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Romy the Cat wrote:

Nowadays, however, (because multiple reasons) orchestras sound with no expressive, tonal or harmonic consistency …

Michaelz wrote:

Could you please expand on this?  I am very much interested.

Well, in the past orchestras had own identifiable sound that was more or less a result of the musicians skills and the musicals directors’ visions. A long staying conductor shaped sound in a certain way and the orchestras had it. Interesting that the orchestra maintained that own unique sound (and I am not taking just about tone) even with many quest conductors and even when the orchestra traveled and performed in alien concert halls.

It was some kind of “in-house sound” that was more or less consistent. Mengleberg  and Van Beinum had it with Concertgebouw, Furtwangler had it with Berlin (not with Vienna), Mravinsky with Leningrad, Toscanini had it with New York Philharmonic and partially with NBC, Golovanov with Bolshoy, Ormady with Philadelphia, Talich  and Karel Ancerl  with Czech, Koussevitsky had it with Boston, Szell with Cleveland Orchestra (not with Concertgebouw or Vienna) and many others….

Interesting that the orchestras that do not use any principal conductors (like Vienna for instance) still has own identity that they pass to each guest conductor (for illustration: Weingartner, Scherchen, Krauss, Giulini, Rattle, Carlos Kleiber, Schuricht, Böhm and others…) On other hand, some conductors, wherever they went they made own “in-house sound”  with virtually any orchestras: Stokowski  or Barbirolli would be a good illustrations.

I mean the orchestras or conductors had some expected consistency of characteristic sonic identity that was more or less…. CONSISTANT.

Nowadays the delta between orchestras and conductors is kind of faded away. Sure all orchestras sound differently and all conductors attempt to do different things but their results more vary-day-per day and have not as much of long-lasting identity and long-lasting consistency as it use to be.

There are very-very few orchestras nowadays that from my point of view demonstrate a VERY consistent and VERY good quality of “in-house sound”: the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment would be the best illustration…

It would be a separate subject why it is happening but it defiantly is happening.

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