quote:

Originally posted by Feuermann:


They may play that music very well, but it will never be quite like the genuine article. The best Tchaikovsky I've ever played was under a Russian conductor, the best Bruckner under a German,

Bruckner was an Austrian.

quote:

Bruckner was an Austrian.

Very similar culture to southern Germany, just an arbitrary political border.

quote:

Originally posted by Feuermann:

quote:

Bruckner was an Austrian.

Very similar culture to southern Germany, just an arbitrary political border.

I understand, but we've widened definitions considerably as it's now "similar". There's a MacDonalds across the street from Mozart's birth house in Salzburg. :-) We're all much more similar now.

Even if your theory is true ( it hasn't been for me), then you're making a compelling argument: the VPO would only shine on a small amount of music, under an even smaller amount of conductors. These guys are conducting this season:

Mariss Jansons
Andrés Orozco-Estrada
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Semyon Bychkov
Daniel Barenboim
Franz Welser-Möst
Peter Schneider
Daniele Gatti
Valery Gergiev
Zubin Mehta

I'm not seeing a lot of Austrians. I see 2, with one having lived outside of Austria for 20 years. In all fairness, I did note that they play a whole lot of German/Austrian tunes. :-)
VPO season