Best Classical Music Conductor

Since the thread is favorite conductor, may I forego recording quality? Carl Bohm (sorry for the missing umlaut). Try his reading on Beethoven 9th or Bach St. Matthew Passion. Wilhelm Furtwangler and his reading on Bach, Wagner, and Beethoven. Otto Klemperer on Beethoven. He did a wonderful Brahms 4th. Evgeny Mravinsky on Shostakovich and Tchaikovsky -- it will hit you like a blizzard; you will get frozen still til the end, taking massive storm hits without any defense. Eugene Ormandy, so underappreciated because he lacked the grandeur and power associated with legenday conductors. But, he excelled on lyrical readings, especially with strings. Among many good readings (Orff, Offenbach, Rachmaninoff, etc.) of his, Tchaikovsky 6th is my favorite -- quite different from Mravinsky's. Szell's reading on Smetana and Wagner. Bruno Walter on Mahler (not that many on CD). As recommended by the Penguin publication, his reading of Bruckner 9th is truly impressive. Hans Knappertbusch on Bruckner. Willem Mengelberg. Leopold Stokowski. But, some of their recordings are not up to par with sound quality; so, you may need a lot of imaginations to truly enjoy them. Nonetheless, reference performances to me (you may get different opinions from Penguin, Grammophon, etc.). Erich and Carlos Kleiber. Karajan. Temirkanov with big potential. Rattle on Mahler (literally every Mahler he did though not many :)). I wish he would try the whole Bruckner cycle. Too many still left unmentioned. Yet, wanna include John Williams -- easy on your ears :). Happy listening.

I like Leopold Stokowsky (Most of his recordings are exciting and on the edge), Bernstein (Beethoven and Mahler) Walter Bruno (Mahler), Dutoit (sonically excellent recordings) Beecham (English music particularly Ralph Vaughn Williams) and I love Ormandy because he is the first conductor I saw live with the Philadelphia Orchestra back in the 60's. Does anyone remember the guy who was huge Mahler fan with no musical experience who conducted Mahler's 2nd I believe? Don't remember with what orchestra. He later made a recording, suppose to be a great interpretation. This was about 8-10 years back.

The story I heard was some millionaire guy who leaned the one Malher symphony by heart and since he had the cash, was able to hire his own orchestra to perform it?? Don't know the truth of it. I will try to get his name. I will be listening to Temirkanov live in Baltimore tonight and I know some of the orchestra. Brahms 4th and Beethoven Piano No.5 Emperor/John Lill.

Sugarbrie That is the guy I'm talking about.

An amateur named Glebert Kaplan did the second with LSO in the mid or late 80's. I do not own the recording, so I do not have the booklet that comes with it, to give you more info about the recording. But, I did listen a couple of times in the music school library at my alma matur. It is well recorded. But, performance-wise, it may not stand with Zander's, Rattle's, Solti's, Tennstedt's, Walter's, or Klemperer's. Nonetheless, good performance, though, especially considering that he is only an amateur Mahler enthusiast. I remember that Kaplan made some grandiose claim in effect that Mahler would conduct the second as he did (since he studied extensively the contemporaries of Mahler as well as Mahler himself to prepare for the second -- an eccentric claim considering Mahler's eccentricities in comparison with his contemporaries). Thereby, some controversies surrounding the claim.