What are you listening to at the moment?

Bought a set of Schubert Symphonies BIS label. Listened to the Unfinished. Awful tempi, poor definition inaudible strings. Horrified. Then bought the debut Deutsche Grammophon recording of Herbert Blomstedt, with his former orchestra the Gewandhaus. Schubert 8 and 9. He recorded this at 94. He is as fresh as a daisy. The orchestra is wonderful and the DG recording engineers capture everything. The three drum beats of fate in the climax of the first movement are wonderful. The tempo is just right. Blomestedt was interviewed by Andrew Ross in the New Yorker recently. He hoped for ten minutes back stage after a demanding concert. After an hour he was tiring, Ross that is. Blomstedt like any great musician is devoted to the score and the new discoveries concerning them. He cites particularly in that interview the Barenreiter 2000 edition of the Beethoven Symphonies. What a wonderful world that sees this little miracle.
 
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