Oh, conductors and orchestras!
gregz said:
rgriffin's thread "What makes a good recording?" covered so much ground, I thought I'd leech a spinoff thread on one of the points discussed.
Like many, I feel recording quality is a completely different parameter than performance. I've heard more well recorded crappy performances than I've heard great symphonic performances recorded poorly...
Folks, when we're talking symphonies, we're really talking about talent and creativity of the conductors. I'm a romantic, and I love the conductors that interpret music passionately rather than cool and "refined."
As such, my all time favorites are:
Bernstein - Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra
Ormandy - The Philadelphia Orchestra
Fritz Reiner - Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Honorable mention:
Zubin Mehta (I loved what he did with the Los Angeles Philharmonic with the 3 tenors)
Seiji Ozawa (A great rendition of Carmina Burana)
John Williams (The Imperial March gives Soulsa a run for his money)
Who are your fav's? Who do you think's got the golden wand?
When I saw the title, I was thinking composers and their symphonies.
There are some conductors whose works I seek out, although I have many great recordings with other artists of particular works. But you asked for favorites, so here goes. When I see a recording by these people, at least in certain repertoire, I'm tempted to get it. Fortunately, I often restrain this impulse. I like conductors who keep the structure of the work clear but who have a sense of atmosphere and who swing, who have a sense of timing. Anybody can make the orchestra play loud.
Ernest Ansermet, Suisse Romande Orchestra. These are hard to beat in French and Russian music. I also like their Beethoven symphonies.
Bruno Walter Various orchestra. German and Austrian music. Wagner, Mahler, some Beethoven, Mozart, and Schubert.
Fritz Reiner. Usually the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. I have wonderful recordings of some of the big orchestral works but strangely enough, not of the big symphonies.
Charles Dutoit, Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Great for French music, overtures.
Now there are lots of other conductors who have done some wonderful recordings, such as Josef Krips, Antal Dorati, Georg Solti, Colin Davis, Nicholas Ward, Georg Tintner, Neville Marriner, Trevor Pinnock, Christopher Hogwood, Antoni Wit, Herbert von Karajan, Eugene Ormandy, Leonard Bernstein, Gerard Schwarz, Leopold Stokowski, Sir Thomas Beecham, Lorin Maazel, George Szell, Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt, and many others.
Great orchestras include the Berlin Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Chicago Symphony, London Symphony, Philadelphia Orchestra, Royal Philarmonic Orchestra, Dresden Staatskapelle, Cleveland Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, Montreal Symphony, Suisse Romande Orchestra, and there are numerous splendid orchestras that are less well-known such as the Polish National Radio Symphony (Katowice), Northern Chamber Orchestra, Royal Scottish National Orchesra, BBC Symphony, Seattle Symphony and others.
