# Conductor's "Magnum Opus"



## Huilunsoittaja (Apr 6, 2010)

Hello all! Good to see you all are alive and well, sorta.

I feel like for the past 4 years while I was in college, I completely neglected TC except for scant posts in the community forum and a little bit of Russian propagating here and there. I'm sorry to have missed the discussions of so many bright and enthusiast individuals. I was instead _living _the life of music, and sometimes that's enough for the time being.

BUT I'VE GRADUATED! A month ago.

So, now that I'm out of school for the time being (grad school is still a plan), I will hope to spend more time as before. I'll still be my quirky self, and hopefully contribute something fresh and new to this forum. So here's a start!

Name some performances of conductors that you consider their best performance they've ever done as a conductor. Can be a "cycle" of works too, but try to narrow it down to a single work. Could be live, or a recording. You may define this as specifically "I've never heard a better performance of this work than by X conductor" or "This performance definitely makes this conductor worth listening to for their interpretations," either way, i don't care. If it's a collaborated work with soloist, don't count. That can be separate thread. 

For conductors that have recorded almost too many works to count, you may pick a couple.

For me, Neeme Jarvi's recording of the ballet suite from _The Bolt_ by Shostakovich is so incredible, I've never heard Shostakovich's non-absolute music handled so well for what it truly is, first rate!

A taste:






Runner up for him would be his recording of selections from Glazunov's _Raymonda_. Truly stunning performance quality and depth of interpretation.


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## KirbyH (Jun 30, 2015)

I'll bite - 

I'm an.. on again, off again admirer of Christian Thielemann, and I think his best work to date is his 2008 Opus Arte Ring Cycle. If one looks at that cycle from a purely conductorial standpoint, it's magnificent - definitely more of a contender than Janowski's PentaTone set. Granted, I'm partly swayed by the "Bayreuth acoustic" due to Decca's release of all the operas live from the house. (It includes Bohm's Ring and Tristan, along with some very magnificent readings of the early operas.)

But I digress - I just wish Thielemann's success had been repeated in Dresden when DG decided to record The Ring for him and not in Vienna - I love the sounds that the Dresden Staatskappelle makes.


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## Ukko (Jun 4, 2010)

Kubelik's "Magnum Opus" recording is the performance when he returned to Prague of that travelogue by Smetana.

Colin Davis' MO recording is the one of Beethoven's 4th Piano Concerto with Arrau.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Kleiber's conducting of the Beethoven fifth and seventh symphonies are a landmark recording easily.


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## GKC (Jun 2, 2011)

An interesting topic.

I think Jarvi's best is his Shostakovich Tenth. Amazing performance.

Colin Davis's Sibelius seventh (RCA)

Bruno Walter's Brahms no. 4 (Columbia orch.)

Okku Kamu's Sibelius Third

Can anyone pick a single Karajan recording? I can't.


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## SONNET CLV (May 31, 2014)

GKC said:


> An interesting topic.
> 
> ...
> Can anyone pick a single Karajan recording? I can't.


Possibly this:


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Chailly is a true master of Brahms symphonies I think.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Congrats on your graduation!!!! I'm looking forward to reading more posts from you 

Here are four of my favourite conductors:

I will have to say that Boulez's recording of.....recording of.....wow I can't think of a single one. If I say his Mahler cycle then what about all of his Bartók and Stravinsky and everything else? His Debussy? Ravel? Whaaaat am I going to choooose...........

Okay I'll just say his recording of his own Notations pour Orchestre because we hear Boulez the composer, Boulez the arranger/orchestrator and Boulez the conductor. You can't get much more Boulez than that. 

For Matthias Pintscher-my other favourite conductor alongside Boulez-I'll probably have to say _anything Ravel._ Unfortunately he hasn't made any CDrecordings of his work purely as a conductor, but the releases of his compositions are my favourite things to come out in recent years.

Actually, here's an amazing performance:






Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Schumann's Complete Symphonies. The only recording which I think truly does these works justice, especially regarding the orchestration. Zinman and Bernstein both come close, but Nézet-Séguin I think outshines them.

Daniel Harding: ooooo ummmmm I reckon Britten's The Turn of the Screw, but it took me a little while to single out that one. I think the only recording he made which I am still warming up to is his unique interpretation of Don Giovanni, one of his first recordings (but not _the_ first).

It seems much more difficult to single out a magnum opus from one's favourite conductors than it would to find the more likeable exceptions from conductors that aren't liked so much. For example: Karajan's Der Rosenkavalier, Böhm's Ring Cycle, Boult's The Planets, Thielemann's....I don't know about Thielemann yet. I don't even like his 2008 Ring Cycle really. Maybe his Mozart Requiem, but I'm not sure.....


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## Chronochromie (May 17, 2014)

ComposerOfAvantGarde said:


> Yannick Nézet-Séguin: Schumann's Complete Symphonies. The only recording which I think truly does these works justice, especially regarding the orchestration. Zinman and Bernstein both come close, but Nézet-Séguin I think outshines them.


Have you heard Gardiner's recordings?


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Der Leiermann said:


> Have you heard Gardiner's recordings?


Yes, and even though I am big fan of Gardiner and ORR I find that there still is a bit of a loss of the clarity of line and sparkling orchestral colour and energy that comes from Nézet-Séguin. Gardiner and ORR have done my favourite Brahms symphonies though.


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## Marsilius (Jun 13, 2015)

All vintage recordings...

Knappertsbusch: Bruckner symphony no. 5 (recording with Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra - utterly idiosyncratic but tremendous).
Mengelberg: Brahms symphony no. 4.
Stokowski: Mahler symphony no. 2.
Talich: Smetana Ma vlast (1939 live recording).
Argenta: complete Decca album España


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## superhorn (Mar 23, 2010)

The Thiielemann Ring for DG was recorded with the orchestra of the Vienna State opera, mostly members of the VPO, but not all . I haven't heard it yet . And while the DStaatskapelle ,Dresden is a wonderful orchestra , the Viennese musicians aren't exactly chopped liver ; just listen to them in the great Solti Ring .
All the members of the Vienna Phil. are members of the state opera orchestra, but not all members of the opera orchestra are members of the Philharmonic . They have a large pool of musicians, so that when the Philharmonic plays a concert or is on tour, they have enough musicians for the opera .


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## Selby (Nov 17, 2012)

Im a fan of Leif Segerstam and his recording of Norgard's 3rd is simply historic. His Sibelius cycle as a runner up.

Richard Hickox' recording of RVW's Dona nobis pacem; although I'm probably quite the minority in this selection.

For Pierre Boulez I'm tempted to choose Berio's Sinfonia.

Vernon Handley's Bax cycle.

Charles Mackerras' late duo of releases of Mozart symphonies with the Scottish Chamber Orchestra.

David Zinman's recording of Koechlin's Jungle Book cycle.

Eliot Gardiner's more recent recording of Brahm's Requiem.


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## Aleksandar (Feb 21, 2015)

Karajan - Beethoven 'Eroica'
Gardiner - Bach 'Mass in B-Minor'


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## Lord Lance (Nov 4, 2013)

SONNET CLV said:


> Possibly this:
> 
> View attachment 71742


Ah, no. Kapellmeister's legacy is far too large and wide [and unknown to a large chunk of his fans] for it be narrowed down to one album or record. We could go eras or centuries or decades or composers.

I don't dare try.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Bruno Walter---Schubert "Unfinished" Symphony
Otto Klemperer---Brahms Symphony No.1
George Szell---Schubert "Great" C Major Symphony (1959 recording)
Yevgeny Mravinsky---Tchaikovsky "Pathetique" Symphony
Istvan Kertesz---Dvorak Symphony No.8
Peter Maag---Mendelssohn "Scottish" Symphony
Rudolf Kempe---Brahms Symphony No.3 (Berlin Philharmonic version)
Sir Thomas Beecham---Rimsky Korsakov Scheherazade


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Furtwängler--Tristan und Isolde. Furtwängler's style works perfectly for this opera. His slow tempos and lush sound suit Wagner's music very well. (His Beethoven recordings, on the other hand, are not as effective...)


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Bettina said:


> Furtwängler--Tristan und Isolde. Furtwängler's style works perfectly for this opera. His slow tempos and lush sound suit Wagner's music very well. (His Beethoven recordings, on the other hand, are not as effective...)


If you like Tristan slow & erotic ( love duet)......Bernstein .


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## Bettina (Sep 29, 2016)

Pugg said:


> If you like Tristan slow & erotic ( love duet)......Bernstein .


Thanks for the suggestion. I'm actually not sure if I've ever heard Bernstein's Tristan. I love most of what I've heard from him, so I'll definitely give this one a chance.


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## Granate (Jun 25, 2016)

(Kind of obvious) Beethoven - Symphony No.9 (Furtwängler, BPO, M&A, 1942)
Beethoven - Symphony No.3 (Celibidache, MPO, WC, 1987)
Holst - The Planets (Karajan, BPO, DG, 1981) on par with (Sargent, BBC SO, WC, 1958)
Mozart - Late Symphonies (Gardiner, EBS, Phillips)
Mahler - Symphony No.5 (Tennstedt, LPO, WC, 1979)
Mozart - Requiem (Bohm, WPO, DG, 1971)
(Kind of a risk) Bartók - Bluebeard's Castle (Kubelík, SFO, Audite, 1962)


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## Janspe (Nov 10, 2012)

Boulez was an amazingly prolific recording artist and a lot of his projects could be described as his magnum opus - his Mahler cycle comes to mind - but at the end of the day I think his greatest achievement was overseeing the recording of the complete works of Webern, _twice._ He felt very strongly about that composer, and I'm sure a lot of people (including me) use his recordings as reference performances of the music.


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## Templeton (Dec 20, 2014)

Carlos Kleiber recorded three sensational versions of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, with the iconic recording with the Vienna Philharmonic ironically being my least favourite, although it is still wonderful. I think his best is the live recording with the Amsterdam Concertgebouw, here:






I'm a big fan of Pierre Monteux and whilst he also recorded an unbelievable version of Beethoven's Seventh with the LSO, I think that his best recordings were of Ravel and particularly 'Ma mère l'Oye', also with the LSO.

Finally, whilst Giulini recorded the best Bruckner's Ninth, with the VPO, imho, I actually think that his magnum opus was a recording of Beethoven's Fifth with the Los Angeles Philharmonic. I was blown away by it, when I heard it for the first time, having never seen it mentioned it previously as an iconic recording. Well worth checking out.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

I would venture to say Charles Dutoit's magnum opus was Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe. It's what put him and the Montreal Symphony on the map.


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## Manxfeeder (Oct 19, 2010)

Janspe said:


> Boulez . . . at the end of the day I think his greatest achievement was overseeing the recording of the complete works of Webern, _twice._


In my corner of the world, I strongly agree with that. Sure, he made a lot of great recordings, but his Webern projects, especially the last one, are his gift to the world. I don't think that would have happened without him, and I don't think that will happen again.


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## Brahmsian Colors (Sep 16, 2016)

Haydn67 said:


> Bruno Walter---Schubert "Unfinished" Symphony
> Otto Klemperer---Brahms Symphony No.1
> George Szell---Schubert "Great" C Major Symphony (1959 recording)
> Yevgeny Mravinsky---Tchaikovsky "Pathetique" Symphony
> ...


An addition to my post: Fritz Reiner---Bartok Concerto For Orchestra


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

OP:

That's easy.

Leonard Bernstein conducting the New York Philharmonic in Copland's Appalachian Spring Suite.

This performance has never been equaled.

Copland and Bernstein were great friends and this performance is the most heartfelt imaginable.


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## Pugg (Aug 8, 2014)

Manxfeeder said:


> I would venture to say Charles Dutoit's magnum opus was Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe. It's what put him and the Montreal Symphony on the map.


Very good and valued choice.


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