Which conductors are closely associated with which composers?

[Mark]

I thought it might be an idea to have a thread where we can discuss conductors who've become closely associated with the repertoire of certain composers. It could come in useful for those who, when faced with countless recordings of any given work by any given composer, are wondering which conductor to choose as a potential 'safe bet'.

Off the top of my head, I associate the following:


1) Mackerras - Mozart, Janacek

2) Boult / Davis (A) - Elgar

3) Berstein / Haitink - Mahler

4) Davis (C) - Berlioz

5) Handley - Vaughan Williams, Bantock


... and here, I fall down.

Apologies for the British bias, but conductors and their repertoire are not my strong suit ... hence this thread.

[jochanaan]

Fritz Reiner with Bartok.  (Not just musically either; they were personal friends.)
Pierre Monteux and Ernest Ansermet with Stravinsky.
Eugene Ormandy with Rachmaninoff.
Rudolf Kempe with R. Strauss.
Sergiu Celibidache with Bruckner.

Those are the ones that come to mind now.

[J.Z. Herrenberg]

Beecham - Delius is the first pairing to spring to my mind.

And this one: Munch - Berlioz

[Que]

We did something similar on the old forum: Conductors

Furtwängler - Bruckner, Beethoven
Walter - Mahler, Beethoven, Brahms
Klemperer - Beethoven, Brahms, plus some Bruckner and the Wagner he did.
Reiner - R. Strauss, Brahms
Böhm - R. Strauss, Wagner
Jochum - Beethoven, Bruckner
Toscanini - Verdi
Bernstein - Mahler
Erich Kleiber - Mozart, R. Strauss, Joh. Strauß, Beethoven
Horenstein - Mahler, Bruckner
Mravinsky - Tchaikovsky, Shostakovich (and other Russian repertoire)
Kempe - Wagner, R. Strauss
Haitink - Mahler, Brahms
Karajan - R. Strauss
Harnoncourt - Bach, Haydn, Mozart
Jacobs - baroque opera: Monteverdi, Händel, Mozart, Gluck
Serafin - Verdi
Harnoncourt - Bach, Mozart, Haydn
Weil - Mozart, Haydn
Van Immerseel - Mozart

Q

[Lethevich]

(Technically Richard Strauss never used a ß in his name...)

Harnoncourt is too diverse to be associated with anything I think, he's done major Schubert, Bruckner, Haydn, Mozart, Bach projects at least...

Karajan - Beethoven
Marriner - Mozart
Wand - Bruckner

[Brian]

Beecham used to be associated with Grieg, but if anyone is to be connected to Grieg these days it is surely the duo of Bjarte Engeset and Ole Kristian Ruud. (Though I am aware these are comparatively obscure names - for now.)

[Greta]

Que, thanks for the link to that old thread, very informative.

Some that come to mind right off:

Holst and other Englishmen - Davis (Colin), Boult, Rattle, Handley, the usual English suspects...and, Leonard Slatkin, he has devoted a lot of study to that group as well.

Vaughan Williams - Previn and Haitink

Sibelius - Colin Davis, on his 3rd set on LSO Live, Segerstam, Berglund, it would be remiss not to mention Robert Kajanus and Eugene Ormandy too, though sound quality is not great their personal associations with and early advocation of Sibelius make their recordings important documents

Contemporary Americans - David Zinman and Robert Spano, in Baltimore and Atlanta, consistently well played, colorful, energetic recordings

The other way around:

Chailly - Mahler, and lots of other stuff, his modern music discs are gems, like his Varese, Berg, etc, he makes that "difficult" music quite inviting.

Rattle - Mahler, at least I like it, and his Sibelius also, and stuff from Mahler on - Messiaen, John Adams, Gershwin Porgy and Bess, etc

Boulez - Lots of stuff, naturally modern composers, Messiaen, Webern, his Mahler is fascinating, Bartok, definitely Stravinsky.

Salonen - Stravinsky, Bartok, Messiaen, 20th c./contemporary, also Nordic composers, great Nielsen, Grieg, Sibelius, some fine Mahler, close ties to music of Finns Kaija Saariaho and Magnus Lindberg, John Adams

Curious about:

Maazel - I've heard a variety of excellent stuff from him, am coming to appreciate his recordings in a big way recently.

Dohnanyi and Dutoit - They consistently turn out very good recordings, but are they considered to have specialties?

[Brian]

I believe Dutoit and the OSM's thing for Ravel is worthy of inclusion ... ?

Ancerl and Talich ought to be mentioned in association with Smetana, Dvorak, and such, of course.

[quintett op.57]

Bernstein - Haydn

[Mark]

Bernstein - Haydn

Really? I don't know why, but that surprises me.

[Don]

Here's a prison connection:  Robert King - Handel.

[Mark]

Here's a prison connection:  Robert King - Handel.

Brilliant.

[hornteacher]

Really? I don't know why, but that surprises me.

I've never met either of them but Bernstein's sense of humor seems to be very similar to Haydn's, and this enables Bernstein to bring out the wit in Haydn's music.  Check out his recording of the 88th, 92nd, and 94th on DG.  A fantastic recording all around.

[DavidW]

Bernstein-- Mahler
Gardiner-- Bach
Richter-- Bach
Suzuki-- Bach
Leonhardt... hey wait, do you think I might listen to too much Bach?

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Bernstein-- Mahler

I wonder what composer Mahler was closely associated with...

[DavidW]

I wonder what composer Mahler was closely associated with...

Wagner?   I thought he really admired his work.  I don't know what he most commonly performed as a conductor back then, thought he was an opera conductor back then, is that right?  I don't remember too well.  I would think that Wagner's operas might be too long for lots of replay, so he must have played other composers.  What was hot back then?

[Bonehelm]

What about Karajan: good music?

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Wagner?   I thought he really admired his work.  I don't know what he most commonly performed as a conductor back then, thought he was an opera conductor back then, is that right?  I don't remember too well.  I would think that Wagner's operas might be too long for lots of replay, so he must have played other composers.  What was hot back then?

Yes, Mahler spent ten years at the helm of the Vienna State Opera - one of the premier opera institutions in the world. No doubt the pickings as far as what to perform were generous.

Here's an interesting snippet from PBS.org:

The golden age of the Vienna State Opera began in 1897 with the arrival of composer and conductor Gustav Mahler as director. He came with the endorsement of no less than Johannes Brahms, but Mahler was not universally accepted. He was a target of relentless anti-Semitism (his nominal conversion to Catholicism, a requirement of employment, did not deter his enemies). And Mahler's perfectionism didn't always go down well with the company's comfortably ensconced singers, who were now expected to work as a tight ensemble rather than do as they pleased in the old-fashioned, I'm-the-star way. Orchestra players also tired of his demands.

In artistic terms, the Mahler era was one of astonishing quality and growth. He taught the Viennese to appreciate and respect Mozart operas as never before; he restored all the music previously cut from Wagner operas; he introduced new works by Tchaikovsky, Puccini, and others; he hired the best and the brightest vocal artists, among them soprano Selma Kurz (she of the famously prolonged trill) and tenor Leo Slezak; and he engaged talented conductors, one of whom was Bruno Walter, to share the podium duties.

And Mahler demonstrated keen interest in what was seen onstage, not just heard. He often did his own directing and revealed remarkable theatrical instincts. He had the inspired idea of hiring Secessionist/Art Nouveau artist Alfred Roller as designer for the opera. Roller and Mahler brought color symbolism and subtlety to productions, achieving an extraordinary new level of integrated staging.

In the end, Mahler could not fight the factions aligned against him. He resigned in 1907. (In a kind of posthumous amends-making, a performance of Mahler's massive "Symphony No. 8" was held in the opera house in 1918, seven years after his death.).

[DavidW]

Thanks Don, that answered my question fully!

[Dancing Divertimentian]

Thanks Don, that answered my question fully!

Too bad no document of Mahler's conducting exists.

I'm curious what Mozart through Mahler's hands would've sounded like...