# Favorite Conductors



## NZNorm (May 9, 2005)

Living: Charles Dutoit, David Robertson, James Levine, Marin Alsop, Mariss Jansons, Gustavo Dudamel.

Dead: Georg Solti. Carlo-Maria Giulini, Klauss Tennsteadt, Arturo Toscanini.


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## topbroker (Jul 30, 2006)

Hmm...Kent Nagano, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Bernstein, Jascha Horenstein, Valery Gergiev, Thomas Beecham in his core repertory..I'm sure I'll think of dozens of others.


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## Mitchell (Apr 25, 2005)

My favorite conductor was Russ Balphany. He worked nos. 9&8 between Milwaukee and The Twin Cities. He taught me about stiff collars back in the '70s.

Oh. Wait a minute. You didn't mean that type of conductor.


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## scwtlover (Nov 12, 2008)

James Levine, Charles Mackerras, Roger Norrington, Arturo Toscanini

off the top of my head.


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## TMMKC (Aug 2, 2007)

Neville Mariner


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## Des Esseintes (Aug 16, 2005)

Dead: Fritz Busch
Alive: Nikolaus Harnoncourt

dE


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## Joe Frances (Sep 1, 2004)

Living: Gustavo Dudamel and Eckhart Preu (my home Symphony Stamford, CT)

Of Happy Memory: Wilhelm Furtwangler; Carlo Maria Giulini; Sergue Cellibidache


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## music4sherry (Sep 29, 2008)

The technically most varied and able i've ever seen is vladimir jurowski. Although when a friend of mine interviewed him for an LPO concert he said that he doesn't really emotionally involve himself in the performance and dosn't 'feel anything' as such, which really surprised me and somehow put me off a little. Sort of the opposite to Gergiev


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## Pale Male (Mar 24, 2008)

*Hardly ever to go to Concerts...*

and since Old is better than New: The Favorite is likely Furtwanger, though I used to like Haitink when the recordings were new. Solti's Mozart Operas; Tennstedt's Mahler; Toscanini's whatever... some of my favorite things. One can't choose on the radio, so it just keeps flowing like oxygen.


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

Was Arthur Fiedler too untraditional?

No one mentioned Stokowski or Eugene Ormandy. Ricardo Muti just bothered me, perhaps because Ormandy was such an icon in Philadelphia.


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## Pale Male (Mar 24, 2008)

*Apologies to Ormandy*

Wasn't He Something? And that hall! Perhaps everything ISN'T beautiful at the Ballet, though the Ballet is certainly beautiful at the Academy of Music.


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## Pale Male (Mar 24, 2008)

*Arthur Fiedler Gives Good Concert*

Mom and Dad took me to a Pops Concert. I had a great time. But I couldn't admit this to my music-snob college friends. "You're not the sort of person who actually listens to Tchaikovsky, are you?!"


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

Pale Male said:


> Wasn't He Something? And that hall! Perhaps everything ISN'T beautiful at the Ballet, though the Ballet is certainly beautiful at the Academy of Music.


If I hadn't moved to Georgia after my sophomore year of high school, I was hoping to join our elite choral group that performed there every year. Oh well, missed opportunities...

I saw the ballet once at the Academy of Music, but I was far too young to enjoy it. I can't imagine who gave us the tickets, because I went with my grandparents, who were the exact opposite of the "musical families" that performing artists tend to say they grew up in.


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## NZNorm (May 9, 2005)

Ormandy's conducting suffered a lot of criticizm in his later years, especially by the players. But if you listen those old recordings, you realize how well the orchestra played under him. Given how they play now, Ormandy is looking better and better.


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## NZNorm (May 9, 2005)

Miket61 said:


> Was Arthur Fiedler too untraditional?
> QUOTE]
> 
> Fiedler was great for pops and great for boston. Don't forget Harry Ellis Dickson, the heart and soul of the Pops.


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## Joe Frances (Sep 1, 2004)

Pale Male said:


> and since Old is better than New: The Favorite is likely Furtwanger, though I used to like Haitink when the recordings were new. Solti's Mozart Operas; Tennstedt's Mahler; Toscanini's whatever... some of my favorite things. One can't choose on the radio, so it just keeps flowing like oxygen.


I heard Haitink and the Vienna do Bruckner's Eighth at Carnegie about four years ago and both the conductor and the orchestra were incredibly great. One continuous movement, no intermission, about 87 minutes, it was a not-to-be-forgotten experience. Haitink is still great.


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## SilkCity (Apr 3, 2004)

Living: Riccardo Muti

Gone: Toscanini; Guido Cantelli


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## choirmaestro (Aug 27, 2008)

ME! :icon_smile_big:

SO kidding!!

Being a choral music guy:

Living: John Eliot Gardener, Paul Salamunovich 

Dead: Robert Shaw, Fred Waring


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## welldressedfellow (May 28, 2008)

Mudi comes to mind.


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## Edouard (May 30, 2006)

Of those not mentioned above, Carlos Kleiber and Georges Pretre (for opera).

My personal favourite is Evgeny Mravinsky - what he did with his Leningrad orchestra was nothing short of phenomenal.


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## AMVanquish (May 24, 2005)

Is Michael Tilson-Thomas well-known outside of San Francisco? I have always enjoyed watching him conduct live. I know he's had a few albums as a pianist, but I don't how much his name is out there on the world stage.


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## Miket61 (Mar 1, 2008)

AMVanquish said:


> Is Michael Tilson-Thomas well-known outside of San Francisco? I have always enjoyed watching him conduct live. I know he's had a few albums as a pianist, but I don't how much his name is out there on the world stage.


My memory of him is from probably fifteen-twenty years ago, when I received the Columbia House catalogue. Anyone remember them? You'd get a dozen free records and then had to buy six at somewhat inflated prices. Back then CDs were an iffy affair, because you didn't know if it was recorded from the original master tapes or if someone had an old LP that they played in their bathroom with a microphone. I'd pick them based on the compositions with little regard for who actually played or conducted. I ended up with quite a few of MTT's records that way.


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## CPVS (Jul 17, 2005)

Solti, Furtwangler, Gardiner, and Stanislaw Skrowaczewski.


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## KenR (Jun 22, 2005)

I'll second Nikolaus Harnoncourt. Truly enjoy his Brandenberg Concertos.

Must also include Herbert vonKarajan as someone I love to hear for certain pieces and hate for most others. His slow, bombastic style probably has many detractors, but I think his version of Pachelbel's Canon was the best.

P.S. I loved Arthur Fiedler's 4th of July concert from the Esplanade in Boston.
P.S. 2 Just questioned myself about including both Harnoncourt and vonKarajan together since they are probably stylistic opposites. Oh well...


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## Dhaller (Jan 20, 2008)

Oh, there are so many.

Currently I'm digging Valery Gergiev. He's a good, proper Russian, more passion than finesse 

D.


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## epicuresquire (Feb 18, 2009)

Otto Klemperer


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## DCLawyer68 (Jun 1, 2009)

Bernstein is probably my all time favorite. I consider myself very fortunate to have heard him conduct once in London. I'm also a Solti fan as well as many others mentioned.

Two I really like I haven't seen on this thread: Neeme Jarvi and George Szell.

I think in the near future Marin Alsop will join the list - she's doing GREAT things in Baltimore.


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## chuckie50 (Apr 16, 2008)

My favorite is also Leonard Bernstein. While growing up in New York in the fifties my family would go to his outdoor concerts in Lewisohn Stadium at City College and occasionally to the regular Philharmonic performances in Carnegie Hall. My life long love of classical music began with him.
My current favorites include Bramwell Tovey, Lorin Maazel, Ricardo Muti and James Levine.
I'm hoping Gustavo Dudamel will soon join their ranks.


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## jackmccullough (May 10, 2006)

For electricity: copper
For data: fiber


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## Lebewohl (May 21, 2009)

I'll just add ones who haven't been mentioned. Hermann Scherchen, Mark Wigglesworth, Esa Pekka Salonen, Phillippe Jordan, Hans Rosbaud, (did anyone mention Carlo Maria Giulini?), Pierre Boulez, Yuri Temirkanov.


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## doublebucklemonk (Feb 15, 2009)

Frederick Fennell


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## DCLawyer68 (Jun 1, 2009)

Lebewohl said:


> (did anyone mention Carlo Maria Giulini?),


If we didn't we should have certainly. Someone who gets overlooked simply because he's so consistently excellent and so omnipresent is James Levine.


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