If you call down to Central Casting and ask them to send up an orchestra conductor for your movie, they send up Riccardo Muti. I’ve watched him at the CSO for 10+ years now and IMHO it has never sounded better. (My subscription only goes back to 2003 though…) He has a great personality on the podium without saying anything. You can see the interaction between the players and him.
I also saw him at a community outreach master class for a bunch of orchestra students in the Chicago area. He came out in jeans and a button down shirt which was strange after seeing him only in white-tie and tails for so many years. And he talked with a fantastic Italian accent. He was wonderful with the kids - teaching them about their roles in the orchestra, and the mood of the piece, and what the composer was going through in his life when he composed it etc… He had a very self-deprecating sense of humor and stressed how unimportant the conductor was in the grand scheme of things. Very funny.
Right now my my favorite conductor is Kiril Petrenko because I can’t go to any live events and the Berlin Philharmonic’s digital concert hall series is helping to keep me sane! I can see why the musicians of the orchestra chose him to be the Philharmonic’s new conductor over others because he really conveys an extraordinary love of music and radiates good natured camaraderie.
I like Neeme Jarvi, not so much for his interpretations but for his charisma. He was the Music Director of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra (my home town band) for 15 years and took a (I hate to use this term) second rate orchestra and turned them into something special. He had a great rapport with the orchestra and the audience. And he has a twinkle in his eye!
Eugene Ormandy (seconded!; particularly for Tchaikovsky); Karl Bohm (for Strauss); and William Steinberg (Pittsburgh Symphony: 1952-1976; shamefully underrated across all interpretations).
Here is a kind of personal short list for beloved legendary conductors:
Leonard Bernstein, for charisma and his making us love all kind of music. His advocacy for Mahler is just one example.
Antal Dorati, for sharpness and energy
Fritz Reiner and George Szell for the ruling authority and obsessive strive for detail
Dimitri Mitropoulos, for the hectic and flaming driving
Charles Munch, for his kind of embracing the music, and emotional commitment
Pierre Monteux, for clearness and elegance
John Barbirolli, for his soulful and warm shaping
Igor Markevitch, for the blood-coldness
Artur Rodzinski, for his spontaneity and ability to get all instrumentists on their toe
Ernest Ansermet, for his genius to feel the tempo giusto and is sense of colour
Hermann Scherchen, for the rhythmical activism
No german conductor,…
I should have said “no other german conductor that Scherchen” because he was born in Berlin.
I quoted conductors whose most recordings fulfill me.
I hesitated with Lorin Maazel : many great early recordings on DG, later on Decca (Prokofiev R&J, Symphony 5, Rimsky-Korsakov), later on Telarc (fabulous Rite of Spring, Pictures at an exhibition…) but I am not thrilled by what he did last on Sony.
Of course, there are many many conductors whom I enjoy some recordings. Italian maestros belongs to this category.
Arturo Toscanini, so commanding but often dry sounding
Antonio Pedrotti, but he recorded not so much. His Mussorgsky and Respighi on Supraphon is incredibly coulourful and suggestive.
Carlo-Maria Giulini, I like much and even I love some discs. His Mahler 1 in Chicago (Emi) was my first ever recording of a Mahler symphony. I prefer his first load for emi, warmly and soulfully shaped (even on Rossini Overtures).
Claudio Abbado, his Mahler (I discovered the 4th with him, and I know many music-lovers who agree that this is the lovelier recording ever of this work), Ravel, Prokofiev especially.
Giuseppe Sinopoli, very inconstant to my taste. Sometimes too much cerebral and spread out, sometimes genially insightful. R Strauss and Elgar for the best I know from him. And an outstanding Tchaikovsky 5.
Riccardo Muti, I prefer his early recordings on Emi : manly, powerful, his Tchaikovsky cycle, for instance, or russian repertoire.
Riccardo Chailly would perhaps be my first choice. No failure, and some recordings are ruling the game for some works : Rite of Spring in Cleveland, Berio’s Sinfonia, Gurrelieder, Schnittke 5th symphony
Some of favorites:
Bernard Haitink / RSO, I really liked his Debussy and Ravel works.
Fritz Reiner, Stokowski, Munch, of course;
Mravinsky / Leningrad Philharmonic Orchestra - Tchaikovsky No. 4, 5, 6
Karl Bohm / Wiener Philarmoniker - Beethoven No. 6
Bruno Walter/ Columbia Symphony Orchestra - Beethoven No. 6
Antal Dorati / LSO
Louis Fremaux / England’s City of Birmingham Symphony
Sir. John Barbirolli / LSO
Sir. Adrian Boult / New Philharmonia Orchestra
Frederick Fennell / The Cleveland Symphonic Winds
Malcolm Arnold / London Philharmonic Orchestra
I can see why the musicians of the orchestra chose him to be the Philharmonic’s new conductor over others because he really conveys an extraordinary love of music and radiates good natured camaraderie.
