NY Times Weighs in on Who Should Direct the NY Philharmonic

At the end of a flurry of CultureGrrl posts (here, here and here), in which Lee Rosenbaum, Alex Ross and Anne Midgette named our picks to succeed Lorin Maazel as the NY Philharmonic's next music director, I issued a plaintive query:

Anthony Tommasini, where are you?

At last, almost three months later, the NY Times' chief music critic has cautiously tipped his hand. He did it so subtly and discreetly that some, including the widely read music blogger Opera Chic, have misinterpreted his ruminations as an endorsement for CultureGrrl's (and Opera Chic's) pick, Riccardo Muti.

In fact, Tommasini argues that while the Philharmonic "plays splendidly for this exciting Italian maestro [Muti],...he hardly seems the type of artist who could reach young audiences and foster relations among emerging composers." Tommasini clearly takes these perceived deficiencies seriously, and seems to opt for Alan Gilbert ("a refreshing choice") or "the superlative" David Robertson (whom I recently heard conduct a lackluster Philharmonic performance).

Tommasini also mentions that "the musicians are known to have been especially impressed by the fiery Italian Riccardo Chailly and the elegant young Frenchman Ludovic Merlot."

I say we go with the guy for whom the Philharmonic "plays splendidly," give him some time, as well, to bestow his extraordinary operatic talents upon the Metropolitan Opera, and engage an up-and-coming associate conductor to focus on the adventurous experimentation part of the picture.

UPDATE: In his blog, The Rest Is Noise, New Yorker music critic Alex Ross argued yesterday that music critics should use a little reverse psychology in publishing their NY Phil picks.