How there can be any doubts about the choice between Appal. & Sinf. dom. I do not understand. What a watery concoction from Strauss this time! I have already had a rehearsal of it too & found the impression gained by my initial reading fully confirmed. Absolutely nothing new, no humour, no depth, really a terrible void. I had an argument with Buths over this too, of course he can't bring himself to drop Strauss so easily & is too much under the spell of the leges tabulaturae for this new "masterpiece" not to impress him highly. Next Sunday I hope to play the Appal. on 2 pianos with him. The Mysterioso with the viola solo sounded wonderful. Altogether everything sounds good. Your sounds often require a soft pp. It malkes many things intelligible & poetically effective, which in mf seemed to be ugly.