Being on the right side of 40 (although only just), I grew up in the HIP era, and collected various recordings by Gardiner et al in my late teens and early 20’s. In the last 10 or so years I’ve been clearing them out in favour of older recordings (pre-1980). The older conductors had an intensity in their music-making coupled with full-bodied sounds from their orchestras that I just haven’t consistently found in more recent recordings, HIP or otherwise. All my favourite artists (conductors, instrumentalists) were active before 1980, some into the 90’s. My favourite singers were without exception all active in the same time-frame. (The dearth of good singing today is especially concerning). I’m sorry, but today’s music-making seems just a bit too nice, polite and safe to me. I want intensity from music, not just all the notes played at the right time. All this is very personal of course, as are all our individual responses to the question. But looking just at the roster of names we could conjure up in the last century compared to today, yes, you have to admit that we have less great conductors now. Where is today’s Furtwangler, Toscanini, Walter, Karajan? We simply don’t have them, for whatever reason. The real question is what is/are the reason/s?