Suggestions, please...

Rushton: Wow...thank you for taking so much time to respond. As I read the list, I realized I did know some of the composers you mentioned, but many are new to me, so thank you.

I'll have to check out that recording of "Rhapsody..." I am pretty partial to the Bernstein version, but then again, he's my favorite conductor, so...

I've heard Michael Tilson Thomas (?) perform "Rhapsody"...it hardly sounds like the same piece of music, to me anyway.

Thanks again. I appreciate everyone's suggestions. Keep them coming!

Fab4fan, I wondered if you'd call me on that... you can call me old if you like, as in "Good old Tobias." ;o) ( I'll be a senior citizen soon enough. Like Paul Simon says, God is old, we're not. )

Rushton, that's a great list. I myself was going to suggest Kodaly for the Rachmaninov-loving Fab but I couldn't think of anything orchestral, ho ho ho. My cultural veneer is very thin, I think. Thanks and hats off to you.

hi fab 4.. how 'bout string quartets-you might like some of haydns performed by the kodally string quartet. they're cheap to buy and the musicians are great (on naxos). op.76 is nice. then you can move up to beethovens :) i hope you don't dismiss beethoven- have you heard his violin concerto? hilary hahns is good and you'd get a bernstein serenade as well. also to break into mahler you might go with symphony 4 which is awesome and maybe not as 'heavy' when you think of mahler. a classic is szells with the cleveland orchestra (& again, cheap to buy) i really like bernsteins 4th as well and you get digital sound. sorry to be brining up some stuff you're not fond of, BUT in my opinion bernstein doing coplands apalachin spring is one of our great "classical" recordings.. i only mention it as you like bernstein :) good thread fab4..