In three evenings a group of American ambassadors scored a triumph for the U.S. that diplomats or dollars have rarely matched. The language was international, and the Americans spoke it eloquently. The successful envoys: the 102 members of the touring Philadelphia Orchestra and Conductor Eugene Ormandy. When Budapest-born, U.S.-naturalized Ormandy and his musicians finished their series of Paris concerts last week, they had a fistful of rave reviews.
The Philadelphia, now on its first continental tour, will play in more than a dozen other cities from Lisbon to Helsinki. But its Paris visit was special: it was part of a "Salute...