Top 10 conductors that YOU like the most

[The new erato]

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.

OK, but some body has to do that, and to do it well. It's not like that repertoire is uninteresting.

[DavidW]

Back in the day I had favorites but I don't anymore.  I have favorites specific to certain eras and genres but I don't have anyone that I would like uniformly no matter what they played.  For example, I love Herreweghe's Bach, I could not imagine him in say Ligeti.

[ritter]

Back in the day I had favorites but I don't anymore.  I have favorites specific to certain eras and genres but I don't have anyone that I would like uniformly no matter what they played.  For example, I love Herreweghe's Bach, I could not imagine him in say Ligeti.

Who would have imagined Harnoncourt conducting Porgy and Bess? And yet, he recorded the piece...

But I absolutely get your point, DavidW, and share it to a certain degree. Still, there are some conductors who, for those interested in specific areas of the repertoire, are essential.  For instance, I could not imagine the development of (most of, but of course not all) my musical tastes without the influence of Pierre Boulez (in his facet as conductor). Some people could have a similar feeling concerning, e.g. William Christie (for French Baroque), and there'd be many more examples, I venture to say.

[The new erato]

And I forgot to mention Chailly which obviously is a favorite. A lot of great recordings, and not only of wellknown stuff.

[vandermolen]

Today's list:

Groves
Boult
Barbirolli
Berglund
Previn
Thomson
Kondrashin
Slatkin (underrated IMO)
Furtwangler
Bernstein or Haitink

[Brahmsian]

I don't have enough vast experience and knowledge to pick ten favourite conductors.

If I could only pick one, it would likely be Kertész.

Some notable mentions:

Jochum
N. Jarvi
Zinman
V. Petrenko
Wit
Dorati
Maazel

[DavidW]

Who would have imagined Harnoncourt conducting Porgy and Bess? And yet, he recorded the piece...

But I absolutely get your point, DavidW, and share it to a certain degree. Still, there are some conductors who, for those interested in specific areas of the repertoire, are essential.  For instance, I could not imagine the development of (most of, but of course not all) my musical tastes without the influence of Pierre Boulez (in his facet as conductor). Some people could have a similar feeling concerning, e.g. William Christie (for French Baroque), and there'd be many more examples, I venture to say.

William Christie is one of my favorite conductors for Handel as well (the oratorios and operas).

[TheGSMoeller]

Today's list:

Slatkin (underrated IMO)

Very much agree! Slatkin and St. Louis were a prolific duo and just about everything they released was reliable. And I just went through his Rachmaninoff records with Detroit SO and they are very good. 

[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.

Ok here's my list for now, until I read some other's lists in this thread and change my mind...

Harnoncourt
Boulez
Bernstein
Rene Jacobs
Thomas Fey (even just for his Haydn)
Kurt Sanderling
Barbirolli

[Mirror Image]

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

Some changes (in no particular order):

Leonard Bernstein
Bernard Haitink
Evgeny Svetlanov
Herbert von Karajan
Pierre Boulez
Igor Markevitch
Riccardo Chailly
Paavo Berglund
Jiří Bělohlávek
Sir John Barbirolli

[david johnson]

any order-

Giulini
Slatkin
Ansermet
Ormandy
HvK
Reiner
Klemperer
Kubelik
Solti
Stokowsky

[vers la flamme]

Some that I'm a fan of, no particular order:

Otto Klemperer
Herbert von Karajan
George Szell
Leonard Bernstein
Pierre Boulez
Herbert Blomstedt
Neeme Järvi
Georg Solti
Bruno Walter
Bernard Haitink

[Dry Brett Kavanaugh]

Jochum
Bohm
Dorati
Ancerl
Markevitch
Ormandy
Szell
Bernstein
Haitink
Kondrashin

Plus, Gauk, Golovanov, etc.

[foxandpeng]

Probably, for now. No order. Because of their material that I've been enjoying recently...

Kondrashin
Petrenko
Lloyd Jones
Lindberg
Vanska
Jarvi
Storgårds
Kitayenko
Handley
Gergiev

[Lisztianwagner]

Let's see:

Karajan
C. Kleiber
Bernstein
Jansons
Solti
Abbado
Boulez
Chailly
Rattle
Haitink

[LKB]

I don't recall seeing this thread before, so hopefully l'm not inadvertently reposting.

In no particular order:

Herbert von Karajan
George Szell
Leonard Bernstein
Neville Marinner
Bernard Haitink
Adrian Boult
John Barbirolli
Fritz Reiner
Andre Previn
Carlos Kleiber

[Spotted Horses]

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.

Same here!

[DavidW]

That is actually a picture of Harry when his favorite Bach organist is criticized!

[André]

Böhm
Haitink
Harnoncourt (in pre-1800 fare only)
Klemperer
Mrawinsky
Ormandy
Suitner
Szell
Toscanini
Walter

[vandermolen]

Another go:

Previn
Boult
Mackerras Ansermet 
Leppard Sargent 
Kajanus
Koussevitzky
Thomson
Kondrashin
Furtwangler
Wand