Jocelyn Wang wrote:

>What a dreadful choice to lead such a fine orchestra!

I was going to write a post indicating a positive position for this
selection, but "quick fingers" Jocelyn beat me to the punch, although
of an opposite opinion.

I've not seen the man conduct in person, but his recordings are excellent
and reviews back up that notion.  I can't imagine why his conducting would
be vastly superior on record than in the concert hall.  Perhaps the concert
that Jocelyn attended found him on a bad day; maybe it was a bad day for
Jocelyn (particularly after hearing the performance).

At any rate, I have looked into my magic globe, and it tells me that
Welser-Most will have a productive and rewarding experience in Cleveland
(if it's possible to find anything rewarding in that fabulous town), and
eclipse all memory of Szell.  It's quite a magic globe - never let me
down yet.  Okay, Cleveland's not so bad when comparing it to Akron and
Youngstown.  Many years ago I was appraising some land tracts in Youngstown
and noticed that many men had a tee-shirt with the sentence, "The Best Guys
are in Youngstown." Not one of them was in the company of a woman.

Don Satz
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