Daniel Harding pitches low for Concertgebouw job

As job interviews go, this one is notably low-key.

The British conductor, who is leading the C’bouw on a US tour in place of the dismissed Daniele Gatti, gives an obligatory eve-of-tour interview to the parish paper.

But instead of puffing out his chest and doing the global maestro shtick, Harding lets the conversation centre on his litany of failures in America. “I haven’t found in the U.S. — I haven’t found my place, so to speak,” Mr. Harding said in a phone interview. 

Zachary Woolf zones in quite rightly on his ‘notably graceful candor.’

If this is a job interview, it’s a first-time fail. And the pictures are likewise defeatist.

But Harding may be playing a different game. The Dutch don’t like tall poppies or swagger sticks. The humble tone may be the right one to impress this bunch of players. They are the voters in this election, not the writers and readers of the NY Times.

Was this what his PR advised?

If so, good call.

UPDATE: C’bouw in Chicago: first review