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From	Message
rilke 20-Aug-10, 14:11	Favorite Conductors: Symphony,Opera,Ballet Name some of your favorite Conductors (Symphony,Opera,Ballet)
rilke 20-Aug-10, 14:15	Joseph Levine I remember him on Wagner's operas. Lohengrin,The Rings of Nibelungs,Tristan and Isolde.
rilke 20-Aug-10, 15:28	Kent Nagano A well known American (Japanese-American) Conductor. He studied music in San Francisco State University. Born in Berkley.
hebrit 20-Aug-10, 15:46	Nagano and Levine These two choices ring (Ring) a bell to the Québécois I am: Kent Nagano is the artistic director of the Montreal Symphony Orchestra. Strangely, I have not heard him in this post yet, but I have on CD a couple of operas conducted by him, and I have to admit I am not impressed. A bit cold and too analytical. Nothing of the sort with Levine. He will be directing the Ring at the MET starting in october, with the 'metteur en scène' québécois Robert Lepage. The highlight of this MET season. I will certainly go see this in the cinema retransmissions here in Montreal. The very special stage effects will be a first at the MET, so much so that it will be a team from Quebec, 'Ex machina', long-time collaborators of Lepage, who will be on charge for these operas.
hebrit 20-Aug-10, 15:57	Solti and the 'Ring' To me a great conductor is usually linked to a work or group of works : no conductor can be good at everything. So I prefer associating a great conductor's performance to a work or group of works. The mythical recording of Wagner's Ring by Georg Solti is one of the great achievements of the recording industry. I marvel at the quality of these recordings, done almost 50 years ago. Of course, this is the technical aspect, but Solti's performance remains remarkable. I enjoy these recordings so much that I never bothered acquiring the other versions. So I cannot compare with others versions. (I do have the DVD of Levine's version of Rheingold at the MET).
rilke 21-Aug-10, 09:17	Arturo Toscanini Il gran Maestro. The most celebrated Conductor and greatest of the 20th century. He was intense and a perfectionist.
hebrit 21-Aug-10, 10:31	Wilhelm Furtwangler The opposite of Toscanini, so said some critics. Toscanini was said to favor metronomic precision, rigour in eveything he did, and that he was a dictator (so they say: I cannot say for myself, the only record I have of him does not do him justice). It also seems many prima donnas and 'primo dons' suffered at his hands when they thought they were the stars of the show. Furtwangler was, as I have read, a conductor who would take great liberties with the works he was directing, and that the metronome meant nothing to him. I do own a recording by him of Shubert's 9th symphony, a truly magnificent account. There is this magical moment at the end of the first movement where the rythmic liberty he takes is very convincing. Just a little 'ritardando' that leaves you dumbfounded.
rilke 21-Aug-10, 14:38	Von Karajan Herbert Von Karajan. He conducted the Berlin and Vienna Philharmonic.
rilke 11-Sep-10, 07:23	Richard Strauss German Composer of the late German Romantic era, along with Mahler. Brilliant conductor.
hebrit 11-Sep-10, 10:11	George Szell Former conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra. Great in the Brahms symphonies.
hebrit 12-Sep-10, 11:42	Charles Dutoit Former maestro of the Montreal S O. Great technician, expert in French and Mediterranean music. Not so great in the standard German repertoire.
rilke 19-Nov-10, 10:56	Thomas Beecham English Conductor and first British conductor to have an international career.
rilke 26-Feb-11, 08:24	Claudio Abbado Italian Conductor.
rilke 01-Mar-11, 07:19	Gustavo Dudamel A very energetic, passionate and excellent conductor. Born in Venezuela. Now a music Director of Los Angeles Philharmonic.
rilke 04-Sep-11, 08:20	Ricardo Mutti Italian conductor and music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
rilke 05-Aug-12, 11:38	Andre Previn American-German Conductor,pianist and Composer. Born in 1929.

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