Bob Yoon ([log in to unmask]) wrote:

>I grew up on Karajan recordings because my dad bought all those cds that
>he made when the medium first went public.  It surely takes talent to get
>the BPO to sound like a student orchestra.  I like his early stuff, but he
>seemed to stop caring after the 60's and coast on autopilot the rest of his
>career.  No one seemed to notice since everyone was convinced otherwise by
>his charisma.

No argument here.

>Ashkenazy doesn't excite me as a conductor or a pianist.  ...

Nor here, really, although I enjoy his Sibelius 1.

>Stokowsky rubs me the wrong way.  I find his style to be very superficial
>and intrusive.  ...  Yes, he did cultivate the Philadelphia sound, but can
>this dog do any other tricks?

Indeed he could:  listen to his Schoenberg Gurrelieder (1930s), his Mahler
8 (1950), his Ives 4 (1965), his Brahms 4 (on the old BBC label) or a
fabulous CD reissued last year containing some of his last recordings.
including a wonderful Tallis Fantasia.

>Rodzinsky does absolutely nothing for me.  ...

There's a very fine 1941/2 Das Lied and some of his other live NYPO
stuff is worth hearing, although he'd never make my top 10 list.

>Previn annoys me wherever he is, and he's conducted them all.  He's never
>convinced me that he knows the score well.  ...

Previn's Walton 1 still remains unsurpassed and his Turangalila is
exceptional.

>...  Muti's one of my favorite conductors and Sawallich negates just
>about all the improvements that Muti brought to the PO.  ...

Well, now, Muti strikes me as one of the current crop of blandsters.
Sawallisch is also not a favourite, but his Bruckner 1 & 6 on Orfeo are
very fine.

Deryk Barker
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