David Hurwitz

[lordlance]

You may be right. Over the years I've heard the NYP perform under such music directors as Bernstein, Boulez, Masur, Maazel, Gilbert, and Dudamel. The underrated Gilbert was notably self-effacing, but he did put on some spectacular events such as semi-staged productions of Ligeti's Le Grand Macabre and Janacek's Cunning Little Vixen. I'll be going even more often to hear the Phil now that they finally have solved the acoustic problems plaguing what is now called David Geffen Hall since its inception. (But I am still waiting to hear the authoritative truth as to why the NYP is not a great orchestra; I remain in the dark.)

Perhaps that's from some other discussion but I don't think anyone would say it's not one of the greats... One of the oldest... Part of the big five... Prestigious...

I imagine a lot of people here would disagree with my assessment but truthfully having spent the past decade exploring conductors discographies and live performances, I really don't think the idea of these sort of giants of the 20th Century stands up to scrutiny or that of the current lot being worse/lacking as much personality (held by some, not all)

In reality the more you explore a conductor, the more you realize how many duds they produced - across the board regardless of whom we're talking about. I'm aware some consider people like Reiner as consistently of high standard (and of course his discography with CSO is mug  more compact at 60 odd discs) but I haven't explored Reiner.

Those I have dug into like Karajan, Bernstein, Abbado, Mehta, Masur, Klemperer, Walter, Giulini, Bohm, Davis certainly don't stand up to scrutiny. Of course a lot of these I find just dull but even those I enjoy... You need to find the gems amid the duds. 

Similarly, I've often found performances by contemporary conductors which were simply better than whoever was considered sort of the go-to guy. Feels like cult of personality ultimately perhaps (and I'm certainly a sucker for them) but these reputations, I feel, are built on certain key recordings or composers rather than actually sitting down and listening to all their recordings.

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All of this aside, I think maybe Toscanini kind of comes close to being consistent but even with him you can clearly tell in his Beethoven studio cycle that he's mellowed (only fair for someone who's almost a nonagenarian... Toscanini defies his age... One can only admire.)