Apparently it wasn't love at first sight (or even second sight) for many of the musicians of the Philadelphia Orchestra when the Eschenbach appointment was announced.
Full article at
http://inq.philly.com/content/inquirer/2001/03/13/
magazine/MUSI13.htm
Excerpt follows:
Taking a risk by passing the baton to Eschenbach
Will Christoph Eschenbach be the George W. Bush of music directors? Philadelphia Orchestra musicians and listeners left no dimpled chads to be interpreted; in fact, only a select few got to vote on the choice at all. The orchestra's search committee, acting as paternalistic as the Supreme Court, was well within its legal rights to name Eschenbach without the consent of musicians or a mandate from the ticket-buying public.
But Eschenbach may learn the difficulties of imposed leadership in a democratic setting. It hit many musicians like the dull thud of pragmatism, this decision in January to hire Eschenbach as the orchestra's seventh music director, starting in September 2003. At a meeting announcing the decision, players responded with silence. No applause, no excited stamping of feet. Silence. And then the resentment poured forth.
