A joke! I swear, just kidding. I really meant Bruno Walter.

At any rate, I wonder how much of a conductor’s personal style is imprinted on an orchestra more as a factor of his length of time over the years as an orchestra’s music director, rather than the amount of time he spends with the orchestra each season. Over the long term, for instance, he can affect hiring choices. And commissions for new works. And various fundraising campaigns (to expand the size of the orchestra, for instance).

In other words, your case for the disappearance of ‘distinctive orchestral sounds’ may have more to do with the butterfly nature of a conducting career nowadays, several appointments at once, each for only a handful of years — and less to do with a conductor moving in to a town and showing up at the hall every day, eager to beat some sense into the wind section.

I don’t know, just throwing that out. Although now that I’ve watched van Zweden conduct and seen that wrestler’s physique seemingly try to wrench sounds out of the air, I wouldn’t put it past the sheer force of will and personality in some people to have an effect in a comparatively short period of time. A number of writers (the Chicago Tribune reporter and me, mostly) have noted the difference between van Zweden’s glowering public image and the rather affable person he seems to be in real life.

But I’d sure hate to see him mad. He looks like he could just stare you through a wall.