tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8060605.post-54618534720396009052007-06-06T15:49:00.000+01:002007-06-06T15:49:00.000+01:00Enough of this already. How many non-British conductors of British orchestras (or British conductors, for that matter) have done a fraction of what Sakari Oramo has done for British music? I've been a regular concert-goer in Birmingham for some years, and I've heard him conduct Constant Lambert, late Vaughan Williams symphonies, Bax, George Benjamin, Sullivan, Julian Anderson and electrifying performances of Britten. He's conducted Gerontius countless times, and The Apostles and The Kingdom at least twice. His Frank Bridge is, in my view, superior to Charles Groves'. And he's achieved more for John Foulds in 5 years than Foulds' British supporters managed in 5 decades. He has at least as much right to be talking about British music, I'd guess, than either of the posters above. <BR/><BR/>I deal professionally with the CBSO and can assure you that the Guardian article was not written by any member of CBSO staff. Oramo speaks English like a native; why this difficulty in accepting that he might have written it himself? As a devoted Barbirolli fan, I admit to being a little perplexed by his comments - but bear in mind that, in ten years of world-class work in Brum, Oramo still has to put up with London critics comparing him (albeit usually favourably) with his predecessor? Might this have a bearing on his attitude? And might he not have a deeper point? Is it not possible that the geeky British obsession with "definitive" performances - and the deeply parochial view that only a certain group of (mostly dead) British conductors can say anything valid about Elgar - has actually damaged Elgar's reputation overseas, and inhibited performances? On the strength of poisonous comments like Pliable's, any foreign conductor could be excused for giving British music a wide birth. But Sakari Oramo is bigger than that. He's taking Boult’s and Barbirolli's work forward into a new and different world. Elgar can take it. So deal with it.MV Overchurchhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/13685890092398948532noreply@blogger.com