First off, I was not addressing your comments specifically, Mahlerei. Second, I will state my main point again: "the music comes first, not the performers". Third, Abbado is an entirely different case.
We all know that Abbado has had some pretty serious health problems (and still does, apparently). Some of his performances have been rather dull, but he never used his health as an excuse to constantly slow down. There are conductors who haven chosen NOT to slow down simply because they're getting older. Certainly Toscanini comes to mind. George Pretre appears to be somewhat like that as well. It appears that both Maazel and Eschenbach have chosen to slow down for reasons other than health, and I'm simply not convinced of the results. Sometimes yes, to be certain. But slow tempi shouldn't be applied like a trowel either.
Look, there are simply two things that are bothering me here, and I don't think that they are all THAT hard to understand: 1). I'm sick of the ongoing parade of ultra-slow performances, and 2). I'm tired of people getting sidetracked by the artists' biographies. These are not jazz improvisers. Classical artists are there to serve what was composed in front of them, baroque (and earlier) music being more of the exception.
I want to take this diatribe in another direction as well: Simon Rattle has often been criticized for constantly shifting tempi about. For the most part, I agree with that criticism. But on the other hand, Rattle at least understands that a gratuitous (unwritten) accelerando is every bit as valid as a gratuitous ritardando (slow down). From my training, that's SUPPOSED to be the nature of using rubato. As a result, some of Rattle's performances can sound a bit nutzoid and disjointed, but they at least sound lively as well. I'll take that anyday over these constant "drag-fests" (no reference to one's after-hours activities).
