When Did Traditionalism Become Controversial?

As conductors go, Raymond Leppard is a realist, and he is eager to spread the gospel of performance within an appropriate scale to smaller orchestras across America. For instance, why would an orchestra with 65 musicians ever attempt to mount performances of Mahler symphonies and Strauss tone poems intended for orchestras of 100, when there is an endless supply of music (Mozart, Haydn, etc.) specifically intended for the smaller-sized ensemble? And while new music is all well and good in theory, Leppard stresses that “when you’re so busy chasing notes in a 20th-century score, you can’t pay attention to your neighbors.”