OK, Zinman exceeded my already high expectations for the first movement as well. The woodwinds are fantastic, as are the horns. I think that the percussion detail is very good. Zinman stretches well beyong 34 minutes, and it's mostly in the trombone solos that he loses time. Normally, I don't like for the trombone solos to dilly-dally. But this guy plays them very, very well, with a lot of attention to phrasing. Unlike the Haitink/CSO M3, you can hear the big tam-tam smash at the end of the trombone trio, which caps off the first big trombone solo (just before the first "happy" march in major). I feel that the percussion detail is pretty good at the "southern storm" fantasy passage. I really like the faster tempo that Zinman employs throughout the development section; leading up to the "southern storm" itself. And, just like Chailly, Zinman takes the offstage snaredrum solo at the same tempo as the reprise of the opening horn fanfare. In other words, much slower than it gets played on the Haitink/CSO M3. To me, that makes a lot more sense! Again; this is just very musical, and very well thought out. I believe that this Zinman M3 might very well shoot to the top of my already long list of favorites. It helps that the sound is fantastic; at least in normal two-channel stereo. Birgirt Remmert is great, and the chorus is much bigger sounding (or closer) than it was on Zinman's "Resurrection". I love how Zinman does the last five minutes of the final sixth movement, but some folks might feel that it's too subtle (I don't).
Barry
Barry