Althought the New York Phil can outspend any other orchestra in pursuit of big names, it was fast running out of credit in the search for a big-fish conductor.
Pressure to appoint a woman or a person of colour came to nothing as none of the candidates was considered to be of appropriate calibre.
Approaches to a brace of Finns and Lahav Shani were left too late and too little. None of Europe’s big beasts seemed keen. Why would Petrenko leave Berlin or Chailly La Scala for the melting-pots of Manhattan.
In the end there was only one name in the frame. It was just a question of making the numbers work.
It had to be Dudamel.
