IMSLP Forums

A very general question, but just wondering who everyone's favorite conductor(s) is. I think my top two favorites would have to be Claudio Abbado and George Solti. Paul Hindemith would be my number three favorite, but I've only ever heard him conduct Bruckner's Seventh and his own works, so number three would probably be Bernstein or Furtwangler.

John Eliot Gardiner, Pierre Boulez, George Szell, Claudio Abbado, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Gustav Leonhardt, James Levine, Riccardo Chailly, Riccardo Mutti, Bernard Haitink, Sir Colin Davis, Sir Charles Mackerras, Sir Simon Rattle, Georg Solti, Carlo Maria Giulini, Oliver Knussen, Sigiswald Kujiken, Antal Dorati, Charles Dutoit, Andrew Parrott, Robert Craft, Thomas Beecham, Neville Marriner, Andre Previn, Michael Tilson Thomas, Giuseppe SInopoli, Seiji Ozawa, Kurt Masur, Msistlav Rostropovich, Philippe Herrweghe, Pierre Monteux, Karl Münchinger, Charles Medlam, Edo de Waart, Vladimir Ashkenazy, Christopher Hogwood, Karl Böhm, Fritz Reiner, Yehudi Menuhin, Christoph von Dohnanyi, Georges Prêtre, Trevor Pinnock, Roy Goodman, Jos van Immerseel (3 period instruments people in a row!), Bruno Maderna, Raymond Leppard, Herbert von Karajan, Zubin Mehta, Eric Liensdorf, Cristoph Eschenbach, Mariss Jansons, Benjamin Britten, Daniel Barenboim, Pieter Jan-Belder, Jaap Ter Linden, and Antoni Wit, (is that really everyone?) in roughly that order are the conductors I would rate 10 on a scale of 1-10. (this isn't counting Peter Phillips or Harry Cristophers is it?)

Yes, I don't include Maazel, or Bernstein. Sorry for wounded egos. If I had to tack one on to the end, it would be Furtwängler.

Feel free to ask, I can explain these.

(no particular order) Leopold Stokowski, Leonard Bernstein, Sir Charles Mackerras, Bernard Haitink, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, Frederick Fennell, Stephen Gunzenhauser, Marin Alsop, Alexander Anissimov, Sir Colin Davis, Herbert von Karajan, Antoni Wit, Barry Tuckwell, Andre Previn...

I do not particularly like the conducting of Leonard Slatkin, Timothy Foley, and David Zinman. Slatkin and Zinman's tempi are much too fast while Foley has no musical expression. Musical interpretation is definitely a strong point in Frederick Fennell's conducting and that is why I like him so much.

I have very many favorites, many of them already mentioned. I have far fewer non-favorites, conductors whose recordings and performances I generally avoid. Among those, these two lead the list.

1. Seiji Ozawa, I got over him while he was in Boston. He wasted many hours of my time by giving thoroughly lackluster performances of core repertory with the BSO.
2. Lorin Maazel, whose willful -- musically unmotivated as well as crass and tasteless -- manipulations of tempo and other details, have ruined many a performance by the NYPO for me. Thank goodness the NYPO now has a far superior musician at the helm -- Alan Gilbert -- whose reputation I expect to grow with his tenure. Gilbert's work so far this season has been outstanding and he has now joined my list of favorite conductors.

--Sixtus

PS: There are some really interesting conductors working mainly in Europe and not often recorded commercially. Thomas Dausgaard is one of them. Try to catch his work via webcasts from European classical stations.

Kiril Kondrashin, no question.
And I don't want to get in an argument, but I cannot understand how Eschenbach (we call him 'Baldy' in my family) could possibly be liked by anyone. Hands down the worst professional conductor I have ever heard (IMO).

I would also have to agree that Lorin Maazel is a terrible conductor (no offence meant to anyone). I cringe each time I hear his interpretation of Beethoven's glorious 9th.

As for my favourite conductors, while it is difficult to really nominate one, I have to admit I'm a great admiror of Otto Klemperer's works. His interpretations of Bach's Mass in B, of Brahm's German requiem and symphonies, as well as his work on Beethoven's symphonies, piano concertos, and so on, are breath-taking.

Otherwise, I more usually have favourite conductors by composer: Böhm for Mozart, Kubelik for Dvorak, Gielen for Mahler, etc.



P.S.: once again, no offence meant, but Abaddo? The only adjectives I can think of when I hear what he does are: gutless, transparent, colourless and flavorless.

Sergeï wrote:I would also have to agree that Lorin Maazel is a terrible conductor (no offence meant to anyone).

I'll stand up for the man and say that his recording of Prokofiev's complete Romeo and Juliet is fantastic. Young Juliet is extremely fast yet refined, Tybalt's Death is fast and exciting, the Minuet is glorious, and his Mandolin dances are superbly bouncy and perky. I do agree his tempos can be often extreme and his Beethoven is terrible (my god, his ninth is indescribable . . . in a bad way), but he's not my least favorite conductor(he is one of them, though). I'd have to say Eschenbach, Levine (mainly for his operatic conducting), and Theilemann are a few of my least favorite conductors.

dwil9798 wrote:
I'll stand up for the man and say that his recording of Prokofiev's complete Romeo and Juliet is fantastic. . . . .I'd have to say Eschenbach, Levine (mainly for his operatic conducting), and Theilemann are a few of my least favorite conductors.

I happen to agree about the R&J recording, which is probably the best in the catalog at the moment and one of Maazel's best efforts. It is played mostly straight(!) and is far more interesting than Previn's nearly contemporaneous reading (Previn being one of the most uninteresting and over-recorded conductors, like Ozawa). This is probably the moment to point out that having made one good, or even superb, recording doesn't make one a great conductor (Ozawa recorded an excellent Ravel cycle with the BSO).

I also agree about Eschenbach, who reminds me of a Teutonic Howie Mandel -- though not nearly as funny, unfortunately -- everytime I've seen him at Carnegie with the Philly Orch. I haven't heard enough of Thielemann's work to form a well-considered opinion on him. He did, however, turn in a stunning Frau ohne Schatten at the MET a few seasons ago. I have found Levine able to convince me of the pacing of many operas that in other hands and a such tempos might have disintegrated (the Ring, Elektra, Rosenkavalier, Tristan, Otello, Don Carlos and others, all of which I've heard live at the MET). His Parsifals, however, have been fatally slow for my tastes -- and my ability to remain awake during first half of Act 3.

--Sixtus

Otto Klemperer turned me off Mahler for years, my first foray therein was the Second, and i just found his tempo lackluster, there was no tension at the opening, and in general he turned Mahler into lift music for me. It was not until I heard Bernard Haitink's interpretation that i actually 'got' the work. Even now I dont fully understand it, and i suppose I never shall, but Haitink would have to go on the list for me.

Yes, Haitink is definitely good. His interpretations of Mozart's piano concertos with Murray Perahia are always a pleasure to listen to, as are his interpretations of Beethoven's symphonies. As for Mahler, I suggest you give Michael Gielen a try (his recordings of Mahler's 1st and 4th symphonies are fabulous).

Herbert von Karajan (despite the fact that he was a nazi)
but my favorite is when the orchestra plays without an conductor
like IMusica
that's a feat!!!
the guy who conducts the berlin philharmonic is pretty good too but i forget his name

Seiji Ozaw is one of my favorites.