# Conductors who shockingly did not record works that "were up their alley."



## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Hi:

Over the years, I find myself wondering why conductors, known for their selective yet extensive repertoire, did not conduct or promote works that were clearly right up their alley. For instances:

*Leonard Bernstein: *an expert of Brahms, Beethoven, Mahler, did not record or promote the music of Franz Schmidt or even Zemlinsky. He knew a good deal of Russian music, but did not record much Rachmaninoff (as he did Tchaikovsky). No Glazunov (although he did conduct his Violin Concerto).

*James Levine: *a Wagner expert and an excellent Mahlerian, but no Bruckner.

*Yevgeny Svetlanov:* a great specialist of Russian music, but no Anton Rubinstein or Felix Blumenfeld.

*Neemi Jarvi:* a great Sibelius conductor (and an expert of Nordic and Scandinavian music), but no Melartin.

Any thoughts?


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## DiesIraeCX (Jul 21, 2014)

The name Carlos Kleiber comes to mind, he's perhaps the king of this subject. He had his reasons and that's fine, but we would have been richer had he made more recordings. He never recorded Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Schumann, and only _Das Lied Von Der Erde_ by Mahler (and nothing else). Even with the composers he did conduct, he didn't do complete symphony cycles, like Beethoven for instance, no "Eroica" or "Choral" to speak, but a phenomenal #4, #5, #6, and #7... He did Brahms #2 and #4, but no #1 and #3. The list goes on.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

DiesIraeVIX said:


> The name Carlos Kleiber comes to mind, he's perhaps the king of this subject. He had his reasons and that's fine, but we would have been richer had he made more recordings. He never recorded Tchaikovsky, Sibelius, Schumann, and only _Das Lied Von Der Erde_ by Mahler (and nothing else). Even with the composers he did conduct, he didn't do complete symphony cycles, like Beethoven for instance, no "Eroica" or "Choral" to speak, but a phenomenal #4, #5, #6, and #7... He did Brahms #2 and #4, but no #1 and #3. The list goes on.


He was very selective, as was Giulini, an excellent Verdian, but very little Puccini (if at all).


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Leonard Bernstein was a specialist in conducting American music, yet such wonderful works as the Schuman 4th, 6th, 9th and 10th Symphonies and Mennin's 7th were never commercially recorded by him.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

dholling said:


> Hi:
> 
> Over the years, I find myself wondering why conductors, known for their selective yet extensive repertoire, did not conduct or promote works that were clearly right up their alley. For instances:
> 
> *Leonard Bernstein: *an expert of Brahms, Beethoven, Mahler, did not record or promote the music of Franz Schmidt or even Zemlinsky. He knew a good deal of Russian music, but did not record Rachmaninoff.


Bernstein did record a helluva lotta music, including modern and contemporary works aplenty. There is no mourning about, or blaming him for, what he did not get around to. (I'd happily 'give up' any of his recordings of Stravinsky, which might have freed up a little space for one of your favorite 'astonishingly overlooked' -- lol -- composers.)



dholling said:


> *James Levine: *a Wagner expert and an excellent Mahlerian, but no Bruckner.


 If Bruckner is a deliberate omission on Levine's part, I salute his 'good taste.' :lol:



dholling said:


> *Yevgeny Svetlanov:* a great specialist of Russian music, but no Anton Rubinstein or Felix Blumenfeld.


Have you ever _heard_ any Anton Rubinstein? _[not confused]_



dholling said:


> *Neemi Jarvi:* a great Sibelius conductor (and an expert of Nordic and Scandinavian music), but no Melartin.


Again, I'm thinking Maestro Jarvi has good taste, i.e maybe he thought, like I do, that Melartin is a second or third tier composer whose works are only of the mildest interest.

_All japes about musical tastes aside, there are enough instances of a soloist or conductor who will not record (or perform, even) certain works unless they feel they have something sufficient to 'say about them' which others have not said before._


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

dholling said:


> Hi:
> 
> Over the years, I find myself wondering why conductors, known for their selective yet extensive repertoire, did not conduct or promote works that were clearly right up their alley. For instances:
> 
> ...


Afaik Bernstein recorded the Piano Concerto No.2 and the Paganini (with Graffman), and the No.3 (with Weissenberg)....


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

PetrB said:


> If Bruckner is a deliberate omission on Levine's part, I salute his 'good taste.' :lol:


He's on record as saying that the two composers he will never conduct are Bruckner and Shostakovich.

Sometimes, like Boulez with Sibelius, a conductor may have an interest in a composer's music but not feel that they are personally able to conduct it.

Other times, other factors get in the way. Klaus Tennstedt wanted to conduct Moses und Aron and Lulu, but he said that the rehearsal time needed would make it unfeasible.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

Mahlerian said:


> He's on record as saying that the two composers he will never conduct are Bruckner and *Shostakovich*.


Now we're talking.


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## Skilmarilion (Apr 6, 2013)

dholling said:


> *Leonard Bernstein: *an expert of Brahms, Beethoven, Mahler, did not record or promote the music of Franz Schmidt or even Zemlinsky. He knew a good deal of Russian music, but did not record Rachmaninoff.:


Hold on right there -- you're telling us there's something Leonard Bernstein _didn't _ achieve in his lifetime?


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## JACE (Jul 18, 2014)

I'm sorta surprised that Stokowski didn't conduct more Mahler. Only the Second & the Eighth.

And, given Stokowski's advocacy of Charles Ives' music, I wish he would have recorded Ives' Third Symphony. That work was largely based on Ives' own earlier organ works, so I think it would have been right in Stoki's wheelhouse.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

Mahlerian said:


> He's on record as saying that the two composers he will never conduct are Bruckner and Shostakovich.
> 
> Sometimes, like Boulez with Sibelius, a conductor may have an interest in a composer's music but not feel that they are personally able to conduct it.
> 
> Other times, other factors get in the way. Klaus Tennstedt wanted to conduct Moses und Aron and Lulu, but he said that the rehearsal time needed would make it unfeasible.


Mahlerian, did Levine ever gave reasons why he would never conduct Bruckner and Shostakovich? I find it curious.


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## Orfeo (Nov 14, 2013)

GioCar said:


> Afaik Bernstein recorded the Piano Concerto No.2 and the Paganini (with Graffman), and the No.3 (with Weissenberg)....


Yikes, my bad. I shall edit my original post. Thank you.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

dholling said:


> Mahlerian, did Levine ever gave reasons why he would never conduct Bruckner and Shostakovich? I find it curious.


If this is very much 'what was said,' the implicit diplomatic translation is, "I don't care for / have no real interest in that composer's music."

Otherwise, Levine might have said something more flattering while dismissing them, "Bruckner would take me a lifetime, and others have done it so well," -- you know, something a bit deferring.

I'm guessing its a safe bet Levine thinks not much of Bruckner or Shostakovich. (Rather like reading, "Grigory Sokolov does not play any Liszt." -- clearly, this pianist could sight-read the stuff, so....)


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

dholling said:


> Mahlerian, did Levine ever gave reasons why he would never conduct Bruckner and Shostakovich? I find it curious.


PetrB has it right. The explanation is that the music simply doesn't appeal to him.

The new BSO director Nelsons, on the other hand, made a point of saying that he _would_ conduct Bruckner and Shostakovich. He has yet to distinguish himself in my view, although the programming this season is far more interesting than it has been the past few years when they were between directors.


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## arpeggio (Oct 4, 2012)

*A man's gotta know his limitations*

I attended a panel with Leonard Slatkin. Someone asked him why he never conducted Bruckner. His response was that he felt like he did not understand Bruckner well enough to conduct him.

"A man's gotta know his limitations," Dirty Harry.


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

arpeggio said:


> I attended a panel with Leonard Slatkin. Someone asked him why he never conducted Bruckner. His response was that he felt like he did not understand Bruckner well enough to conduct him.


Put another way:

Bruckner: Hey, I'm talkin' here!
Slatkin: Hey, I'm not hearin' ya, dude.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Boulez has never recorded Bellini's Norma.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

Concerning _Melartin_, his 3rd Symphony is better and more attractive than say some of the eight Gade symphonies, that Järvi recorded, and at least on the level of Kalinnikov´s two.

It would have been nice if there was more_ Mravinsky _recordings around - of Russian music especially of course. But hearing him in well-rehearsed Mahler (where Kondrashin and Svetlanov were the big namkes) would have been interesting, likewise more Stravinsky (Sacre, Firebird, Petrouckha ... Symphony in 3 Movements ...) - and Nielsen would have been interesting too!


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

dholling said:


> Yikes, my bad. I shall edit my original post. Thank you.


Not milestones in the history of recording, anyway


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

I admire Carlo Maria Giulini's Bruckner (2 on Testament and 7, 8 & 9 on DG), so I do have pangs of regret that he never had a crack at recording the 4th, 5th and 6th but hey, he was a busy man. Or maybe he didn't particularly like them.


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## GioCar (Oct 30, 2013)

Claudio Abbado has never recorded Shostakovich (almost - just the Violin Concerto No 1 with Midori). 
Nor Sibelius.


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

Mahlerian said:


> He's on record as saying that the two composers he will never conduct are Bruckner and Shostakovich.
> 
> Sometimes, like Boulez with Sibelius, a conductor may have an interest in a composer's music but not feel that they are personally able to conduct it.
> 
> Other times, other factors get in the way. Klaus Tennstedt wanted to conduct Moses und Aron and Lulu, but he said that the rehearsal time needed would make it unfeasible.


I never knew that about Tennstedt, I really wish he could have done Lulu- ideally with the LPO.

I know that he mentioned on Desert Island Discs that he wished he could have worked on the complete Ring Cycle but by that point his health was the barrier. Given the fragments of Wagner he did record with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the LPO I can't help but wonder what might have been.


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## Mahlerian (Nov 27, 2012)

AClockworkOrange said:


> I never knew that about Tennstedt, I really wish he could have done Lulu- ideally with the LPO.
> 
> I know that he mentioned on Desert Island Discs that he wished he could have worked on the complete Ring Cycle but by that point his health was the barrier. Given the fragments of Wagner he did record with the Berliner Philharmoniker and the LPO I can't help but wonder what might have been.


The main problem was that he spent half his working life stuck in East Germany, where he didn't have either the access to opportunity or the publicity that a man of his talents deserved.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Wow! Except for the weight problem, I could be James Levine! For I too care little for the music of Bruckner and Shostakovich.
But I think he likes Richard Strauss, whom I don't. Oh well!


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## AClockworkOrange (May 24, 2012)

Mahlerian said:


> The main problem was that he spent half his working life stuck in East Germany, where he didn't have either the access to opportunity or the publicity that a man of his talents deserved.


Very true, which is why it saddens me how his time with the London Philharmonic was cut so short. I don't think that the LPO has sounded better than under the baton of Klaus Tennstedt and there have been some notable conductors at the helm of that orchestra.

However late and overdue it was, he did at least get the opportunity to conduct some the top orchestras in America, As well as the Berliner Philharmoniker, the LSO and obviously the LPO. I'm simply grateful for the recordings that we have.

I could be wrong here but didn't Karajan use Tennstedt as a guest conductor as a message to his competition seeking replace him - to show he still had the influence/power? I'm sure I have read something to this effect but I cannot remember where.


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

I've been busy hanging pictures of James Levine all over the house. Three of them fell down from the weight.


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

hpowders said:


> I've been busy hanging pictures of James Levine all over the house. Three of them fell down from the weight.


Cruel, but I like it...


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

elgars ghost said:


> Cruel, but I like it...


I thought you might!


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

Sergiu Celibidache was loathe to record, period


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

And sloth when he did


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## PetrB (Feb 28, 2012)

quack said:


> And sloth when he did


That's _sloathe, not sloth._


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## quack (Oct 13, 2011)

It really isn't, it's direct from god, check your bible.


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