Two conductors; two tempi

A few weeks ago, during one of my many sojourns to the Quad Cities, I happened to catch the final two movements of Mozart's G-minor symphony.  At the conclusion, the announcer mentioned the ensemble and the conductor in a "well-mannered" performance.  So I have now learned that "well-mannered" means slow--dreadfully slow.  Interestingly enough, one of my mentors at UW-Madison, in a performance of the same work, took "all of the repeats," including those in the minuet and trio.  I was thinking that it would prove to be dreadfully long; it wasn't--in fact, it made a lot of sense.  Long story short, the well-mannered performance was dreadful (and presented by a major conductor--let's call him "A"--and orchestra).

Fast forward a couple of weeks to an evening performance on public radio which included the Schubert "Great" C-Major Symphony (I'll avoid the "number" because of all the evidence that seems to prove that it is number 8, even though everyone calls it number 9).  Conductor "B" began the stately horn theme in what seemed to be a brisk tempo, BUT there was no accelerando into the "dotted" theme.  So many conductors "interpret" in the latter that actually performing what Schubert wrote seems wrong.

Same lesson from Conductor "C," having heard performances of the opening of the Holst E-flat suite taken too slowly and then speeding up with the woodwind entrance.  Wrong, wrong, wrong--it's the same tempo throughout:  he wrote allegro moderato (I'm thinking--my score is not in front of me).  Thus, just like Schubert: one must take the opening faster than one thinks is "right" in order to maintain Holst's intentions.  It's as simple as that.

As for Mozart, he once said something to the effect that good musicians will be able to figure out the right speed for his work.  As another mentor once said, "if it seems right, it is."  I have to hope that I am never accused of a "well-mannered" Mozart performance.

UPDATE:  On further reflection, I was thinking of an on-air discussion I had yesterday with Barney Sherman of IPR.  We were talking about a recording we were about to play featuring Eugene Corporon and the amazing North Texas Wind Symphony.  Asking if I knew the conductor and his work, Barney's question took me back over 20 years to a conducting symposium at the University of Northern Iowa.  I had just conducted what I thought was a sumptuous reading of Grainger's Irish Tune from County Derry.  The playing and the expression were both astonishing and I was on cloud nine at the conclusion.  No problem, right?  Well.....it was "well-mannered," i.e. it was so slow that the tune didn't sing.  Lesson learned; if anything, people now tell me I take it on the fast side.  Of course, even without a text, it needs to sing!