Top 10 conductors that YOU like the most

[vandermolen]

Off the top of my head:

Boult
Previn
Kondrashin
Koussevitsky
Wand
Ansermet
Abravanel
Kajanus
Copland
Mravinsky

Having now looked at the other entries I think I should have included Haitink, Barbirolli, Furtwangler, Bernstein and Brabbins.

[some guy]

In no order,

Barbara Hannigan, for being able to sing and conduct at the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFFpzip-SZk

Iancu Dumitrescu. I have seen him conduct his own works, and I have seen other people conduct his works. He's better. (The "normal" conductors make his music sound more "normal" than it is.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6MF0lG6bU0

Ana-Maria Avram. See Dumitrescu, above. (I have seen Iancu and Ana-Maria and Tim Hodgkinson all conduct their own works on the same concert--all conduct as if their movements were creating the music in real time, but each very different from the other.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBg1DhkvdcQ

Michael Gielen. His Mahler ninth is the one I prefer--he conducts it as if it were a piece of music (and not a philosophical tract or an autobiography). It's a wonderful piece of music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e1GHPfy4XQ

Otherwise, Tamayo for bringing us all that Xenakis, and Eötvös for commissioning everyone and her brother to write music for orchestra (with very questionable results, but "oh well," and Ormandy for conducting all that early twentieth century avant-garde as if it were perfectly normal--as, of course, it is), and oh there's more, but I have a coffee date soon.

[vandermolen]

In no order,

Barbara Hannigan, for being able to sing and conduct at the same time.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFFpzip-SZk

Iancu Dumitrescu. I have seen him conduct his own works, and I have seen other people conduct his works. He's better. (The "normal" conductors make his music sound more "normal" than it is.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6MF0lG6bU0

Ana-Maria Avram. See Dumitrescu, above. (I have seen Iancu and Ana-Maria and Tim Hodgkinson all conduct their own works on the same concert--all conduct as if their movements were creating the music in real time, but each very different from the other.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hBg1DhkvdcQ

Michael Gielen. His Mahler ninth is the one I prefer--he conducts it as if it were a piece of music (and not a philosophical tract or an autobiography). It's a wonderful piece of music.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8e1GHPfy4XQ

Otherwise, Tamayo for bringing us all that Xenakis, and Eötvös for commissioning everyone and her brother to write music for orchestra (with very questionable results, but "oh well," and Ormandy for conducting all that early twentieth century avant-garde as if it were perfectly normal--as, of course, it is), and oh there's more, but I have a coffee date soon.

I saw Ashkenazy play the piano and conduct at the same time (a Mozart piano concerto).

[Brian]

Sylvain Cambreling

Wow, I'm happy to see this name in this thread. Sylvain Cambreling's live recordings with the SWR orchestras, many of them released on CD, are consistently super duper good. They're classic GMG Blind Listening Game material: not eccentric, really energetically played, could easily be mistaken for far more famous conductors. Cambreling's obscurity is confusing and I really hope is not the result of personal unpleasantness or some such thing.

[Brian]

alpha:

Leonard Bernstein
Manfred Honeck
Vladimir Jurowski
Charles Mackerras
Jean Martinon
Charles Munch
Jordi Savall
Constantin Silvestri
George Szell
Antoni Wit

Jurowski and Wit are the only ones I've seen live; other really notable live experiences I've had with conductors would include Marin Alsop, Vladimir Ashkenazy (albeit with a student orchestra), Stéphane Denève, Charles "Dirtbag" Dutoit, Susanna Mälkki, and Vasily Petrenko. I've seen Colin Davis, Gustavo Dudamel, Neeme Järvi, and of course Dallas' own Fabio Luisi and Jaap van Zweden but wouldn't necessarily put them in that tier.

[david johnson]

no particular order:

Ansermet
Klemperer
Reiner
Solti
Ormandy
Karajan
Dudamel
Kertesz
Bohm
Jochum
Giulini
Fruhbeck de Burgos

...I had best stop, I'm over 10 

[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

[Daverz]

Ancerl
Bernstein
Munch
Martinon
Kertesz
Kubelik
Kondrashin
Karajan (as unfashionable as he is)
Ormandy (even more unfashionable)
Klemperer

[André]

Ancerl
Bernstein
Munch
Martinon
Kertesz
Kubelik
Kondrashin
Karajan (as unfashionable as he is)
Ormandy (even more unfashionable)
Klemperer

Your list has the most 'K's (5)  One could actually draw a list of 10 K conductors  .

[Symphonic Addict]

I had forgot Kertész. His Dvorák is top-notch.

[ChopinBroccoli]

In no order (except Szell is my definite favorite)

Szell
Reiner
Dorati
Munch
Lenny
Chailly
Kubelik
Kempe
Ormandy
Kondrashin

There's plenty of others who have done work I love but that bunch have given me the most thrills by a comfortable distance

[ChopinBroccoli]

A least favorite (at least among critically acclaimed or popular conductors) would be interesting, too

[Biffo]

Your list has the most 'K's (5)  One could actually draw a list of 10 K conductors  .

OK here it is -

Kempe
Kubelik
Klemperer
Kertesz
Karajan
Kletzki
Kondrashin
Knappertsbusch
Kajanus
Kamu

I have many fine recordings from these conductors (some more than others) but my original list still stands

[Papy Oli]

Here goes :

Celibidache
Bernstein
Wand
Maazel
Barbirolli
Hogwood
Klemperer
Boult
Handley
Del Mar

[André]

OK here it is -

Kempe
Kubelik
Klemperer
Kertesz
Karajan
Kletzki
Kondrashin
Knappertsbusch
Kajanus
Kamu

I have many fine recordings from these conductors (some more than others) but my original list still stands

Nice! I might replace the last two by Keilberth and Konwitschny for my own 10K list 

[Biffo]

Nice! I might replace the last two by Keilberth and Konwitschny for my own 10K list 

Now you mention them, so would I. Don't know how I overlooked Keilberth, I have his Ring Cycle.

[vandermolen]

OK here it is -

Kempe
Kubelik
Klemperer
Kertesz
Karajan
Kletzki
Kondrashin
Knappertsbusch
Kajanus
Kamu

I have many fine recordings from these conductors (some more than others) but my original list still stands

Kabalevsky made fine recordings of his Second Cello Concerto and Symphony No.4 

[Brian]

Karajan (as unfashionable as he is)
Ormandy (even more unfashionable)

I get why Karajan is unfashionable, because a lot of folks have clearly stated the "case" against him, but I don't get the general consignment of Ormandy to oblivion. He doesn't really seem to have haters, he just kinda got dismissed.

[Ken B]

I get why Karajan is unfashionable, because a lot of folks have clearly stated the "case" against him, but I don't get the general consignment of Ormandy to oblivion. He doesn't really seem to have haters, he just kinda got dismissed.

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. Ormandy is unfashionable in a broader way, he simply as you say got forgotten.

Another forgotten man: William Steinberg. Or Hans Schmidt-Esserstadt.

[Daverz]

I don't get the general consignment of Ormandy to oblivion. He doesn't really seem to have haters, he just kinda got dismissed.

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).