Earlier this year, Mark Elder renewed his contract with the Hallé Orchestra. It's been a popular and successful appointment, but the event was only quietly celebrated in the specialist press and maybe one or two national arts pages, I don't recall. If he hadn't renewed, would press coverage have increased? I doubt it.
Things are different in Germany. London orchestras may have trouble filling a hall, but the Munich Philharmonic have 18,000 subscribers, and repeat some of their concerts three or four times to fit everyone in. When their music director Christian Thielemann fell out with them over contract extension terms this summer, the German press were all over it. Dozens of news items and interviews chronicled progress day by day. At one point Domingo, Barenboim, and a bunch of other heavyweight names pitched in on Thielemann's side with a petition (duly reproduced in every national newspaper) begging Munich to reconsider. In England only a football manager could dream of that sort of coverage.
A few days ago it seemed there might be a last ditch attempt to resume discussions. It's all over now though, as Thielemann has agreed to become chief conductor of the Dresden Staatskapelle from 2012, taking over from Fabio Luisi, who's off to Zurich. This places Germany's best Wagner/Strauss conductor at the head of one of its greatest Wagner/Strauss orchestras - albeit one which has been turning in some distinctly lacklustre performances in recent years. Thielemann could be just what they need.
It also leaves a gap in Munich, with no obvious successor in sight. My own wild guess here.
