Peter Dobrin respects Eschenbach’s musical skills, but says that the partnership with a notoriously difficult orchestra in Philadelphia just isn’t working out. “Eschenbach may have done wonders for the orchestra’s endowment, but he’s not creating a new sound for the ensemble, or even successfully layering his erratic interpretive thoughts on the orchestra’s vaunted plushness. No, what counts as success these days is Eschenbach and the orchestra reaching the last measure of a piece without getting lost along the way.”