Ten favourite conductors...

[mahler10th]

I bet this has been done a million times before...but...there is always an ebb and flow to the tide of preference in our music, what we hear one day from one conductor may be the best thing since the invention of the Bassoon, but just a few months later we discover that things weren't quite what we thought.  Much of the time my own preferences are in a state of flux, but there are some conductors who bring the music to me in ways that are evergreen, and I have not a bad word to say about them, even if they did a duffer or two here and there.   

Here is my top ten, in no order and the reasons why.

Carlos Kleiber
The thing about Klieber that amazes me is no matter what he's conducting, from the very first bar you hear music that has always been around you.  It is like he reveals what has always been there, and immediately the music is you.  He was utterly brilliant, and I would have sent him twenty five new Audi motors a year and a million Deutsche Marks a month just to keep him conducting a more expanded repertoire.  Some references:  Beethoven 4, 5, Brahms 2, 4

Otmar Suitner
Probably the most brilliant conductor never to have made the mega bigtime like Karajan, Solti, etc.  There is nothing I've listened to by Suitner that is hopeless.  In fact, you could not get a more precise and at the same time dynamic conductor than Suitner.  It is hard to believe he was not better known than he should have been.  In some ways, his 'soundworld' is like Kliebers - although his conducting 'style' always seems to appear less than precise, the music which comes out is more than you could ever have expected.  Some references:  Dvorak Symphonies, Bruckner 7, 8

Ari Rasilainen
Because he is the foremost champion of my favourite Classical music, that of Swedens yesteryear.  Just have a look at the list of his available recordings, there's a clear bias towards Finland and Scandinavia.  He excites every music that comes his way, and I cannot be thankful enough to him for absoloutely nailing my favourite composer, Kurt Atterberg.  Talking of nailing Atterberg, it was Harry and J. Z. Herrenberg, two Dutchmen, who introduced me to Atterberg in the first place...thanks guys!     Some references:  Atterberg Symphonies, Natanel Berg Symphonies, Aulis Sallinen works.

Wilhelm Furtwängler
Conductor with the strangest on podium movements ever, but with interpretative brilliance which  is utter joy to listen to.  Just a pity recording technology couldn't keep up with him.  If you've not heard or seen (on Youtube, or 'The Great Conductors' DVD) the wartime performance of Beethovens 9th where the final notes are rapped out like machine gun fire, you aint heard nothing yet.

Klaus Tennstedt
He would be a run of the mill conductor if he hadn't embraced and loved the music he conducted.  I can hear mountain-sized love in every note of everything I've heard by him.  His is a big and beautiful style, but it also mirrors a depth of thoughfulness hard to find with other conductors.  Some references:  Beethoven, Mahler, Wagner, all the big names.   

Eliahu Inbal
This conductor, as I keep saying, is a storyteller.  I do not know if it is intentional or not, but his music comes across like an easy narrative. You can read whole books by composers if he is conducting them - by the way the music is performed in a kind of tell-tale fashion.  Maybe such an idea is nonsense, but I hear him that way.  Special mention for his Bruckner and Mahler sets, particular mentions for his Mahler 5 and Bruckner 4 (1874).  Also, his Liszt is great.  I only wish he would come up with some Richard Strauss - he'd probably turn out some real reference editions.

Georg Solti
Known and sometimes berated for his electrifying, 'full on' style, big and brash, this kind of thing.  But...actually...no.  He didn't always blast the hell out of every score that came his way.  Even when he punched you in the face, the old goat gave you a make-it-better kiss at the same time.  I rate him so highly because music went through him...he conducted like silver paper in an electric fire.  Even his expressions on the podium were a gateway to higher things.  And sometimes wild things.  Some references:  Bartok works, Mahler symphonies.

Bernard Haitink
If ever there was a conductor I didn't like, it was poor old Haitink.  Of course, I was misguided, until I bought his Vaughn Williams set.  That really changed things.  I re-listened to much of Haitink after that and came to the conclusion that I was very wrong about him.  I had a similar experience with Vaclav Neumann - both he and Haitink, to me, were nothing special at all and I wondered what all the fuss over Haitink was about.  I didn't even like his Mahler.  But that Vaughn Williams changed me, I have come to better understand what a complete, high end conductor he really is.  Some references:  Vaughn Williams set, Bruckner Symphonies.

Gennady Rozhdestvenski
Here is a conductor with some amazing, less touted stuff.  He brings something to the music which is intrinsically Russian, and you can hear it spidering out into his oeuvre.  I like it.  It is a style all of his own.  He makes you listen.  Some references:  Prokofiev orchestral, less well known Sibelius and Bruckner sets.

Andris Nelsons
In my wee humble opinion, probably the most talented living conductor today, in particular for his Strauss, but I also have loads of live concerts by him.  I plan to see him live when an opportunity presents.  What he can get out of an Orchestra is outstanding in every way, and  I fully expect he will command a World Class Orchestra (Vienna, Berlin, Chicago, whatever...) sooner rather than later.  At the moment he is making as mucvh waves with the CBSO as Rattle did when he was there...and look where Rattle went!  Nelsons brings both power and prestige to Orchestral sound.  You only need one recommendation here - for a full picture of what he does and what he can do, listen to his Alpine Symphony with the CBSO.  After hearing it, persons will have to carry you around in a stretcher for a week or two...

[Cato]

For Carlos Kleiber:

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For George Szell:

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and...

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[madaboutmahler]

Surprised you have only one reply so far, John!

Andris Nelsons is incredible! Through his magical connection with the orchestra and extreme love for the music he performs, he really brings the music to life like you've never heard it before. One of the most exciting conductors ever. I am always looking forward to his future projects. I really hope for a Mahler cycle from him, and also Ravel's orchestral works as soon as possible!

Carlos Kleiber, really a shame he didn't record/conduct more. I wonder what a Mahler cycle from him would have been like! But what we do have is masterful, he really knew the pieces inside out, and his range of gestures is extraordinary!

Sir Simon Rattle has certainly given us many great performances, and really does have great presence in front of the orchestra. Great technique, command, variety and excitement!

Riccardo Chailly - Incredible! His Mahler 6 I saw last year was one of the best concerts or performances I had ever heard! Perfection! So well structured with so much emotion and control. Love the technique and passion.

Leonard Bernstein - of course, an absolute legend! Not much needs to be said!

Sir Georg Solti - such thrilling performances! His Mahler 6 is really one of my favourites.

Claudio Abbado - Many great performances, and he is certainly a very human conductor, with a lovely, flowing baton technique.

Michael Tilson-Thomas - Similar reasons to Abbado!

Klaus Tennstedt - the most awesome Mahler performances! So much passion, thrill, glory and magic! I don't think I have heard him in any other repertoire, but his Mahler is enough to secure him as a favourite.

Antonio Pappano - Great performances full of excitement and the operatic love and passion Pappano injects into each score. Really extravagant, flexible and wonderful technique.

Ooops, that's 11 

[Cato]

One must not forget:

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Toscanini uses an edited version of the Manfred Symphony, but listen to the result!

[val]

My ten favourite conductors with their supreme interpretations:

Wilhelm Furtwängler  / Beethoven's 6th & 9th Symphonies / Wagner's Tristan und Isolde / Schumann's Manfred Ouverture

Arturo Toscanini  / Beethoven's 3rd Symphony / Verdi's Requiem & Falstaff

Karl Böhm  / Bruckner's Symphony n. 7 / Strauss "Daphne" / Wagner "The Ring" / Mozart "Cosi fan tutte"

Bruno Walter / Mozart's Symphonies 39, 40 & 41 / Beethoven's Symphony n. 4 / Brahms Symphony n. 2

Eugen Jochum  / Bruckner's Symphonies n. 4, 5, 8 / Bach "Matthäus Passion"

Carlo Maria Giulini  / Brahms Symphony n. 3 / Bruckner's Symphony n. 9 / Mozart's Don Giovanni

Herbert von Karajan / Beethoven's Symphonies 5 & 8 / Mahler's Symphonies 6 & 9 / Sibelius Symphonies 4, 6 & 7

Pierre Monteux  / Beethoven Symphonies 2 & 7 / Ravel "Ma Mère L'Oye", La Valse / Debussy "Images"

Karel Ancerl / Janacek Glagolitic Mass / Dvorak Symphony 9 / Stravinsky "Rite of Spring", Noces, Cantata, Oedipus Rex 

Otto Klemperer / Beethoven's Symphony n. 3, "Fidelio", Missa Solemnis / Brahms "Deutsche Requiem" / Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde

[springrite]

Let me see...

Furtwangler
Giulini
Kleiber
Salonen
Monteux
Abbado
Kubelik
Bernstein
Sinopoli
Knussen

[Sergeant Rock]

Ari Rasilainen
Because he is the foremost champion of my favourite Classical music, that of Swedens yesteryear.  Just have a look at the list of his available recordings, there's a clear bias towards Finland and Scandinavia.  He excites every music that comes his way, and I cannot be thankful enough to him for absoloutely nailing my favourite composer, Kurt Atterberg.  Talking of nailing Atterberg, it was Harry and J. Z. Herrenberg, two Dutchmen, who introduced me to Atterberg in the first place...thanks guys!     Some references:  Atterberg Symphonies, Natanel Berg Symphonies, Aulis Sallinen works.

Very surprised, but happy, to see Ari Rasilainen on your list, John. He was, for many years, the conductor of my local band (with the unwieldy name, Deutsche Staatsphilharmonie Rheiinland-Pfalz). I enjoyed many concerts under his leadership. He programmed a lot of Scandinavian and Finnish music (rare in Germany), including Nielsen, Sibelius, Svendsen, Sallinen, Alfvén, Atterberg. My favorite Ari moment: after a gorgeous performance of Sallinen's Shadows that elicited a tepid response from the audience, he refused to leave the stage. He pointed and stared at the sections of the hall where people were sitting on their hands. He made clapping motions, then waved his hand back towards the orchestra, asking the audience to at least applaud the skill of the players. The standoff went on for quite some time.

Sarge

[Sergeant Rock]

My top 10


George Szell

Leonard Bernstein

Lorin Maazel

Otto Klemperer

Daniel Barenboim

Gennady Rozhdestvensky

Herbert von Karajan

Sergiu Celibidache

Giuseppe Sinopoli

(For number 10 I'm torn between Colin Davis, Haitink, Chailly, Boult, Norrington, Harnoncourt.... Oh hell, let's just stick the Hobbit in here. His Haydn and Mendelssohn are revelations. His Beethoven ain't bad either  )

Thomas Fey

[Brahmsian]

I really cannot yet fully validate my list of ten favourite conductors.  My collection is too small and not represented enough by conductors conducting various works of various, multiple composers.

However, I can give a preliminary list at this point, which will likely change after another 5 or 10 years of listening to classical music:

Bonynge - Ballet music (period.  I have yet to find a more compelling conductor in this genre, thus far)

Muti - Tchaikovsky, Resphigi, Mozart (Don Giovanni)

Jochum - Bruckner symphonies, masses, Te Deum, motets

Solti - Wagner's Ring Cycle

Harnoncourt - Beethoven symphonies, overtures, concertos.  Mozart violin concertos, Schumann Violin Concerto

Kertesz - Schubert symphonies, Bartok's Bluebeard Castle

Petrenko - Shostakovich symphony cycle

Tennstedt - Mahler symphonies

Dutoit - French orchestral music

Ashkenazy - Rachmaninov symphonies and orchestral works, Mendelssohn symphonies

[Mirror Image]

A few of my favorite conductors in no particular order:

Jean Martinon - still some of the best Debussy and Ravel performances around, I also like his Roussel, Saint-Saens, and Honegger

Alun Francis - brought Milhaud's symphonies and PCs to my attention, his Casella recording is killer

Leonard Bernstein - the man needs no introduction -- his Shostakovich, Sibelius, Nielsen, Stravinsky are all outstanding

Bernard Haitink - still the best Shostakovich cycle around, his Bruckner recordings have also been favorites of mine

Adrian Boult - from RVW to Elgar to Holst, I have always been moved by his performances

John Neschling/Kenneth Schermerhorn - a two-way tie here, their outstanding contributions to the Villa-Lobos discography remain unparalleled

Pierre Boulez - Bartok, Ravel, Debussy, Stravinsky, Varese have been ingrained into my mind thanks to this man and his x-ray vision of music

Gunter Wand - I don't think I would have ever given Bruckner the time of the day without this man's help

Richard Hickox - I couldn't possibly go into all the recording this man has made that have given me so much pleasure

Claudio Abbado - for his contributions to Berg, Stravinsky, Mahler, and Debussy --- all have impressed the hell out of me

[Beorn]

Not ten, but I've probably forgotten some.

C. Kleiber
G. Wand
F. Reiner
K. Bohm
R. Kubelik
P. Boulez
K. Sanderling

[bogdan101]

Let's see:

Furtwangler - anything and everything
Mengelberg - the Columbia material on Pearl is fabulous, plus of course his Beethoven (special mention for the NYPO Beethoven 3rd) and Mahler 4th.
Rosbaud - Mozart operas, and his Mahler symphonies are quite underrated.
Scherchen - I know some of his Mahler and Beethoven.
Walter - the earlier the better.
Kubelik - Mahler.
Dorati - fabulous Brahms Hungarian Dances.
Klemperer - very good in everything.
Harnoncourt - very good Beethoven and Schubert cycles.
Savall - he defines an entire genre.

[Sammy]

My current eleven in no particular order:

Kondrashin
C. Davis
Bohm
C. Kleiber
Kubelik
Gardiner
Herreweghe
Jochum
Sinopoli
Mackerras
Ancerl

Rated way too high:

Stokie
Bernstein
Karajan
Rattle
Harnoncourt
Dutoit
McCreesh

[vandermolen]

Sir Adrian Boult
Furtwangler
Wand (Bruckner)
Svetlanov
Barbirolli
Beecham (Sibelius recordings)
Stokowski
Bernstein

[RJR]

Ancerl
Cantelli
Furtwangler - Always number one
E Kleiber
Martinon
Mengelberg
Munch
Monteux
Reiner
Szell
and many many more, more or less

[Pat B]

Carlos Kleiber
The thing about Klieber that amazes me is no matter what he's conducting, from the very first bar you hear music that has always been around you.  It is like he reveals what has always been there, and immediately the music is you.  He was utterly brilliant, and I would have sent him twenty five new Audi motors a year and a million Deutsche Marks a month just to keep him conducting a more expanded repertoire.

Forget the Audis, you just needed to raid his freezer. 

Maybe his choice not to perform everything was intertwined with his brilliance in what he did perform. The same has been said about S.Richter.

I'm not ready to make my list, but I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Fricsay.

[Geo Dude]

Interesting selections thus far.  All of mine are in alphabetical order (in other words, not expressing preference) except for number one:

1. Bruno Weil
This man must have a very poor social life, because everything he touches turns to gold.  His Beethoven is brilliant.  His Haydn symphonies and and masses are stunning, and his Schubert is pretty good, too.  A highly underrated conductor.

2. Sergei Celibidache
I can't speak to the rest of his work, but I love his Brahms.

3. John Eliot Gardiner
He's not always on the mark--sometimes I find his style a bit too old-fashioned, a remnant of the early HIP movement--but when he is on, he is on.  He seems to be on quite often in his vocal works.  Mozart's Great Mass is one example, his (first) German Requiem is another.  (I've heard great things about his new Requiem, too.)

4. Daniel Harding
His Brahms 3rd & 4th disc has the best third I've ever heard.  The same applies to his Violin Concerto with Isabelle Faust.

5. Philippe Herreweghe
His Bach recordings with the Collegium Vocal Gent are stunning:  I made the decision to pick up a box set with a nine volume set (three discs per set) containing a large swath of his vocal works a year ago and I'm glad I did.  His German Requiem is great, too. (Yes, there may be a pattern here... )

6. Christopher Hogwood
Like Gardiner he can occasionally sound a bit old-fashioned, but when he's on, he's on.  And in Mozart and Haydn he tends to be on.

7. Jos van Immerseel
His Beethoven alone puts him at the top of pile.  The best Beethoven set I've heard, in fact.

8. Réne Jacobs
His Mozart (symphonies and operas) alone should put him on this list, along with his Haydn (I can't speak to The Creation, but The Seasons is great), but one also has to consider all his great work in Baroque opera (and other vocal works), which I am currently exploring.

9. Charles Mackerras
Mackerras oftentimes seems to be little acknowledged and I'm not quite sure why.  Among other specialties, his Mozart and Brahms' Serenades and symphonies are great.

10. Marc Minkowski
Like Jacobs his Mozart is great and he is also a genius advocate for the Baroque.  I've heard many good things about his Haydn (aside from his reading of the Surprise Symphony ) among other things, too.

[MishaK]

Silly to limit oneself to only ten, so I'm gonna do just eight. 

Barenboim - simply put, there is no musician today or in recorded memory who has performed at such a high level such a wide repertoire across such a wide range of genres with such great collaborators: as an opera conductor, symphonic conductor, solo pianist, accompanist, chamber musician, etc. and that shows. There is a depth of understanding of the cross-references and connections between different works of the same composer and of different composers that I don't hear in anyone else's performances. I can hear where a work is coming from and what all it subsequently inspired when Barenboim conducts or performs. His Mozart concertos in particular "sing" in an operatic way that remind you that Mozart was an opera composer first and foremost and that everything follows from his conception of the sound of the human voice. In addition, in Barenboim's conducting there is a willingness to risk going to the edge - extremes of dynamic contrast, great flexibility of tempo - that few people dare to do these days. Few conductors have made me revisit works or hear things differently as often as Barenboim has. The breadth of his repertoire, the size of his recorded output and his willingness for risk taking and non-middle-of-the-road interpretations make it easy to find something to find fault with. But that too easily leads to bias against someone who has indeed preserved some truly profound performances on disc and continues to produce them in the concert hall, especially in repertoire where he has few equals (Bruckner, Wagner, Mozart), and who is never really uninteresting. Even a not totally successful Barenboim interpretation has something very interesting in it that no one else will show you.

Schuricht - He has been my big discovery of recent years. This is romantic old school conducting, but with a certain discipline and clear forward propulsion that was often lacking in Furtwängler's preserved performances. Tempo changes are more subtle, the long term goal more focused. A few of Schuricht's recorded performances belong in the pantheon: Bruckner 8 with VPO - edge-of-the-seat intensity from start to finish. I have never heard such singlemindedness in this work. Makes 80 minutes feel like 20. Brahms violin concerto with Ferras/VPO - I hate virtuoso showoffs, where the orchestra is mere background accompaniment. This performance with Ferras and Schuricht is the greatest symbiosis of orchestra and soloist that I have ever heard on record or live. It's a conversation of equals, totally flexible, seemingly completely spontaneous and totally compelling. For a conductor to get an orchestra to stay together with a soloist when playing with such flexibility of tempo is a major achievement (which is why so many don't bother trying). Schuricht to me was a supreme conductor, who clearly cared much more about the music than personal fame (also didn't get along very well with Culshaw), so unfortunately he's not as well known as many others who aren't half as interesting.

Kubelik - To me, to square the circle as an interpreter of music is to accomplish the impossible: make the music sound naturally simple and emotionally connect to the audience, yet show the structure and intellectual construct that is the work. Most either overemote or become academically abstract and cold. But Kubelik is a master of this sleight of hand. Everything he conducts sounds completely organic, as if it grew out of the moment according to its own whims. Yet, when you probe more deeply, there is so much more to this and a profound understanding of all the details and the place of those details within the whole becomes apparent. Sadly, Kubelik was so often pigeonholed as "Czech/Bohemian" composer that few people know him outside of Dvorak. Yet, when you look at the supreme achievements that are, e.g., his Parsifal, his Mahler or his Bruckner recordings.

Carlos Kleiber - Enough has been said about Carlos the Enigma, but it would be silly not to acknowledge the supreme musicianship and obsession with perfection that led to his minimal active repertoire and even more minimal recorded output, all of which is pure gold. Anyone who's heard it knows it. Anyone who has seen his videos and understands the craft of conducting, knows that his idiosyncratic expressions are unbelievably economical yet unambiguous. Even if one disagrees with one or another of his interpretive choices, he remains the gold standard as to how to realize any interpretation musically.

Denève - Shout out to the younger generation. Of all the younger conductors I have heard (and I admit not having heard Nelsons live yet), none has quite had the stage presence, intensity, command over his orchestra, musical vision and conviction and complete understanding of the idiom of the composers he was conducting, as Denève has. His recorded output additionally shows that despite his youth he is an accomplished orchestra builder, who knows how to make mediocre orchestras (RSNO, SWR) sound much more polished than they did under his predecessors. I saw him live in his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra - one of the greatest orchestras, as you all know, but one that is often very unkind with guest conductors, especially unfamiliar ones and especially young ones. They know the repertoire, can play it in their sleep and they often seem to do so when they don't like who's on the podium. It is extremely rare for someone to walk on stage the first time - and someone younger than most players at that - and completely stamp his musical views on the orchestra, even change their corporate sound a bit the way Denève did in his debut (Sokhiev and Dudamel did too, to some extent, in their own ways, but not quite like Denève). He managed to at the same time get his own sound and rekindle the old CSO whiplash precision - in other words, he got his own sound yet also brought out the best of that particular orchestra's tradition. I massively look forward to his return next season.

Skrowaczewski - I've been on a bit of a Skrowaczewski binge on Spotify since acquiring his Bruckner cycle. Man, this guy is phenomenal. A bit like Schuricht and Kleiber in the subtlety of tempo manipulations, as organic as Kubelik, and with an unsurpassed depth of scholarly understanding of Bruckner, yet never sounding academic in performance. Again, someone who knows his craft so well that he can make a provincial orchestra like the Saarbrücken radio symphony sound like gods. I'm just sad that I discovered him so late in his life and that his live performances are so few and far between now. A flu prevented me from hearing him conduct Bruckner 2 with the BRSO a few years ago in Munich (I found a bootleg of the radio broadcast later and it's phenomenal). Had I known in advance that he was doing an impromptu concert with the Minnesota musicians last month, I would have trekked out there.

Christie - Christie has unlocked the renaissance and baroque for me. There is simply a joy of musicmaking and a joy of discovering music that you hear nowhere else. No fanaticist HIP pretense, no academic stiffness. And in addition, people who have worked with him tell me that he is the kindest man and a fantastic singing coach. Which is not surprising when you hear what results he gets with young singers with relatively small voices. He shows over and over again that you don't need lots of power for a big sound and great music.

Boult - Another one who got wrongly pigeonholed. Yes, he's fantastic in the English repertoire, second to none. But this guy could conduct everything! And really amazingly at that! There is a Don Quixote with Du Pré that shows him as a fine Straussian. There is a scorcher of a Franck D minor symphony that puts absolutely everyone else on the planet to shame - from Monteux to Dutoit, they can all just pack up and go home - this recording is on my desert island list. There is a Brahms Tragic Overture that really knows what tragedy is in the classic sense: inevitable, all the more so, the more you fight it. It doesn't relent ever.

[MishaK]

1. Bruno Weil
This man must have a very poor social life, because everything he touches turns to gold.  His Beethoven is brilliant.  His Haydn symphonies and and masses are stunning, and his Schubert is pretty good, too.  A highly underrated conductor.

The adoration Weil gets in some circles is actually mystifying to me. This is a man I have seen and heard in rehearsal and performance many times, and he has always struck me as a genial laissez-faire sort of guy. He lets people play mostly the way they want without much interference on his part. To what extent his recorded "interpretations" are really his or his musicians' is anyone's guess. He is no technician, no orchestra builder, that's for sure.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Schuricht - He has been my big discovery of recent years. This is romantic old school conducting, but with a certain discipline and clear forward propulsion that was often lacking in Furtwängler's preserved performances. Tempo changes are more subtle, the long term goal more focused. A few of Schuricht's recorded performances belong in the pantheon: Bruckner 8 with VPO - edge-of-the-seat intensity from start to finish.

Have you heard his Bruckner 9? I bought that recently on an impulse; haven't listened to it yet. I also have a CD of a Bruckner 5th with the VPO, issued as some sort of commemorative box, that is amazing in its intensity and roller-coaster improvisatory feel that I rarely hear with Bruckner.

Skrowaczewski - I've been on a bit of a Skrowaczewski binge on Spotify since acquiring his Bruckner cycle. Man, this guy is phenomenal.

Yeah, he's really good. I heard him do the Bruckner 9th of a lifetime in (of all places) Trenton, NJ. Some really good recordings with the MN orchestra too.

Boult - Another one who got wrongly pigeonholed. Yes, he's fantastic in the English repertoire, second to none. But this guy could conduct everything! And really amazingly at that!

Agreed. I like his Shostakovich 6th, too.