In the heady days of the 1970s the London Symphony Orchestra, its members attired in casual shirts and sweaters, was pulling in huge audiences for classical music in the BBC television series André Previn’s Music Night.
The more sober approach of Previn’s immediate successor, Claudio Abbado, immersed in the European tradition, required some adjustments by audiences and players alike, but when Michael Tilson Thomas, who has died aged 81, took over in 1988, the flamboyance and high-octane dynamism returned.
