# Conductors and Performers you have recently discovered



## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

To mirror the thread about composers one has recently discovered, I say we open one about conductors, performers and the likes! I find out about a new exciting conductor almost weekly.

Today, it was Carl Schuricht, who appears a great Haydn conductor and who recorded a stellar Eroica. Give it a listen:


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## StlukesguildOhio (Dec 25, 2006)

Right now I can't think of any brilliant performers who are at all recent discoveries for me. Sad. 

As for conductors... I have recently come to discover a wealth of marvelous work by Ferenc Fricsay and Erich Kleiber (Yes... Carlos' father).


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## Itullian (Aug 27, 2011)

not recent but I think Frans Konwitschny and
Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt are pretty good conductors. 

And Hans Richter-Haaser is a great pianist


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

StlukesguildOhio said:


> As for conductors... I have recently come to discover a wealth of marvelous work by Ferenc Fricsay and Erich Kleiber (Yes... Carlos' father).


Fricsay is great! The Haydn disc on DG featuring symphonies no. 44, 95 and 98 is among the best Haydn discs you can get. Erich Kleiber's Beethoven is also worth a listen.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

I recently got the Abbado symphonies box set. I had a few CDs by him and had a generally good impression, but as I go through the box, that is changing. I'm discovering that he is very dry. Schubert and Mendelssohn symphonies should be fun, but he just plays the notes in the right places and adds very little to it. I haven't made it all the way through any of his Mahler or Bruckner. Sorta boring. His Beethoven sounds small, and his Haydn is faceless. I like the Mozart, but not as much as Bohm. I'm discovering that there is a lot less there than I thought.

The opposite is true of the Walter box. I was familiar with his Wagner and a little of his Mahler, but despite leisurely tempi, he keeps the music alive with a distinctive Viennese bounce. He's gone up a notch in my estimation.

I just got the Gunter Wand box in the mail today (GREAT deal through 3rd party at Amazon). I'm ripping it right now. We'll see how he fares. I like his Bruckner, but I've never heard anything else by him.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

bigshot said:


> I recently got the Abbado symphonies box set. I had a few CDs by him and had a generally good impression, but as I go through the box, that is changing. I'm discovering that he is very dry. Schubert and Mendelssohn symphonies should be fun, but he just plays the notes in the right places and adds very little to it. I haven't made it all the way through any of his Mahler or Bruckner. Sorta boring. His Beethoven sounds small, and his Haydn is faceless. I like the Mozart, but not as much as Bohm. I'm discovering that there is a lot less there than I thought.
> 
> The opposite is true of the Walter box. I was familiar with his Wagner and a little of his Mahler, but despite leisurely tempi, he keeps the music alive with a distinctive Viennese bounce. He's gone up a notch in my estimation.
> 
> I just got the Gunter Wand box in the mail today (GREAT deal through 3rd party at Amazon). I'm ripping it right now. We'll see how he fares. I like his Bruckner, but I've never heard anything else by him.


I agree. I like Abbado's Brahms and Mendelssohn, but not much else. I never saw what all the fuss was about with him.

I love Bruno Walter's stuff, most everything in that box is good. I've got everything in that Gunter Wand box too. Everything's good in that one too. Beethoven is top notch.

The newest conductor I've been spending time with is Paul Kletzki. I loved his Beethoven and am now discovering his Mahler.


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## bigshot (Nov 22, 2011)

Kletzki's Beethoven is my absolute favorite, and I've lost count of the versions I have of those Symphonies. Let me know what you think of his Mahler. I find that good Sibelius, Bruckner and Mahler conductors are rare birds. There are lots of conductors who are neat and tidy about it, but this music doesn't respond well to that approach. It needs more emotion and charm.


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## realdealblues (Mar 3, 2010)

bigshot said:


> Kletzki's Beethoven is my absolute favorite, and I've lost count of the versions I have of those Symphonies. Let me know what you think of his Mahler. I find that good Sibelius, Bruckner and Mahler conductors are rare birds. There are lots of conductors who are neat and tidy about it, but this music doesn't respond well to that approach. It needs more emotion and charm.


I literally just finished listen to his recording of Mahler's 4th. It honestly just moved up as my favorite recording of this symphony. Kletzki did everything right for me, the singing was great but more importantly there are those light touches of humor that other conductors just seem to miss in Mahler's music.

I couldn't remember if Tony Duggan had reviewed it in his essays or not so I went and checked and he did. In reading his review I had also noticed something that stuck out:

As Tony put it "Kletzki seems determined to press forward, accentuating a more spiky feel, less likely to lay back and contemplate. In the development this is even more in evidence where the principal horn of Dennis Brain makes a wonderful impression. More details beguile us including the shrieking clarinets as the point of crisis approaches. I think this recording has an almost ideal sound balance for home listening with every detail clear. Though a little age is betrayed by a touch of harshness at the climax even though I loved the tam-tam being allowed full rein. _*This is followed by a remarkable similarity between the textures of this section and the music of the Third Symphony's third movement, something no other conductor but Kletzki seems to have noticed. An illuminating touch from the conductor.*_"

While listening to this Symphony I honestly found my thoughts drift to the 3rd Symphony. All of the sudden I was like...hmm, I've never noticed that before. It was eerie reading that bit from Tony after thinking the same thing.

I just bought this CD the other day. It's on the EMI Gemini series. I haven't listened to Disc 2 yet which has Das Lied Von Der Erde on it. I've read it's an excellent version as well. It also features Tenor and Baritone (Murray Dickie & Fischer-Dieskau) and was recorded before Bernstein's similar setup with James King and Dietrich Fischer-Dieskau. I honestly really like that particular reading and I've read this one is every bit as good if not better, so I'm really interested in hearing it.


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## Cheyenne (Aug 6, 2012)

bigshot said:


> His Beethoven sounds small, and his Haydn is faceless.


I can vouch for those. Abbado is helped by great orchestras, but the sound he gets out of them..

Didn't know about Kletzki's Beethoven -- should look into those!


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

_Carl Schuricht_ here too, considered him boring due to former samples, but his Mozart Symphonies on the old MMS LPs are often very good and fresh (in the "stereo" issues of those LPs, with the forces of the Eroica excerpt above).

_Rudolf Barshai_ as a Mozart symphony conductor, on Melodiya LPs.

Collecting _Antal Dorati _has been intensified generally too.

Kletzki´s Finale of the Beethoven 2nd Symphony is unusually humorous as well.


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## ComposerOfAvantGarde (Dec 2, 2011)

Most recently, probably Maurice Abravanel.


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## Ingélou (Feb 10, 2013)

From a base of 'little-knowledge', I am discovering new performers all the time.

My latest *violinist craze* is Elizabeth Wallfisch:


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## LindnerianSea (Jun 5, 2013)

Listening to the renown Vanska's rendering of Sibelius's 1st symphony for the first time. For the time being, think I prefer Sir Colin Davis's slow & brooding BSO version.


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