Quote:
Originally posted by C Elegans
As a former classical pianist, I have of course always been interested in many types of classical music, and to me, it is very important to find the right conductors and orchestras for different works. I'd be interested in your preferences, who are your favorite conductors and favorite orchestras for different genres? |
There are many excellent orchestras, but few orchestras that I think push beyond that to gain an undefinable "something" that makes them (at certain times) truly great. The Amsterdam Concertgebouw (now the Royal Concertgebouw--big deal, where was the Dutch Royal family in supporting 'em over their first 100 years?) under Willem Mengelberg, the Vienna Philharmonic under several of its best conductors, the Chicago Symphony under Fritz Reiner, the Royal Philharmonic under Beecham: these are some examples of orchestras who achieved special distinction under the catalyst of a magnificent conductor. I'm partial to them all. A few months back, for instance, I reviewed a pair of performances of Dvorak's New World Symphony and the Franck Symphony by the ACO under Mengelberg. Now, I've long grown tired of both these works, heard 'em hundreds of times. but Mengelberg made them sound so fresh. Despite the fact that he was an anal-retentive preparer down to the last detaill, none of his recordings sound that way, and everything sounds as it was being looked at as though nobody else had played it before. It could be eccentric under other hands. Under his, it works. That's greatness.
(As you know I am a great lover of the Russian tradition, so my taste is obviously heavily influenced by that preference. Still, I do think that the old USSR Ministry of Culture Symphony orchestra was the best the world has ever seen, for any genre of symphonic music.)
I'm a big fan of the Russian tradition, as well--in fact, that's probably my specialty, if I have any. There are still about 300 Melodiya LPs clogging my bookshelves.
Their orchestras were never especially great in the old Soviet days (their brass were particularly laughable), but they did have great conductors, like Golovanov, Gauk (who emigrated to Israel, and became persona non grata), Mravinsky, Samosud, Kondrashin, etc. The Soviet also possessed some of the finest soloists over the last century in all classical fields; worldbeaters like Richter, Gilels, Feinberg, Ginzburg, Neuhaus and Yudina among pianists, Oistrakh, Kogan and Fikhtengoltz, opera singers like Reizen, Kozlovsky, and Lisitsian all won awards wherever they went.
Nowadays, Russian orchestras are far better overall than their Soviet counterparts were, but they lack the stimulus of great conductors. The Soviet system of awards for artistic merit is broken, and with it, the ability to develop an unusually large number of superlative artists who rise to the top of international classical circles.