Sir Colin Davis is a serious conductor, and he has Germany"s finest orchestra playing music that they do better than virtually anyone else. From a purely technical point of view, these are fine renderings. But you can also get this same orchestra at mid or budget price, in this same music, in far less grim performances led by Blomstedt (Berlin Classics) or Sawallisch (Philips). So why spend the money if you don"t have to? --David Hurwitz