Top 10 conductors that YOU like the most

Started by rmihai, December 08, 2019, 05:22:29 AM

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Biffo

Afterword about the Ks. I thought of the first 8 on my list very easily but was scratching around when I chose Kajanus and Kamu. I can't think how I missed Keilberth - as well as owning his Bayreuth Ring Cycle I have known and loved his Freischutz for decades and also have a few of his Beethoven Symphonies. It is a toss-up between Kamu and Konwitschny as both are only represented by a single composer in my collection, Sibelius and Beethoven respectively.

André

Quote from: Biffo on December 13, 2019, 01:28:30 AM
Afterword about the Ks. I thought of the first 8 on my list very easily but was scratching around when I chose Kajanus and Kamu. I can't think how I missed Keilberth - as well as owning his Bayreuth Ring Cycle I have known and loved his Freischutz for decades and also have a few of his Beethoven Symphonies. It is a toss-up between Kamu and Konwitschny as both are only represented by a single composer in my collection, Sibelius and Beethoven respectively.

I cannot recommend that set highly enough:



On top of a first rate Eroica, it has smashing versions of Bruckner (5 and 7) and Shostakovich (10 and 11) and the best Flying Dutchman I know. All of those are in vey good stereo sound. The performance of the Bruckner 2 is a classic, but is in mono.

Brian

Quote from: Ken B on December 12, 2019, 01:50:53 PM
Karajan is unfashionable with some because he is still the big name with most people who don't know a lot of classical music. The rejection of Karajan is a tribute to Karajan, or at least to his dominance and marketing.
Well, Karajan is unfashionable also because of his ideas about orchestral balance and his transformation of the BPO into a well-oiled Karajan Machine during the 70s-80s. As he aged, he became decidedly weird in addition to being famous.

Ormandy wasn't especially weird.

I agree with Daverz that an Ormandy big box would be fun - but it would probably also be gigantic.

ChopinBroccoli

Quote from: Brian on December 13, 2019, 12:04:57 PM
Well, Karajan is unfashionable also because of his ideas about orchestral balance and his transformation of the BPO into a well-oiled Karajan Machine during the 70s-80s. As he aged, he became decidedly weird in addition to being famous.

Ormandy wasn't especially weird.

I agree with Daverz that an Ormandy big box would be fun - but it would probably also be gigantic.

This^

Karajan has a handful of records I liked enough to buy but my reasons for not especially enjoying his work are entirely musical... I'm not bothered by the jet-set image or ubiquitous market presence

I, too would welcome a proper Ormandy box a la Szell
"If it ain't Baroque, don't fix it!"
- Handel

Daverz

#44
My original K's were

Kertesz
Kubelik
Kondrashin
Karajan
Klemperer

To those I'd add

Kempe
Kletzki
Konwitschny
Kegel
Kitajenko
Kirill Karabits
Carlos Kleiber
Krips

The inclusion of Karabits suggests another interesting topic: favorite conductors under 50 years of age. 

Biffo

Quote from: Daverz on December 13, 2019, 05:48:15 PM
My original K's were

Kertesz
Kubelik
Kondrashin
Karajan
Klemperer

To those I'd add

Kempe
Kletzki
Konwitschny
Kegel
Kitajenko
Kirill Karabits
Carlos Kleiber
Krips

The inclusion of Karabits suggests another interesting topic: favorite conductors under 50 years of age.

The perils of rushing into making a post - I had completely forgotten Erich Kleiber, my favourite Beethovenian.

vandermolen

#46
Quote from: Daverz on December 12, 2019, 07:07:37 PM
I think it was a combination of being over-recorded back in the day, which probably gave an impression of a middle-brow conductor, and not having a strong reputation in the core Germanic rep, e.g. Beethoven and Brahms, though I don't think he embarrassed himself there.  He even made some decent Bruckner recordings.  I'm hoping for a big remastered box from Sony that will include his un-released mono recordings (Sibelius, Prokofiev, Piston, William Schuman, etc).
In that sense was Ormandy a bit like an American Bryden Thomson (a conductor I consider very underrated, especially in Bax and Vaughan Williams)? As for Ormandy I grew up with my brother's LP of Shostakovich's 10th Symphony which I've always liked and his LP of Shostakovich's 4th Symphony was my introduction to this magnificent work. His Copland 'Lincoln Portrait' (with Adlai Stevenson) is my favourite version by far. I recall an impressive 'Planets Suite' and a fabulous Albany CD including William Schuman's great 6th Symphony and Roy Harris's 7th Symphony. I'm not so keen on his Sibelius recordings but still enjoy the recent boxed set of them and intend to listen to them again soon. Oh yes, his LP of Ives's 'Three Places in New England' (coupled with the Copland's Lincoln Portrait) gave me great pleasure when I regularly borrowed it from the local music library in the 1970s (great cover image):

"Courage is going from failure to failure without losing enthusiasm" (Churchill).

'The test of a work of art is, in the end, our affection for it, not our ability to explain why it is good' (Stanley Kubrick).

FelixSkodi

1. Pierre Boulez
2. Leonard Bernstein
3. Lorin Maazel
4. Igor Markevitch
5. Hermann Scherchen
6. James DePriest

Total Rafa

Gergiev
Haitink
Harding
Janssons
Abbado
Rattle
Dudamel
Runnicles
Wand
Nelsons

Symphonic Addict

Updating:

Karel Ancerl
Leonard Bernstein
Adrian Boult
Bernard Haitink
Neeme Järvi
Herbert von Karajan
Jean Martinon
Evgeny Svetlanov
George Szell
Bryden Thomson
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Daverz

Quote from: Daverz on December 12, 2019, 07:07:37 PM
I think it was a combination of being over-recorded back in the day, which probably gave an impression of a middle-brow conductor, and not having a strong reputation in the core Germanic rep, e.g. Beethoven and Brahms, though I don't think he embarrassed himself there.  He even made some decent Bruckner recordings.  I'm hoping for a big remastered box from Sony that will include his un-released mono recordings (Sibelius, Prokofiev, Piston, William Schuman, etc).

Of course you all know by now that the box is here, and it's brilliant.  ;)


Mirror Image

Quote from: Mirror Image on December 11, 2019, 06:34:11 AM
In no particular order:

Pierre Boulez
Leonard Bernstein
Jean Martinon
Charles Mackerras
Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Claudio Abbado
Herbert von Karajan
Michael Tilson Thomas
Simon Rattle
Bernard Haitink

Time to make an update (in no particular order):

Herbert von Karajan
Leonard Bernstein
Bernard Haitink
Claudio Abbado
Karel Ančerl
Gennady Rozhdestvensky
Pierre Boulez
André Previn
Jiří Bělohlávek
Rafael Kubelik

david johnson

Ansermet
Reiner
Ormandy
Solti
Lopez-Cobos
Klemperer
Slatkin
Giulini
Bernstein
HvK

The new erato

#53
I find it notorously difficult to answer questions like these. Nobody is good in everything, some have small recorded catalogues, and the more I listen the more I become aware of all I don't know. And sometimes I plain don't like the person and have difficulty separating the person from his work. And I haven't listened extensively to historical figures. And should explorations of underrecorded repertoire count?

Some I always liked as Bøhm, Klemperer and Giulini. Perhaps Walter. I have a feeling I overlook some Czech and Russians, perhaps Kondrashin and Talich. Harnoncourt definitively. Perhaps Stokowsky and Horenstein for their resolute originality. William Christie obviously. Charles Mackerras.

And I'll throw in some that seems to be overlooked here who I always seem to enjoy: Berglund, Blomstedt (a personal favorite!), Boult and Barbirolli. Can't have the K's having all the spotlight.

Pohjolas Daughter

Oh, boy!  Hard to say.  Here are some of my favorites (though, as others have stated, it can often depend upon the repertoire).

Kubelik
Mackerras
Ormandy
Colin Davis
Toscanini (more of a historical favorite these days)
Fricsay
HvK
Silvestri
Ancerl
Dutoit
Previn
Dorati
Barbirolli
Bernstein
Szell

And I'm not even thinking about operatic recordings though some of the above would also fall into that category!  ::)

And, yes, that's over 10...and I'm probably forgetting others!

PD
Pohjolas Daughter

kyjo

Quote from: The new erato on September 19, 2021, 11:55:49 PM
I find it notorously difficult to answer questions like these. Nobody is good in everything, some have small recorded catalogues, and the more I listen the more I become aware of all I don't know. And sometimes I plain don't like the person and have difficulty separating the person from his work. And I haven't listened extensively to historical figures. And should explorations of underrecorded repertoire count?

Totally agree. Also, because I care much more about repertoire than conductors, I tend to be biased towards conductors who have consistently championed lesser-known repertoire that I enjoy - e.g. Neeme Järvi, Ari Rasilainen, Richard Hickox, etc. Even if a conductor is a very fine one, if they are/were unadventurous in their repertoire I generally don't pay much attention to them.
"Music is enough for a lifetime, but a lifetime is not enough for music" - Sergei Rachmaninoff

VonStupp

#56
Quote from: Papy Oli on December 12, 2019, 01:04:38 AM
Here goes :

Celibidache
Bernstein
Wand
Maazel
Barbirolli
Hogwood
Klemperer
Boult
Handley
Del Mar

I own ZERO recordings led by Sergiu Celibidache. I had always heard he was interminable in pacing, so I've avoided him. Is there a must have recording from Celi?

On a side note, I see John Malkovich will be portraying him in an upcoming film.

VS

"All the good music has already been written by people with wigs and stuff."

Symphonic Addict

Quote from: kyjo on September 20, 2021, 12:25:32 PM
Totally agree. Also, because I care much more about repertoire than conductors, I tend to be biased towards conductors who have consistently championed lesser-known repertoire that I enjoy - e.g. Neeme Järvi, Ari Rasilainen, Richard Hickox, etc. Even if a conductor is a very fine one, if they are/were unadventurous in their repertoire I generally don't pay much attention to them.

My thoughts exactly, and the last statement even more so. I would never be a fan of, say, Furtwängler, Böhm or Knappertsbusch, who conducted almost exclusively Austro-German repertoire.
Part of the tragedy of the Palestinians is that they have essentially no international support for a good reason: they've no wealth, they've no power, so they've no rights.

Noam Chomsky

Daverz

Quote from: VonStupp on September 20, 2021, 01:22:11 PM
I own ZERO recordings led by Sergiu Celibidache. I had always heard he was interminable in pacing, so I've avoided him. Is there a must have recording from Celi?

A great Bruckner 6 (EMI or Sony).

TheGSMoeller

My King...





I'll have to really think about the other 9, it's not easy, but Harnoncourt is the one conductor that I consistently look for recordings from, even if they are duds he never fails to offer something unique to his performances. Same goes for Boulez and Bernstein. Ok that's three conductors, I'll think about the other 7.