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Posted by Des Hutchinson on June 27, 2026, 9:44 pm, in reply to "Re: The death of great conducting?"
Lee, I intentionally didn't mention HvK in my named list because I'm also aware that many of the 'believers' consider he marked the beginning of the decline in great conducting. Andreas Blau was only born in 1949 and therefore wouldn't have played under any of those of that, say, pre-1960 era.
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This is a very interesting question, Des, one that I’m sure will prompt many answers.
Having done many surveys that compares the results of conductors from before the Second World War all the way up to the present day which, allied to some reasonable score-reading abilities, means I do have an opinion on this, I do prefer to defer to those with greater experience of the subject being discussed.
In the 2014 BBC documentary on Herbert von Karajan, this very question was put to Andrea Blau, the long-serving principal flautist of the Berlin Philharmonic. He answered that “working with the conductors of today is more pleasant, more collegial – but when compared to those from the past, they rarely take you to the tops of the highest mountains….”
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I often hear music lovers of the older generation bemoan the death of great conducting as a kind of self-evident truth, referring to Furtwängler, Toscanini, Walter, Klemperer, Beecham, Reiner et al as representing a golden era that will never be repeated. Those of the younger generation however, including my pianist daughter, appear to have no such regrets, and while not ignoring great performances of the past, simply place them in their historical context as the styles and conventions of the day. So, is there really any truth to this belief, or are its adherents just showing their age?
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The death of great conducting? - Des Hutchinson June 27, 2026, 2:54 am
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