Dave Payn said:
Add to that, the BBCSO are becoming a bit of an embarrassment at times. Certainly some of their performances last year and their rendition of The Planets at this year's First Night have ranged from average at best to awful at worst. Leonard Slatkin's fault? Don't know, but a lot of people seem to think so!
I wouldn't say the BBCSO are an embarrassment, although sometimes one gets the impression of arrogance - which is understandable, given that they are the house orchestra. They really ought to smile a bit more.
Leonard Slatkin has had his moments - over the past five years, I can recall a fine Sea Symphony (which I can pinpoint, for obvious reasons, as Monday 10th September 2001); a great reading of Shostakovich 8 a couple of seasons ago; and just last week, an exhilirating version of the Alpine Symphony, with the brass in good form. Slatkin is off at the end of the year, but no successor announced as yet.
I'm off to the Proms on a weekend pass this weekend (amazing value - £18 for five concerts, including the Bavarian SRO/Maris Jansons, Wynton Marsalis, Britten's War Requiem and a concert version of Tavener's all-nighter, pared down to a mere 3 hours! And no interval!