I knew as soon as I saw the Gramophone list of the “world’s 20 best orchestras” that, in spite of my better judgement, I would eventually be compelled to say… something? It’s a great list, and I love Gramophone because they love Vftp

Why against my better judgement? Well, crazy as it sounds, I do have an ambition to conduct all of those orchestras, and I’d hate to make my long-awaited “____________ Philharmonic” debut only to have the concertmaster welcome me at the first rehearsal by saying “so, you were the one who thought we were over-rated in 2008????”

Here’s the list, for those of you who haven’t seen it-

High notes

1 Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra

2 Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra

3 Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra

4 London Symphony Orchestra

5 Chicago Symphony Orchestra

6 Bavarian Radio Symphony

7 Cleveland Orchestra

8 Los Angeles Philharmonic

9 Budapest Festival Orchestra

10 Dresden Staatskapelle

11 Boston Symphony Orchestra

12 New York Philharmonic

13 San Francisco Symphony

14 Mariinsky Theatre Orchestra

15 Russian National Orchestra

16 Leningrad Philharmonic

17 Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra