Tony Duggan quoted an article in which the following was uttered:

>Although the players would probably not admit it, the overwhelming support
>given to Rattle by the Berlin and national German press, and the rapturous
>reception accorded him by the public for two programmes he conducted there
>immediately preceding the voting, must surely have influenced their
>decision, even though one would think it obvious to any musician that
>Rattle is without question Barenboim's superior as a symphonic conductor.

I would never be counted as a Barenboim enthusiast (in fact, I was
secretly hoping that he would be chosen in Berlin so that Chicago could
find a better leader), but the last sentence above is simply not true.
Barenboim's repertoire, particularly in the Germanic repertoire, is much
broader than Rattle's and to say that Rattle is "without question superior"
can only be justified as a case of acute anglophilia.

Ramon Khalona
Carlsbad, California