@Acman - did not mean to imply at all that it was a stupid question! I just wasn't sure what you meant, and I wanted to explain that I would actually consider Van Sweden to be MORE qualified, not less, than many others, because of his extensive orchestral performing experience. He knows what gestures the musicians really need, and which ones they don't, and that sort of conductor in general also knows what sorts of gestures he can make for the audience's benefit and understanding that do not disrupt what the musicians are doing.
Frogman's post is an excellent elaboration of mine.
Rok, last I heard Levine is unable to conduct at all right now. My understanding is that it is uncertain whether he ever will again, but Frogman may know more? I will just add that conducting is more physically demanding than it appears to be - Levine is currently unable to make it through a concert physically. His musical ability of course remains.
Orpheus, I would disagree that one must have a megabucks rig for classical. What I would say is that classical music makes more demands on a system. For me and for many musicians, old school systems are better for classical - very efficient speakers, driven by low powered electronics. Horns and tubes are my personal favorite, and such a system can be put together relatively inexpensively compared to the rest of high end audio (which is good, otherwise musicians like me would be priced out of it!). But I don't want this thread to turn in to that type of discussion, that has been done over and over elsewhere on this site. By the way, just about all movie theaters still use horn speaker systems.