If you could conduct for one night

[Roberto]

Because I consider it absolutely most dramatic of all Beethoven symphonies and would try to show it.

I have my own name for it  per analogiam to eroica and pastorale - Sinfonia dialettica.

It is interesting because it is not so dramatic I thought. Conductors who try to show it dramatic usually didn't do it successfully. (Like Furtwängler.)

[mszczuj]

It is interesting because it is not so dramatic I thought. Conductors who try to show it dramatic usually didn't do it successfully. (Like Furtwängler.)

I didn't call it dramatic. I called it most dramatic of all Beethoven symphonies. I would call no Beethoven symphony dramatic. 8th is built with very lovely material but the way composer treat it is far to be lovely.

I don't know Furtwängler's 8th but I consider him the worst Beethoven conductor I ever heard (or one of the two worst with Toscanini) so I absolutely no wonder he didn't do it successfully.

[Mirror Image]

An All Finnish Night!

Lindberg: Seht die Sonne
Rautavaara: Violin Concerto (soloist: Jaakko Kuusisto)

-Intermission-

Sibelius: Symphony No. 6

Encore:

Aho: Symphonic Dances

Myself conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

[springrite]

An All Finnish Night!

Lindberg: Seht die Sonne
Rautavaara: Violin Concerto (soloist: Jaakko Kuusisto)

-Intermission-

Sibelius: Symphony No. 6

Encore:

Aho: Symphonic Dances

Myself conducting the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra

I am willing to give you a standing ovation, a bouquet of flowers delivered by a Euroasian maid just so you could add one additional encore, possibly Salonen?

[Grazioso]

Because I consider it absolutely most dramatic of all Beethoven symphonies and would try to show it.

I have my own name for it  per analogiam to eroica and pastorale - Sinfonia dialettica.

It's always been my favorite, too.

[Mirror Image]

I am willing to give you a standing ovation, a bouquet of flowers delivered by a Euroasian maid just so you could add one additional encore, possibly Salonen?

Sure!

Salonen: Helix

[Grazioso]

I get to conduct?



But seriously, I'd conduct the Berlin Philharmonic in an all-Bax program as part of my "Aren't You Tired of Fat German Composers Yet?" 2011 Series:

Tintagel
Cello Concerto

--Intermission--

Symphony No. 2

--Encore-

Overture to a Picaresque Comedy

[Lethevich]

Joseph Haydn: Symphony No.39
Granville Bantock: Heroic Ballad No.2
Havergal Brian: Symphony No.27
Granville Bantock: Heroic Ballad No.1
Franz Liszt: Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe

[Brian]

Franz Liszt: Von der Wiege bis zum Grabe

Oh, wow, that would be such a weird way to end a concert.

[Lethevich]

Oh, wow, that would be such a weird way to end a concert.

Definitely more interesting than:

Havergal Brian: "wat"
Joseph Haydn: "at least they saved the tuneful one for the end"

It was the only solution

[Mirror Image]

It's An All East European Night!

Martinu: Estampes
Novak: In The Tatra Mountains

-Intermission-

Bartok: Bluebeard's Castle

Encore:

Enescu: Suite No. 3 "Villageoise"

Baritone: Peter Fried
Mezzo-Soprano: Cornelia Kallisch
Myself conducting the Czech Philharmonic Orchestra

[Wanderer]

Korngold: Cello Concerto
Janáček: Taras Bulba

*intermission*

R.Strauss: Don Quixote

[Mirror Image]

Korngold: Cello Concerto
Janáček: Taras Bulba

*intermission*

R.Strauss: Don Quixote

What orchestra will you be conducting and who is the cellist for the performance of Strauss' Don Quixote?

[jochanaan]

Oh, so many choices!  I think, though, that I'd go with Mahler 8.  And just for fun, I might start with Varèse's Amériques or Arcana.

Orchestra: Philadelphia, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, Concertgebouw, or Vienna Philharmonic, with their associated choruses.

Another possibility: Scriabin's Poem of Ecstasy, then Messiaen's Eclairs sur l'Au-Dela.

[Grazioso]

Part of my 2011 "Czech it Out!" World Tour:

Concertgebouw

Suk Fairy Tale
Novak Lady Godiva

--Intermission--

One of the Fibich symphonies

--Encore

Janacek Lachian Dances

[eyeresist]

I didn't call it dramatic. I called it most dramatic of all Beethoven symphonies. I would call no Beethoven symphony dramatic.

I don't understand this at all:

No Beethoven symphony is dramatic; The 8th is the most dramatic Beethoven symphony.

This doesn't add up!

(Never mind that Beethoven is surely by any reasonable measure a dramatic symphonist.)

[Roberto]

I don't understand this at all:

No Beethoven symphony is dramatic; The 8th is the most dramatic Beethoven symphony.

I don't understand either. 

[Brian]

seven programs

Well, if we can post seven programs, here are mine!

Dvorak | Te Deum
Janacek | Sinfonietta
Janacek | Glagolitic Mass, original score
[CSO; my first post in this thread, and to my surprise still my top choice]

Rimsky-Korsakov | May Night Overture
Rachmaninov | Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini
Shostakovich | Symphony No 10
[Yevgeny Sudbin, piano; Seattle SO]

Mendelssohn | Overture, Scherzo, Nocturne: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Berlioz | Les nuits d'ete
Castelnuovo-Tedesco | Overture: A Midsummer Night's Dream
Atterberg | Symphony No 3, final movement, "Summer Night"
[Veronique Gens, soprano (unless time-traveling is allowed)]

Ravel | Daphnis et Chloe, Suite No 2 (with chorus)
Schmitt | La Tragedie de Salome, symphonic poem (with chorus)
Ravel | La valse
Poulenc | Gloria

Kalliwoda | Symphony No 5
Wieniawski | Violin Concerto No 2
Dvorak | Symphony No 8
[Tianwa Yang, violin; Czech Philharmonic]

Sibelius | Symphony No 6
Sibelius | Symphony No 7
Sibelius | Symphony No 5

Ravel | Ma mere l'oye
Ravel | Piano Concerto in G
Lutoslawski | Concerto for Orchestra
[Martha Argerich, piano]

[mc ukrneal]

I would have three possible programs - a simple one, an even simpler one, and a totally whacko one. I'll leave the whacko one for another day, but the others would be:

Program 1
Verdi's Requiem
Conducted by Ukrneal, leading the La Scala Orchestra and chorus. Soloists - would have to think about that. We could go with some Verdians like Alagna and Gheorghiu, but the idea of total nobodys also appeals. I have yet to hear the ideal version of this, which is the main reason I would pick it (well that and I love it!).

Program 2
Tchaikovsky Symphony 5
--Break--
Alexander Nevsky
Coducted by Ukrneal, leading the Concertgabouw Orchestra (and the Mariinsky chorus for Nevsky). Though to be honest, any top orchestra will do.

Program 3
Whacko program to be released when I have some time to put together this dream program.

[mszczuj]

I don't understand this at all:

No Beethoven symphony is dramatic; The 8th is the most dramatic Beethoven symphony.

This doesn't add up!

It's like the youngest of three old ladies. None is young but one of them is the youngest.

(Never mind that Beethoven is surely by any reasonable measure a dramatic symphonist.)

His symphonies are only  played like so. But it is castration of their spiritual values. In my humble opinon, of course.