From: gustavo@dent.uchicago.edu (Gustavo Comezana)
Subject: Re: Beginning a classical collection
Organization: Dept. of Mathematics, U. of Chicago
Date: Tue, 29 Dec 1992 17:47:34 GMT

In article <MARCA.92Dec29035642@wintermute.ncsa.uiuc.edu> marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu (Marc Andreessen) writes:
>In article <BzzAMr.AKD@nic.umass.edu> yang@titan.ucc.umass.edu (HUAYONG YANG) writes:
>
>   >4) Should one look for particular condutors/orchestras performing that
>   >piece?  This really complicates CD selection!
>
>   Yes. Karajan and Bernstein are top choices.
>
>Suggestions from another ignoramus: rather than Karajan, there are
>quite a few non-Nazi conductors of greater interest.  E.g., off the
>top of my head, Giulini, Dutoit, Jarvi, Harnoncourt (esp for
>Beethoven), Tennstedt, Chailly, Abbado; younger conductors, Rattle and
>Andrew Litton; and in authentic instrument land, Norrington, Pinnock,
>Gardiner.
>
>Marc
>
>--
>Marc Andreessen
>Software Development Group
>National Center for Supercomputing Applications
>marca@ncsa.uiuc.edu

I'd like to make a couple of points here:

1) Nazi or not, Karajan had undeniable talent, and some of his
recordings have still to meet their match, IMHO. A few examples:
Honegger's symphonies #2 & 3, Strauss' Four Last Songs (his older
recording with Janowitz), Verdi's Aida (his second recording, with
Carreras, Freni and Baltsa), etc. This is not to say that he did not
record some duds (I never cared much for his Brahms).

2) With all due respect, I feel that generalizations like Marc's are
quite worthless as purchasing guidelines. Each and every one of these
conductors has turned out wonderful work, as well as some pretty
dreadful records. So let me single out a few areas of the repertoire
which IMHO are well-served by some of the conductors in the above
list, and certain things I think they are not so great at:

Giulini: Excellent Verdi, Bruckner, Mahler. His Beethoven and Schubert
         are not to my taste.

Dutoit: Very good in the French repertoire. Not so great elsewhere;
        I must be the only person on Earth who does not care for
        recording of "The Planets".

Jarvi: Generally a good choice in the east-European repertoire. Great
       at exhuming neglected pieces. However, it is often the case
       that in more "standard" repertoire, you can do better
       elsewhere. Great R. Strauss ans Sibelius, though.

Harnoncourt: I agree that his Beethoven is excellent. Elsewhere I am
             less convinced. Least favourite among his recordings: 
             Handel's Op. 7.

Tennstedt: No quibbles here. Whatever he does, he does very well, but
           I have a hard time thinking of anything that I've heard from
           him (recorded of live) that was not Beethoven, Bruckner, R.
           Strauss or Mahler.
 
Chailly: I don't care for his Bruckner (except no. 0), but he's made
         some exceptional recordings of Mahler (Das klagende Lied),
         Schoenberg (Gurre-Lieder), Stravinsky (L'histoire du Soldat, Octet).

Abbado: Very professional, well prepared performances, but too often
        emotionally detached and even uninspired. Sometimes his
        detachment is all to the good (Stravinky's Sacre), sometimes
        it is not (Bartok's Miraculous Mandarin; play Abbado alongside
        Boulez, of all people (!), and you'll see what I mean). Hits:
        Verdi's Macbeth, Prokoviev's Scythian Suite, Lieutenant Kije.
        Duds: Mendelssohn no. 5 (try Sawallisch), Prokofiev's Violin
        Concerti, with Mintz (try Chung/Previn).

Rattle: A little overrated by the English press, not as awful as some
        American press would have you believe. Very good Sibelius
        (great no. 7, but Maazel is better); very bad Janacek (his
        recording of the Glagolitic Mass is incredibly boring).


I generally like your early music choices very much, but that doesn't
mean that they haven't made some records that I didn't like at all:

Pinnock: Bach Violin Concerti
Norrington: Beethoven no. 9
Gardiner: Monteverdi's Vespers.


Of course, your list also omits some outstanding names whose output is
of very high quality overall: Carlos Kleiber, Charles Mackerras,
Wolfgang Sawallisch, Istvan Kertesz, Eugen Jochum, Gunther Wand,
Giuseppe Sinopoli, Jean Martinon, Kirill Kondrashin, Herbert
Blomstedt, Riccardo Muti, Leonard Slatkin, Andre Previn, Gerard
Schwarz, Otto Klemperer, Rudolf Kempe, Frans Bruggen, Sigiswald
Kuijken, Gustav Leonhardt, Reinhard Goebel, etc. Each has his
strengths and weaknesses, and I'm sure other netters will want to
comment on likes and dislikes from this list, as well as add a few
names to it.
Newsgroups: rec.music.classical