Interesting--thanks.  The press in Philadelphia is solidly behind
Sawallisch (as that article shows) but that's not entirely true of the town
as a whole.  There's nostalgia for Muti, for glamor, for flash (at least
that's how it gets described).  This always baffled me, as much I can
(sadly) understand why showbiz or pr people might want someone with more
conventional charisma.  All I can say is be careful what you wish for.

Live, he's just remarkable.  I haven't heard the Strauss and Hindemith
recordings that others have complained about.  It would be the first time
a conductor had trouble doing as well in the studio as live.  It must be
all too easy to let fussiness or the wrong kind of perfectionism take over.
On the other hand, I picked up a recording of two Schubert masses on
Philips with Dresden that sounds very good to me.

And I'm sure Munich will outlast them all....it survived Celibidache after
all.

Brian