I cannot comprehend what possessed the Gramophone panel to call the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra the world's No 1 orchestra. It is a good orchestra but from what I have witnessed it does not deserve to rate ahead of the Berlin Philharmonic or the Staatskapelle Dresden (my No 1). As for the LSO being No 5 on the list, give me a break!
My criteria for orchestras is simple - listen to the oboe and the horn sections. There is a world-wide shortage of good players in both instruments. Unfortunately the Concertgebouw horn section doesn't cut it and the oboes don't blend either. The same goes for the oboes in the LSO - there are other British orchestras with better woodwinds (Philharmonia, BBC Phil). If the oboe is off there goes the whole orchestra's tuning.
Watch the RCO's DVD of Heldenleben and there are fluffed and split notes , missed entries no way is that the world'd best orchestra. There is a problem with oboes in the Berlin PO they have never replaced Lothar Koch or Schellenberger properly. Pahud is a great replacement for Galway but the individuality of the world's greatest woodwind section (Karajan's Berlin Phil) has become diluted. Dresden is a better example of the qualities of a traditional German orchestra with its warmth and precision. The Bavarian RSO is a fine orchestra but it does not have the traditions of Berlin, Dresden or Leipzig.
Where have the critics been for the last 20 years Leningrad has been St Petersburg for that long! Here is the list:
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
18 Metropolitan Opera Orchestra
19 Saito Kinen Symphony Orchestra
20 Czech Philharmonic
