Condustor Leonard Slatkin has transformed Washington DC’s National Symphony, which he has led since 1996. “He is probably the best public “explainer” of music since Leonard Bernstein, able to prepare a dubious audience for even the most recondite new composition; he speaks in full paragraphs, with wit and incision. In short, Slatkin is what the trade calls a “good citizen” — and in a time when classical music is struggling on almost every level, his steady, friendly advocacy takes on renewed importance.”