Conductors and their 'special' unusual pieces

[hopefullytrusting]

Solti not only conducted Wagner with all appropriate bombast, but did surprisingly good jobs on Marriage of Figaro and Moses und Aron.

I feel that his Moses und Aron is the best I've heard (I also prefer his Wagner - bombast is right - love it).

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Boulez seemed to have a special affinity for Bartok's The Wooden Prince. He recorded it twice. It strikes me as unusual because it's a plush, Romantic piece that doesn't sound much like the later Bartok. I heard him conduct it at Carnegie, with another GMG-er who expressed skepticism toward the piece.

[Jo498]

Boulez recorded most major and some minor Bartok first for CBS and 20-30 years later again for DG. AFAIK he ignored the really early pieces like Kossuth.
The Wooden Prince is later than Bluebeard's Castle and not quite as plush, I'd say.

[André]

Karl Böhm recorded the last 3 Tchaikovsky symphonies with the LSO toward the end of his life. There's also a late 1970s recording of the 4th on Orfeo, with the Czech Phil. I believe there is another one dating from the 1950s but I have no details. His way with the symphonies is serious, tragic but surprisingly theatrical.

Charles Munch was a Berlioz specialist way before Colin Davis. He recorded the Requiem twice, the Fantastique half a dozen times as well as just about everything else (except the Te Deum). Munch also championed Roussel tirelessly in his Boston concerts. The Boston audiences were probably exposed to the Suite en fa, Bacchus et Ariane, the 3rd symphony more than they cared for.

[AnotherSpin]

Leaving aside the specious insinuations about Karajan's past, the reasoning is defective. Karajan's penchant for performing Tchaikovsky is in line with the discography of other conductors of major orchestras, preferences of concert audiences, and desire of record producers to sell records. Hitler's preference for Tchaikovsky is not unusual, since Tchaikovsky is one of the most popular composers of classical music. It would be like saying Yo-Yo Ma's preference for white rice is not surprising, since it was the favorite of Chairman Mao.

I have noticed that Karajan has often returned to Dvorak's New World Symphony.

Nevertheless, many outstanding German and Austrian conductors recorded Tchaikovsky only rarely, such as Klemperer, Böhm, Knappertsbusch, Kempe, or Wand.

[Louis]

Speaking of, he's also the only conductor AFAIK to have recorded the Schubert symphonies thrice. In fact has anyone even recorded them twice? Clearly he must have loved the works greatly. His interpretations remained... peculiar though. Bizarre.

He had a lot of rather eccentric opinions. He also thought of Haydn's operas as great works. Porgy&Bess was for him "America's Wozzeck" (He recorded that too)

Not only did he record Genoveva or Haydn's operas, he also loved giving interviews telling everyone whenever he can how great that stuff is.

The funny thing is I like Genoveva due to him, but I never liked his recording. I always preferred the Kurt Masur one.

I never shared most of his opinions but I found it refreshing to have a conductor with such an idiosyncratic interest outside the standard repertoire. Particularly in his generation where the standard repertoire was still much more...standard

[lunar22]

Although Kurt Sanderling recorded a reasonably diverse repertoire, he had certain party pieces which he was forever performing in concert. Of the three times I was lucky enough to hear him live, he twice did Shostakovich 15th symphony -- and indeed wrote a long and very emotional programme note about the piece in Leipzig 1986 as an insert to the "offical" one which was much more matter of fact. The other was, almost inevitably Rachmaninov 2nd which (in London, I think) established his reputation with the Leningrad Phil, although to be honest, I much prefer his later interpretations.

[lordlance]

Although Kurt Sanderling recorded a reasonably diverse repertoire, he had certain party pieces which he was forever performing in concert. Of the three times I was lucky enough to hear him live, he twice did Shostakovich 15th symphony -- and indeed wrote a long and very emotional programme note about the piece in Leipzig 1986 as an insert to the "offical" one which was much more matter of fact. The other was, almost inevitably Rachmaninov 2nd which (in London, I think) established his reputation with the Leningrad Phil, although to be honest, I much prefer his later interpretations.

Did he have a close relationship with the piece/composer? How did his interpretation change of the Rachmaninoff Second over the years? 

[lunar22]

The Rachmaninoff became slower and for me more emotionally intense as he got older.  As for Shostakovich, Sanderling was certainly a friend and great admirer and someone the composer trusted. He was particularly interested in the more "puzzling" works which might have had a hidden message and this might be one reason why he was especially a champion (and by far the best interpreter of in my view) the 15th. On the other hand, he never recorded the "Leningrad" as he possibly found the work suspect, though that's great shame in my book.

[Louis]

Regarding Karajan and Tchaikovsky:

Tchaikovsky was already pre 1933 an extremely popular composer in Germany (one of the most performed by Furtwängler and the Berliner). Also they kept performing him till the start of the German-Soviet war in 1941.

I never heard before that Hitler liked Tchaikovky's music.

[DavidW]

Karajan recorded Tchaikovsky many times, which might seem surprising at first glance. However, at a closer look, it is less so — after all, Tchaikovsky was the favorite non-German composer of Karajan's Parteigenosse, Adolf Hitler.

And if Hitler liked cabbage, should I stop eating it? If he liked Pride and Prejudice should I burn every Jane Austen book I see? I don't see the point of bringing up Hitler in this context.

[AnotherSpin]

And if Hitler liked cabbage, should I stop eating it? If he liked Pride and Prejudice should I burn every Jane Austen book I see? I don't see the point of bringing up Hitler in this context.

Does my comment suggest rejecting or embracing Tchaikovsky's music just because Hitler liked it? If that worries you, take comfort — Stalin was a fan too. And so is Putin. Funny how bloodthirsty dictators have a soft spot for Tchaikovsky's sentimental sobbing and grandiose posturing. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

[DavidW]

Does my comment suggest rejecting or embracing Tchaikovsky's music just because Hitler liked it? If that worries you, take comfort — Stalin was a fan too. And so is Putin. Funny how bloodthirsty dictators have a soft spot for Tchaikovsky's sentimental sobbing and grandiose posturing. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Both saints and devils love Tchaikovsky's music because it is transcendent.

[Florestan]

Both saints and devils love Tchaikovsky's music because it is transcendent.

Hans Frank was a proficient pianist who loved Schubert and Chopin. By some peculiarly twisted logic, Poland should ban Schubert's and Chopin's music, right? 

[ritter]

Are we really going down that road? We all know how these discussions (which bear little if any relation to the music itself) end...

Please!

[Florestan]

Are we really going down that road? We all know how these discussions (which bear little if any relation to the music itself) end...

Please!

Feel free to delete my post if you think it's inappropriate, Rafael, but I think that in the current international context one cannot stress enough that the relationship between great art and totalitarianism is not so clear cut and black-and-white as some people seem to think.

[ritter]

Feel free to delete my post if you think it's inappropriate, Rafael, but I think that in the current international context one cannot stress enough that the relationship between great art and totalitarianism is not so clear cut and black-and-white as some people seem to think.

That one member took the conversation in that direction (talking about a conductor who died 35 years, a dictator who died 80 years ago, and a composer who died when the dictator was barely 4 years of age) doesn't mean we all have to go there.

What I will not tolerate is a thread on conductors' "special unusual pieces" turning into discussion on totalitarianism and great art. No need for that. No need to delete any posts so far, either. But I ask all GMGers to understand that poisoning threads unnecessarily is not really a very sensible thing to do...

[AnotherSpin]

That one member took the conversation in that direction (talking about a conductor who died 35 years, a dictator who died 80 years ago, and a composer who died when the dictator was barely 4 years of age) doesn't mean we all have to go there.

What I will not tolerate is a thread on conductors' "special unusual pieces" turning into discussion on totalitarianism and great art. No need for that. No need to delete any posts so far, either. But I ask all GMGers to understand that poisoning threads unnecessarily is not really a very sensible thing to do...

Thanks for the third-person mention—quite charming. Not that it makes any difference to me.

That said, maybe I just see art and life as more intertwined than you do.

[ritter]

Thanks for the third-person mention—quite charming.

You're welcome.

[Roasted Swan]

Does my comment suggest rejecting or embracing Tchaikovsky's music just because Hitler liked it? If that worries you, take comfort — Stalin was a fan too. And so is Putin. Funny how bloodthirsty dictators have a soft spot for Tchaikovsky's sentimental sobbing and grandiose posturing. Makes you wonder, doesn't it?

Note to self;  I love "Tchaikovsky's sentimental sobbing and grandiose posturing" - therefore I need to work more on becoming a bloodthirsty dictator so that I can conform to type.