I think that in the wake of the Gramophone orchestras list, we should do our own right here, in a more egalitarian way. I propose: let's rank the world's ten greatest living conductors.
Please send your nominations to the comments box. Once we have ten reasonably convincing nominations, we will have one of those polls that blogger.com usefully makes available in the sidebar and everyone can vote. Please note that this will be a poll solely about these maestri's musical abilities and will leave their politics (personal and global) aside.
To start the ball rolling, may I propose:
Bernard Haitink
Daniel Barenboim
Valery Gergiev
Ivan Fischer
Over to you...
UPDATE, MONDAY 12.20PM: NOMINATIONS ARE NOW CLOSED! PLEASE GO TO THE SIDEBAR POLL TO PLACE YOUR VOTE. POLLING CLOSES JUST BEFORE MIDNIGHT ON SUNDAY 30 NOVEMBER.
33 comments:
I would like to nominate the following:
Vladimir Jurowski
Sir Charles Mackerras
Vassily Petrenko
Kurt Masur
Claudio Abbado!
James Levine
Sir Colin Davis
Pierre Boulez perhaps ?
Claudio Abbado
Charles Mackerras
David Zinman
Pierre Boulez
John Eliot Gardiner
and I totally agree with Haitink and Fischer.
John Eliot Gardiner
Rene Jacobs
Charles Mackerras
Pierre Boulez
David Zinman
....and....
Claudio Abbado!!! [how did you not include him??!]
Gergiev
Maazel
Muti
Abbado
Levine
Gianandrea Noseda, Kent Nagano,and that Rattle fellow.
Colin Davis
Bernard Haitink
Neeme Jarvi
Simon Rattle
Ivan Fischer
Gianandrea Noseda
Claudio Abbado
also, slightly left field,
Wolgang Sawallisch, greatest Straussian ever.
By the way, happy music day to everyone, and happy saint's name day to ME! (any excuse to party)
I prefer Bertrand de Billy, Valéry Gergiev, Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Muti and Emmanuel Villaume
I'm really looking forward to hear Gergiev conducting the St.Petersburg orchestra on 10th July in Munich ! =)
I do have to add someone vital: Mariss Jansons.
(this is an accurate reworking of a comment of mine that I just deleted...) I didn't 'not include' Abbado, FJL, I just wanted to give no more than 4 names myself so that everyone else would get scribbling! Which I'm glad to say they have...
...only now I have added Jansons, and realise that we will be ranking not just the top 10 but probably the top 25!
Without repeating any that have been previously nominated, I would add:
Frans Brüggen
Osmo Vänskä
(This kind of thing is irresistible: I participate even though I have grave doubts as to the value or virtue of such rankings. But I participate because I sense – hope? – that it's all in fun.)
Riccardo Chailly
Gianandrea Noseda
Antonio Pappano
Question: is this about "technique" or just results? Rene Jacobs is merely a bandmaster with a very long stick, cannot really conduct. He achieves results by force of personality. IMHO.
Results, definitely. Apparently Furtwangler's technique left much to be desired, yet....!
At this rate we may have to weed the list before starting the voting!
Haitink
Mackerras
Gardiner
Muti
Zander
Hi Here are mine
Claudio Abbado
Bernard Haitink
Valery Gergiev
Gianandrea Noseda
Riccardo Chailly
Marin Alsop!! All day, everyday homies!
In alphabetical order:
Abbado
Barshai
Boulez
Chailly
Gardiner
Gielen
Haitink
Harnoncourt
Herreweghe
Muti
Rattle
I went away and thought about this for a long time. As Tom Service put it, pointless but fun; I can't think of one on my list who does everything well, but when they get it right they are illuminating:
Abbado
Boulez
Gielen
Gardiner
Elder
Vanska
Salonen
I cannot understand why Mark Elder has not appeared before - his Elgar is the best in years and he actually knows how to conduct Bel Canto, unlike most other, who just turn up to accompany!
Tom, you are also the first to mention Salonen!
We now have 40 names on the list, but keep the nominations rolling in today. Poll will go up tomorrow.
No-one has mentioned Ozawa, who has just been nominated to the Académie Française. I'm certainly not going to.
Levine! Levine! Levine!! C'mon, guys and gals. This guy is a conductor of almost unparalleled skill and talent and has made the Met orchestra one of the finest orchestras in the world. Don't make me comments twenty times just to get his name on the list.
Levine, Haitink, Jansons...etc. the usual suspects have already been named.
Perhaps I would argue, though in a rather limited scope of (mostly American) repertoire, Michael Tilson Thomas...
And just for sheer energy and exhileration in music-making (rather than technical proficiency), Gustavo Dudamel.
In tangential order (nobody under 50, stamina still unproven):
Rattle
Gergiev
Jansons
Harnoncourt (sorry)
Boulez
Levine
Barenboim
Abbado
Salonen
Mackerras
honorable mentions to: Colin Davis, Dutoit, Chailly, Gardiner, MTT, Rozhdestventsky, Jordi Savall, Zinman, Thomas Fey, and especially Dohnanyi)
Lots more I've missed I'm sure.
Ah, I wondered when someone would mention Dudamel!
Tom, on tour in Germany, says he can't get on to a computer in time but wants to register a nomination for Jurowski. Bless.
Thinking out of the box:
Jonathan Nott
Roland Kluttig
Jukka-Pekka Saraste
Peter Eötvös
Lucas Vis
I'm surprised nobody's mentioned Christian Thielemann yet, although to me he still sounds a little bit of a work-in-progress, a bit weighed down by tradition (or maybe I'm just not German enough). Elsewhere he'd be way out in front. I don't think we can leave him out, can we?
Also sad not to see Zubin Mehta, but somehow not surprised. Is it because of the 3 tenors, perhaps - people think he's a bit Classic FM? Not fair! His Carmen at the ROH years and years ago made a great impression on my younger self.
Good to see Vanska coming up on the inside - only heard him once, LPO Sibelius 4, but it stayed with me for days. Boulez and Haitink deserve something special for changing and getting better long beyond the call of duty. Now I feel terrible for not saying the same about Mackerras and Davis. And for sounding ageist. I'll stop there.
-Knussen (the teddy bear conductor)
-Haitink (suddenly alive again in Beethoven)
-Jansons (not always, but the free download from the Concertgebouw orchestra in Beethoven 2 (heard it?) is one of the biggest surprises for me this year)
Wish they were alive so I could mention them:
-Willem Mengelberg
-Max Fiedler (Brahms 2 !!)
-Antal Dorati
Rolf
Haitink
Muti
Boulez
Gergiev
Hearing and watching Haitink and Chicago in Mahler 2 last week was an awesome experience. An already high caliber group playing at a yet higher level when any of these four are on the podium.
Wow, sad to see no women mentioned here. I guess there is still no one of the first rank? Why is that?
Someone did mention Marin Alsop, didn't they? And Emanuelle Haim must be first rank in her field. I'm sure she'd have been mentioned if this was a different kind of blog, say Jessica Duchen's Sackbut, Theorbo and Instruments That Go Sprong Blog.
Hasn't anyone seen Susana Malki in action? She is awesome.
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