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David�s quite right, I think, that Beecham never recorded (and probably never conducted) Bruckner or Mahler, but in his time not many conductors outside of Germany did (Toscanini never conducted Mahler, whose music he hated, and did only a couple of Bruckner symphonies, once or twice; there�s a NY Phil recording of the Seventh, missing chunks at change of record). Beecham was a champion of Richard Strauss when Strauss was controversial � I think he conducted the British premieres of Salome (censored, though to his horror some of the singers reverted to the original language; nobody else noticed) and maybe Elektra, symphonies by Kurt Atterberg and of course he was a great champion of Delius. 

I think he did conduct some Stravinsky in the teens or 20s when Monteux (who was supposed to do it) fell ill, but I don�t think he liked it much, and he definitely wasn�t fond of the music of Schoenberg and Webern. And yes, his Wagner was pretty impressive � rumors are still around that there�s a complete Ring from Covent Garden (the end of Act I and much of Act II has been released, and of course the stunning Hagen�s Watch with Ludwig Weber in his prime) lurking somewhere in the EMI archives or maybe the collection of Lord Harewood. 

On May 8, 2014, at 12:00 AM, ARSCLIST automatic digest system <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

> From:    Clark Johnsen <[log in to unmask]>
> Subject: Re: Stokowski and percussion instruments
> 
> What about Wagner? Beecham left a complete recording of Tristan, much of
> Meistersinger, and numerous excerpts that are all done in grand style.
> According to Wiki he performed all the operas except Parsifal numerous
> times and to great acclaim.