Damian Thompson Damian Thompson

The rudeness of John Eliot Gardiner

There are few things this conductor can’t do. But one art eludes him: good manners

issue 02 May 2015

Sir John Eliot Gardiner is talented almost beyond measure. His Monteverdi Choir, English Baroque Soloists and stupidly named Orchestre Révolutionnaire et Romantique have notched up one triumph after another over the decades: benchmark recordings of the Monteverdi Vespers and Bach B minor Mass, the finest period-instrument Beethoven symphony cycle and a cantata pilgrimage of live performances of all the Bach sacred cantatas.

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