No surprise ! Edward Gardner confirmed as Chief at the London Philharmonic, replacing Vladimir Jurowski. Welcome, though not "news", since it was only a question of time before Gardner found a new home in the UK. Gardner has long been the Great Hope of British conducting, often compared to Simon Rattle. He flirts like a star, too. It's part of the job! That's charisma. He's not called "Sexy Ed" for nothing. But all that wouldn't matter, since he is an extremely good conductor and motivator. He's done wonders for the Bergen Philharmonic Orchestra, who are an excellent orchestra, but he's put them firmly onto the international map. Gardner's career has implications for the British music scene as a whole. His background is solidly British, and he's done a lot of British repertoire, old and new. In fact, the first time I heard him conduct orchestral repertoire, in 2005, he conducted Walton's Symphony no 1, Sibelius and Julian Anderson. Gardner's conducted the LPO before, and the CBSO, and the BBCSO and much else, and has recorded extensively, mainly for Chandos. He was also Music Director at the English National Orchestra for nearly ten years. That, too, is a factor in his appointment because the LPO is the resident orchestra at the Glyndebourne Festival, where they do opera. He was also chief of Glyndebourne on Tour before he joined the ENO. The LPO has done lots of opera unstaged, so he fits the bill.
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