"Tom Connor" <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>Stirling S Newberry said:
>
>>My short list would be Yoo, Gergiev, Zander, Gardiner - but none of them
>>have a prayer.
>
>So, who does?

One has to understand Boston.  Boston is a city of intellectuals.  To be an
intellectual is to stuyd, in great detail and depth, the good decisions of
others, and decide that, if given a chance to make the same good decision,
you could do it better.

Hence the first tier of candidates for the BSO directorship are all people
who have already ascended the heights, and, in that way intellectuals have,
it seems perfectly natural that they would want to say good by to the
Berlin Philharmonic, the Met Opera Orchestra etc.  and come here and have
tea with our large donors.  James Levine is a name thrown around.  But
what, and who, could Jimmy do here that he couldn't do in New York? Boston
would not mount something as vast as "Der Ring".  Another candidate was
Simon Rattle, and you can see how much agonising decision making time he
spent worrying about whether Boston would have him.  Another candidate is
Daniel Barenboim.  I think you can see the drift.  One could extend this
list for some distance.  Masur is on it as well, so is MTT.

Bostonians will spend a great deal of time wishing for these candidates,
that they will over look the sort of people who would want to come to
Boston, and would do a good job of it - another lister suggested Jeffery
Tate.  Someone who would be known for being a conductor - as opposed to
fundraiser.  We have a long list of such people in Boston, or people who
never got the chance even though they were around and about.  There will
be some rumblings about appointing a conductor...  Fancy that a conductor
leading an orchestra.

Then there will be the critics darlings - Spano or some other such sort -
men who are acclaimed because they will program politically correct music.
Never mind that they will conduct only mediocre performances.  That never
endangered Seiji's career...  Spano is one such.

When enough dithering is done, the real backroom dealing will start.  The
BSO and its annex in Tanglewood have a large budget and there are many
feuding factions who have an interest in who ascends the podium.  As with
so many other decisions that have been made surrounding the BSO, money will
be a large fraction of the winning bid.  Money to build more buildings,
have more programs, and put more prestigious commissions on the payroll.
Money to embalm, I mean emblazon, in momentary immortality a long list of
people who have done yoeman like contributions to the satus quo.

The final candidate will seem surprising.  He will not be the best
conductor available, he will not be the most adventurous or most anything
else.  Instead he will be a man who can attract dollars to the orchestra.
In the end, it does not matter, since the BSO will remain solidly anchored
in the past.  Whether it is the past of 1890, 1920 or 1950 is merely a
difference of decor...  He will seem a surprising candidate at first, but
will not seem so in retrospect.  Boston likes appointing men who can bring
in dollars.  The last two Boston Pops conductors have been chosen in just
such a way.

My guess - Essa Pekka Salonen, or someone very much like him.

Stirling S Newberry
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