In 'Music on Record'(1960) Peter Gammond and Burnett James suggested that some collectors preferred conductor X's interpretation of Beethoven's fifth symphony, because they had him on 78s and got used to hearing it played that way. Could it be that those of us who grew up in the LP era are afflicted with the same bias towards the past?

I'm not so sure. In addition to the obvious stars listed by Des H, there was an amazing array of 'other' conductors who often gave marvelous performances. Think Jochum, Boehm, Barbirolli, Boult, Szell, Mravinsky, Ansermet, Munch, Markevich, Mitropolous, Giulini, Wand, Skrowaczewski, Ancerl, Kletzki, Cluytens, Kondrashin and more. I would be delighted to have any of these back today.

In terms of sheer numbers, I don't see the same proliferation of distinguished conductors today. Maybe I'm wrong. But of one thing I'm convinced: even if I had been born in the 1990s, I would never have preferred the 'historically informed' approach to music from Beethoven onwards.