 9 Sep 92 13:12:02 GMT
Organization: Hewlett-Packard Laboratories, Bristol, UK.

Rob Writes:

> Ah -- I can see I have an expert debater on my hands.  :-)  For you
> are correct, of course.  However, I would defend myself by saying
> that Parsifal ranks as a supreme spiritual experience, as compared
> to the (mere?) rush one gets from Meistersinger.  I place Parsifal
> on an elevated plane above all other Wagner, and all other opera.
                                                   ^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Since one of the themes of Parsifal is "redemption through renunciation",
we'd better make that "...and all other everything" :-)

> It is the first Wagner I ever came to know.  It is the only Wagner
> I have ever seen staged live, and for that I had to make a pilgrimage to
> NY and shell out the bucks to stay in a hotel and attend the opening
> night of the (then) new MET production with Domingo and Norman.  
> If you knew how seldom I do such a thing, you'd know what an 
> effect this work must have on me.

Is this a common effect? Those friends of mine who have experienced
Parsifal have all said it has had a deep effect on them. I seem to 
remember reading somewhere that Elgar was deeply moved...
The effect on me expresses itself by an insane desire to acquire recordings
of it and to read obscure, rambling 12th and 13th (ish) century authors!

> That said, I agree that a Wagner Anonymous group should be started.
> I doubt I know anywhere near enough to run for president, but 
> I would volunteer for "recording" secretary.  Can never turn down
> another Wagner recording, you know ...  (Sorry.)

I think we'll need to fight that post out at the hustings!

> Rob

Simon.
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: La Traviata
From: vnguyen@husc8.harvard.edu (Vinh Nguyen)
Date: 8 Sep 92 14:42:56 EDT
Reply-To: vnguyen@husc8.harvard.edu
Distribution: usa
Originator: vnguyen@husc8.harvard.edu

In article <1992Sep8.162031.29035@linus.mitre.org>, 
rwilmer@zinka.mitre.org (R. Wilmer) writes:
> In article <1992Sep04.224918.6579@lloyd.Camex.COM> 
chrisi@lloyd.Camex.COM (Chris Ischay) writes:
>>In article <1992Sep4.205302.8634@umbc3.umbc.edu> 
maher@umbc4.umbc.edu (Dr.
>>Michael Maher; ACS (GUEST)) writes:
>>
>>Even more satisfying is his "Di Provenza," one of the few occasions when
>>this melody doesn't come off a little dweeby.
> 
> It shouldn't come off that way.  The aria is a deep expression of
> Verdi's profound sense of humanity.  The words ``Il tuo vecchio
> genitor, tu non sai quanto soffri'' can be most touching if
> movingly sung.  This aria says something about family strength,
> love, and duty--one of Verdi's strongest themes which often
> gives birth to his most powerful music (Gilda and Rigoletto,
> Aida and Amonasro, Lida and her father in Battaglia, Luisa and
> Miller, Fiesco and Maria, Simone and Amelia, the two Foscari,
> Massimiliano and Carlo in Masnadieri, Azucena and Manrico).
> 
> ``Di Provenza'' is one of the great musical expressions
> of healing and comfort.  It shows that Germont is not just 
> a stuffed shirt, but a man who is able to bring the
> full meaning and feeling of ``home'' (Di Provenza il mar il suol)
> to his son, when he feels his son is most in need of it.
> 
> Richard
 
Thank you for the eloquent defense of the aria (or the cavatina
part of it), but I can't help cringing at the pedestrian perfunctoriness
of the ensuing cabaletta "no, non udrai rimproveri".  Are singers
taking their cues from this silly piece of music to turn the whole
role of Germont into a cardboard character?  Despite my purist
yearnings, and I love La Traviata to death, but this is a single 
piece of music that I would sincerely wish that Verdi had not 
composed.  Is that how highly he thought of "Di Provenza" to follow
it up with such a lousy curtain closing cabaletta that would surely
invite vegetables rather than applause?  Just a reckless thought!

Vinh

Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
From: clldomps@cs.ruu.nl (Louis van Dompselaar)
Subject: Most authentic King Arthur (Purcell)
Date: Mon, 7 Sep 1992 10:42:07 GMT
Organization: Utrecht University, Dept. of Computer Science
Keywords: Purcell

I've got a score of Purcell's King Arthur which claims to be 'the
most complete up to now'. It is of 1959, or something.
I've also got a recording of this work of 1991, which has some
pieces added to it (i.e. pieces that are not in the 59 score).
This leads me to the conclusion that there have been some recent
discoveries concerning this work.

Are there?

please reply via E-mail, as I often forget checking this newsgroup :-)

Louis

-- 

Louis van Dompselaar      |||  Life is short, Life is tiny
clldomps@cs.ruu.nl         |    -- Heart Throbs   
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
From: conrad@brahms.udel.edu (Jon Conrad)
Subject: Re: Threepenny Opera...THE MOVIE
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 03:07:26 GMT

In article <CB.92Sep8125630@tamarack13.timbuk> cb@tamarack13.timbuk (Chris Brewster) writes:

>A few years back I happened to see a movie version of Weill's Threepenny
>Opera, not under the most auspicious conditions (something like channel
>56 at 1:30 AM, interrupted by car commercials).  I'd guess it was from
>about 1962 and had, strangely enough, Sammy Davis Jr in the cast.  It
>was actually good, easily the best thing I've seen Davis do (definitely
>in the right spirit and with a certain daring edge).  I've never found
>the slightest trace or mention of this version anywhere.  My movie
>guide, reviewing the heavy, heavy 1931 German version, breezily mentions
>"numerous other versions" without identifying any of them.  I've somehow
>missed all these numerous other versions except the one with Davis.  Can
>anyone tell me anything about film versions of 3PO, esp. Davis's?

The one you saw is indeed from around 1962.  It was made in Germany,
with people like Hildegard Knef and Martha Schlamme (who made a decent
cabaret career in the US doing Weill).  For the American release, they
added in Sammy Davis Jr as the ballad singer in place of whichever
German actor had filmed it.  This version is universally regarded as a
travesty, submitting Weill's music to tasteless and styleless
rearrangements.  I recall a review of the soundtrack album which ended
with the words "a record to boycott."

The recent Golan/Globus version called MACK THE KNIFE (you'll find it
under that title in Maltin) is not much better -- you may well be able
to rent it and see for yourself.  Again, the "Berlin edge" of the score
is removed in tacky new arrangements.  The cast includes Raul Julia,
Julia Migenes, Julie Walters, Roger Daltrey, Richard Harris.  It had
about a week's release in the US and then mercifully vanished.

Jon Alan Conrad
From: genetic+@pitt.edu (Dr. Dave)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: recommandation for good performances of choral works.
Date: 14 Sep 92 15:41:50 GMT
Organization: Department of Industrial Engineering

Thus spake mgresham@dscatl.UUCP (Mark Gresham):

>  There is another option, which one may identify with
>Minneapolis/St. Paul's choirs/choruses, which is still in the
>minority in the U.S., but which produces the clarity of the
>English sound without the cool wimpiness of the Cambridge Singers,
>and has breadth of dynamic range and warmth without being bovine
>or having a constant vibrato you could fly a Boeing 757 through.

Why, so there is.  I hadn't thought of them, but (for example) The Dale
Warland Singers might be a fine introduction to what American choral music
can sound like.  I recently heard a wonderful little recording of theirs,
featuring music by Dominick Argento ("Peter Quince at the Clavier", "Odi et
Amo", a couple of other things...) that was very tight indeed over some
exceptionally difficult choral terrain.


-- 
      David M. Tate      | From my dugout sleep I fell into the Game
 dtate@unix.cis.pitt.edu | And I crouched in the circle while my insides froze
 Randall 'Chico' Jarrell | One out from death, one hit from dreamt-of glory
"Death of a Pinch Hitter"| I woke to 'Strike One!' and the nightmare sliders...
From: al@sys6626.bison.mb.ca (Haus Der Luge)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Bottom Ten Operas
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 11:40:31 CST
Organization: system 6626 BBS, Winnipeg MB

Bottom Ten Operas:
 
(1-10) The ones where they sing.
 
HausDerLuge
(The one who doesn't like Mozart either)


;--- (Haus Der Luge) a user of sys6626, running waffle 1.64
;E-mail: al@sys6626.bison.mb.ca
;system 6626: 63 point west drive, winnipeg manitoba canada R3T 5G8
From: vnguyen@husc8.harvard.edu (Vinh Nguyen)
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
Subject: Re: Mahler's 5th Symphony by Solti and remastering CDs
Date: 8 Sep 92 03:43:17 GMT
Reply-To: vnguyen@husc8.harvard.edu
Distribution: usa
Originator: vnguyen@husc8.harvard.edu

In article <1992Sep8.003516.25079@CSD-NewsHost.Stanford.EDU>, 
smith@honesty.Stanford.EDU (Jeremy Smith) writes:
> In article <Bu7yzs.E7v@news.udel.edu> 
conrad@brahms.udel.edu (Jon Conrad) writes:
>>
>>Oh, you meant "never conducted the Chicago Symphony" (while Solti was
>>music director.  True, but so what?  Karajan never guest-conducted 
>>anyone else's orchestra ANYwhere.
>>
> 
> I don't believe your statement is correct.  Karajan conducted the
> Orchestra of Paris in Frank's Symphony in D, along with a few other
> pieces.
> 
> Jeremy.
 
Aye, but HvK was the music director of the Orchestre de Paris at the
time of the recording of the Franck Symphony (on EMI), he got into a
quarrel with the players (or perhaps the players couldn't stand him
for long) and resigned his post.  And so Mr. Conrad is still correct
in his statement for the most part.  HvK guest conducts most often
with the VPO, but then this orchestra has no standing music director
and only invites roving world-class conductors to perform with anyway.
But some exceptions could be found when HvK conducts opera -- besides
his pet festival at Salzbrug that is -- for he did conduct the RIAS
Symphony Orchestra while La Scala was on tour in the famous 1955 Berlin
Lucia with Maria Callas, and he also conducts the La Scala orchestra
in the 1954 Callas Butterfly.  But then it might well be that he was
serving as music director of La Scala during the mid-1950s, who knows!
Could anybody confirm this one way or another?

Vinh Nguyen
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
From: conrad@brahms.udel.edu (Jon Conrad)
Subject: Re: Threepenny Opera...THE MOVIE
Organization: University of Delaware
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 20:15:58 GMT

In article <CB.92Sep10102221@tamarack13.timbuk> cb@tamarack13.timbuk (Chris Brewster) writes:

>Anyway, is there a *good* film version of 3PO?  

Short answer:  no.

>The 1931 version is authentic and so forth, but I
>wouldn't call it enjoyable.

I envy you -- I've never had the chance to see it.  I'd like to, because
it does stem from the right era and it has the young Lenya in it.  But I
can well believe that the experience might be more instructive than
enjoyable.

>Speaking of rearrangements and travesties, there was that album of Weill
>songs using current pop stars, titled "Lost in the Stars" (not to be
>confused with the Weill show of that name).  A puzzling production.

I remember that one.  I quite liked some of the new interpretations on
it, but others were doing something I couldn't fathom.

Jon Alan Conrad
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
From: hal@cs.cornell.edu (Hal Perkins)
Subject: Re: Le Sacre, Stravinski
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept, Ithaca NY 14853
Distribution: usa
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 1992 21:11:03 GMT



>In article <BuCxsJ.8Ix@cs.vu.nl>, lrozend@cs.vu.nl (Rozendaal L) writes...
>>I'd like to know which performance of 'Le sacre du printemps' is considered
>>the best. Any opinions?

le01167@portal.lasc.lockheed.com (Ron Nadel (x2025)) writes:
>Opinions?  None around here, just facts.  Nevertheless:

>Here are the recordings that I have, and I'll list them in order of
>my personal preference, then comment.

. . .

>Many point to Stravinsky's as being the definitive, and he was not a
>bad conductor of his own works, but the Columbia Symphony (I often think
>that it should be called the Columbia Studio Orchestra), is not a very
>tight ensemble, and the sound is just ok (CBS was never known for their
>sound or surface qualities).  But that said, it is still an exciting 
>performance, and interesting to compare with others because few conductors
>adopt the tempi he does, or handle the myriad tempi changes like he does.

This is my favorite performance.  It's not as technically brittle and
percussive as some of the more recent recordings, but I think it's
more musical and stands up better to repeated hearings.

Sony has released this recording on CD and the sound is very good --
much better than the LP.  It almost sounds like a digital (DDD)
recording, not the remastered analog one that it is (ADD).  John
McClure, who produced the original LP, was a co-producer for the
remastering, which might account for the excellent results.

Hal Perkins			hal@cs.cornell.edu
Cornell CS
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
From: packer@amarna.gsfc.nasa.gov (Charles Packer)
Subject: Sibelius by Rattle
News-Software: VAX/VMS VNEWS 1.4-b1  
Organization: Dept. of Independence
Date: Sat, 12 Sep 1992 01:55:00 GMT

In all this talk of Sibelius performances, not much has been
said about Simon Rattle. I heard part of his recording of
the Fifth on the radio and it really woke me up. It had a
hard-edge quality and unusual balances that were really
energizing, but I'm not sure I'd want to live with such
a performance. 
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical
From: rwh@visual.uu.net (Robert W. Holzel)
Subject: Re: Mahler's 5th Symphony by Solti and remastering CDs
Organization: Visual
Date: Thu, 10 Sep 92 19:55:41 GMT


Chris Brewster writes:

>Rob Holzel recounts a Bruckner -> Schubert/Dvorak switcheroo.  How about
>this one.  We had bought (expensive for Minnesota) tickets for Mahler 3.
>Our best friends had come 300 miles to attend this with us, he being a
>Total Mahler Person.  About one minute before the music started, we
>realized they had changed the program, and thereby narrowly missed
>hearing Bernstein's Candide overture.  Think about Candide's opening
>notes and imagine hearing that when you're expecting Mahler.  This is my
>argument for retaining the capital punishment option.  (Just kidding,
>mostly.)

A friend of mine who once worked with Copland recalls Copland saying that,
as much as he loved Bernstein as a friend and musician, "his compositions 
are just so *unnecessary.*"  (Loud meow.)

All cat-scratching aside, though, I have to say that I hope Chris took
his Total-Mahler-Person friend out for a few drinks after that debacle.

It makes you wonder if the folks doing this kind of scheduling have any
sense of the music they're programming.  To substitute what's essentially
a Broadway overture for the Mahler Third *is* a terrible thing to do
to people.  If you know people are attending a concert all primed for
a devastating experience like Bruckner or Mahler, and if you know they'll
be learning of a program change only as they open their programs,
then the very least you can do is provide as similar a substitute as
possible.  

Either that or offer a complete refund up until the moment the baton is
raised.  In my experience, a Bruckner, Mahler, and Wagner audience can often
consist of several pilgrims, like Chris's friend.  Imagine if the MET
had told me upon my arrival at Lincoln Center that instead of Parsifal
I was about to hear The Merry Widow?  Capital punishment indeed.

Rob