Pinchas Zukerman is having an unusually newsworthy season, even for him. Always an outspoken critic of people and music he sees as “mediocre” (don’t get him started on the period performance movement), Zukerman has been taking some heat of his own lately for his decision to pull out of what remains of his obligations as music director of the Ottawa-based National Arts Centre Orchestra’s 2005-06 season. Zukerman calls the journalists questioning his decision “mediocrities,” but he admits to what has long been rumored within the industry: that his NACO is not a happy place at the moment. “In every orchestra, in every institution that has climbed to prominence quickly there’s always going to be a few rotten apples. And they have created an atmosphere that has to be eradicated, quite frankly.”