The Vienna Philharmonic & their trumpeter

Not much there. The salient point is "Orff himself was never a paid-up Nazi."

I can see where this is headed at - but we had a big discussion about Shostakovich and his propaganda works last month already. Suffices to say that he was a composer of a much bigger stature than Orff - and a much nicer person too. I can forgive him his ventures into soviet realism, as long as I don't have to listen to them.

One is free to reject an artist bassed on non artistic reasons. But be ready to reject more.

(I don't listen to X because Y likes X. But Y likes Z (not necessarily music related) too).

Also refer to Richard Osborne's article which appeared here recently -

"In any case, he used to say, if people are determined to believe something about you, they probably will, whatever evidence is adduced to the contrary."

I've seen a few asian faces in the VPO. Doubtless they had to be exceptional to get those jobs.

There is no evidence in this article for Orff being a "fervent Nazi".

I think the main problem with the Orchestra these days is the lack of women. There have been many letters about this including one in the Radio Times.

I am equally uncomfortable with Karajan's nazi membership as I am with some of Shostakovich's views, but you have to be careful. (though I have many recordings of both) See the film "Taking Sides" about Furtwangler - who is the real bully in the film?

What we do have to realise is the CM is a force for good. We have Mr Barenboim who seems to be the only person in the world who can get Israelis and Arabs to work together in harmony. Long may he prosper.

The question of lack of women in the VPO is real, since they currently show only eight female musicians in their ranks. However, the BPO is not much better - only 17 women in the roster of 128 musicians, or a meagre 13%, which is nothing to write home about - and I don't see anyone criticizing them for it. Admittedly, the VPO is even more misogynistic than its Berlin counterpart, but the latter orchestra also falls short of recommendable standards in this regard, as the numbers above reveal. The problem is that you wouldn't know that by reading the critics.   

Sorry, you misunderstood me - I'm not criticising the VPO for having non-white faces, I'm saying that to overcome racial prejudice (assuming it exists; the VPO are individuals, not a monolithic entity) non-white applicants would have to be truly outstanding.