Ian Crisp wrote:

>...  I have never heard
>Bruckner conducted or played so badly.  The brass had a curiously thin and
>nasal sound, all the sections of the orchestra played as if they were in
>separate rooms unable to hear each other, Davis showed a complete lack
>of understanding of Bruckner.  There was no shape, no line, no sense of
>grandeur or timelessness.  He pulled the tempos about mercilessly, never
>letting anything settle.  One bit came after another with not the slightest
>sense of how they might fit together, and there were a couple of moments
>where things seemed on the point of falling apart altogether.  Davis is not
>an incompetent conductor, but he is clearly out of his depth in Bruckner.

I believe that Davis is a very competant conductor.  Do you think that the
problem might be that during the year he has to prepare for and perform so
many varied works that he is just trying to do the impossible? Also could
this in turn be a problem with the BBC's economic pressures coming to the
forefront.

I think that in these days of so much varied repertoire available on
CDs the proms is beginning to look a little tired.  A bit like some
anacronistic remnant of the British Empire.

Bob Draper
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