most recorded conductor

[Bruni]

i just heard someone on my local station say that Jose Serebrier is the most recorded conductor. excuse me but i thought Von Karajan was. i have never heard of Serebrier, but i am from the Nevvie Boy Marriner generation. and so sad to hear Mariss Jansons passed.

[Daverz]

i just heard someone on my local station say that Jose Serebrier is the most recorded conductor. excuse me but i thought Von Karajan was. i have never heard of Serebrier, but i am from the Nevvie Boy Marriner generation. and so sad to hear Mariss Jansons passed.

Perhaps there were some other qualifiers in there?  Wikipedia says "He is one of the most recorded conductors of his generation."  Restricting ourselves only to currently active conductors, I'd bet Papa Järvi has been recorded more.  Serebrier might have had the longest conducting career of any active conductor (started conducting at age 11).

[jess]

Karajan? Serebrier? I always thought it was Neeme Järvi.

[Mirror Image]

This is an introduction?

Anyway, this thread belongs here:

https://www.good-music-guide.com/community/index.php/board,5.0.html

[j winter]

Well, it is their first post...

Welcome to the forum!

[Ratliff]

This is an introduction?

Anyway, this thread belongs here:

This is a welcome?

Karajan is an obvious contender. The complete EMI edition ran to about 150 CDs and the Deutsche gramophone/Decca is about 300 CDs (some "original jacket" discs that are not fully utilized). Haitink and Solti are probably close, and Neeme Järvi has 358 CDs listed on Arkivmusik. Some of those are probably duplicate rereleases, but I suspect he is the leader among active conductors.

[Jo498]

Neville Marriner should also be a contender. I also remember from some time ago that when most people thought it must be Karajan, others said it was actually Järvi.

[Biffo]

Neville Marriner should also be a contender. I also remember from some time ago that when most people thought it must be Karajan, others said it was actually Järvi.

I wouldn't  be surprised if it was N Jarvi or Marriner. Serbrier is just a name to me, I don't own any of his recordings or recall hearing any but that doesn't signify very much. According to figures compiled by Norman Lebrecht, in terms of albums sold Karajan is No 1 by a long way.

[aukhawk]

I only have one recording by Serebrier - Ives 4th.  I maybe have a dozen or 15 by Karajan (not many, considering his output) and likewise Haitink, and about half as many each by Jarvi and Marriner.  My own collection is probably led by ... hm, this is rather shocking - Osmo Vanska (Sibelius x2, Beethoven symphonies and concertos, a developing Mahler cycle).

[SurprisedByBeauty]

Without further research, I'd venture to guess:

Karajan, far and away.

Bernstein

then maybe Marriner... but possibly already in contention: Papa Järvi (most-recorded living conductor).

Serebrier has recorded lots, but not that much. I suppose he might possibly be the most-recorded living American conductor. 

ArkivMusic is not fail-safe (and lots of false positives, due to duplications on collections and samplers), but gets you a rough idea: http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/NameList?featured=1&role_wanted=3

It has Serebrier at a respectable but hardly record-breaking 85 recordings.

HvK: 755
Lennie: 471
Marriner: 531 (!) - but he's particularly duplication-prone
Abbado: 417
Mehta: 407 (also very duplication prone - three tenors, bocelli et al.)
Sotli: 373 (73 of them re-releases of the Ring, alone!  )
Ormandy: 367 (a real surprise to me, this high)
Neeme J.: 358
Barenboim: 341
C.Davis: 324
Masur: ditto
Mackerras: 316

Honorable mentions (>200 <300): Harnoncourt, Bonynge, Boulez, Bohm, Chailly, Dutoit, Gardiner, Gergiev, Giulini, Muti, Maazel, Levine, Hickox, Haitink, Rattle, Previn, Ozzawa, Rilling, Schwarz, Slatkin, Wit

[aukhawk]

Serebrier has recorded lots, but not that much. I suppose he might possibly be the most-recorded living American conductor. 

... whose name starts with an 'S'

Talking of which, I'm a bit surprised no mention for Szell there?

[Jo498]

I doubt that it is Karajan "far and away" (it may be him but not by such  a large margin). Everybody thinks it should be Karajan but already 20 years ago I distinctly remember supposedly knowledgeable people claiming that it was Neeme Järvi or Marriner instead (and they kept making recordings since then).

But maybe there were also different ways to count and some meant number of recorded discs, others number of different recorded pieces. The latter would put Karajan with his 5-7 times the same Beethoven symphony at some disadvantage. Similarly, Solti who conducted a lot of opera is at disadvantage if a 4 disc opera album counts as "one recording".
And there are also more ambiguities, e.g. bootlegged live recordings, videos etc.

[SurprisedByBeauty]

I doubt that it is Karajan "far and away" (it may be him but not by such  a large margin). Everybody thinks it should be Karajan but already 20 years ago I distinctly remember supposedly knowledgeable people claiming that it was Neeme Järvi or Marriner instead (and they kept making recordings since then).

20 Years ago, that could have been: "Most recorded living" conductors and been right... 

... whose name starts with an 'S'

Talking of which, I'm a bit surprised no mention for Szell there?

179, says Arkiv.

Quality over Quantity, says Sarge

[Biffo]

The Karajan discography isn't very helpful either - https://www.discogs.com/artist/283122-Herbert-von-Karajan?page=2

It lists 1891 recordings but it includes duplicates, eg. there are 30 versions of his La Scala/Butterfly. Also it seems to start at ca. 1954, he made lots of recordings before then. I suspect if you looked at Bernstein you would have the same problem.

[Sergeant Rock]

Talking of which, I'm a bit surprised no mention for Szell there?

Quality over Quantity, says Sarge

Unfortunately Szell was competing against Lenny and Ormandy, the two stars in the Columbia house. They were both allocated more recording time. Still, Szell, over the course of his conducting career recorded around 380 pieces. In addition many of his live concerts at Severance were taped by WCLV although only a few performances have been released commercially.

Sarge

[Ken B]

One unmentioned possibility is Muir Matheson. He conducted film scores, and one estimate puts it at about 1,000 of them. I suspect that estimate is too high but there were 28 in 1958 and he conducted for decades so it's not impossible.

My guess is HvK when you count all the live stuff. James Levine must have a good count, as well as Toscanini.

[DaveF]

I remember reading somewhere - can't remember where, and it may have been a comment made with tongue in cheek - that the most recorded orchestra of all time was the Capella Istropolitana - so does that make Barry Wordsworth the most recorded conductor?

[Mirror Image]

But welcome usually occurs after an introduction, which didn't happen in the OP's initial post and why I didn't bother to say 'welcome' and why I suggested the thread be moved to another part of the forum where it rightfully belonged.