The OTHER 10 Greatest LIVING Conductors (Viewer's Choice) 

I was particularly happy to see that Gerard Schwarz made the list. I especially enjoy his recordings of Howard Hanson, on the Delos label.

Hello Dave, this is Dominic Fyfe, head of the Decca Classics label in London. Delighted to see the inclusion of Seiji Ozawa here and your comments about his Saito Kinen legacy. I have been his producer there since 2003 and also for his more recent recordings with the Mito Chamber Orchestra where we made a Beethoven Ninth and concertos with Martha Argerich. And guess what: they're all on Decca! By all means critique us, but moribund? So far this year we've had Lise Davidsen in Grieg songs with Leif Ove Andsnes; Mitsuko Uchida in the Diabelli Variations; the new Ruth Slenczynska album out today and a complete Sibelius cycle from the Oslo Philharmonic and our new conductor Klaus Makela. We're alive and well. Greetings from London.

I'm a big fan of Sir Antonio Pappano and Sir Mark Elder....both wonderfully "expressive" moulders of sound.

Thanks very much for doing "the other 10 greatest!" agree totally about the early music group. Apples and oranges. Am glad to see some of my favorites here, especially Witt. I think he is an amazing talent.

Absolutely agree about Antoni Wit!

HEY DAVE!!! Great video!!! So glad my Verdi conductor made it, Riccardo Muti - Molto Bene !!! LOVE IT DAVE!!! See you next time!

Thank you Dave! I’ve just send link to this talk to Maestro Wit - I had an honour to do video - interview with him last December

Dutoit is a notable omission. He is a much respected conductor by many orchestral musicians around the world, and those 25 years in Montreal shouldn't be overlooked.

Glad to see the expanded list! "The so-and-so-many best" should be counted with one's toes as well.

Dohnanyi did a live broadcast with Cleveland of the LvB 7th that I walked in on at the beginning of the last movement. By the end I was jumping up & down & screaming. The most exciting LvB symphonic performance I've ever heard.

Great list(s) David. I understand why he isn't on this list, but Kirill Petrenko has consistently impressed me with his work with the Berliners, especially his Tchaikovsky and his work with composers like Suk

The only negative about that lovely exercise was learning how many fantastic conductors died in the last few years. They will be missed, but it makes me appreciate the great ones we still have.

I might have mentioned Herreweghe or Savall, but I really get your point re the ancient music people. There really was only one example of somebody who came from that world, built his career from there, and then branched out into more recent music and showed himself to be as versatile and inspired across a vast range of music as somebody like Mackerras: Harnoncourt.

My first recordings on CD were of Mehta. I still listen to him almost 40 years going. Zubin Mehta's Turandot and Mahler 2nd may have lots of competition, but he's tops for me on these and a few other things. Thanks for including him.

I figured that names such as Muti and Mehta were excluded from the original list on the basis that their heyday is well behind them (but hey, that nonagenarian whippersnapper Blomstedt is still enjoying his heyday, and so are we). . . and to allow you to focus on some less obvious but very worthy conductors. I confess that I'm still chuckling at the obvious omissions from this list. E.g., the ultra-prolific and ubiquitous Danny Boy (dubbed "the Sausage King" by Bernard Michael O'Hanlon); the almost-as-ubiquitous Snazzy-Segan; the jet-setting Dude; and of course The Dude's mentor, darling Sir Simon! Taken in total, these guys must have made at least half a gazillion recordings by now. I find it quite interesting and telling that them who get the most PR hype and the biggest and bestest contracts from Major Labels receive little acclaim here--proof that discerning listeners can see (and hear) the emperor's clothes for what they are? A serious question: What's the deal with Kirill Petrenko? Am I missing something? I was scarcely aware of him before he was annointed chief conductor of the Berliner Philharmoniker. But that announcement was accompanied by so much fanfare that one imagined he must be the second coming of Herbert von Karajan or Carlos Kleiber. But no--he scarcely shows up on anyone's radar outside of Berlin. Since taking over the BPO, he's made, what, three recordings? The second coming of Carlos Kleiber indeed!

Great video as always, really glad you made this second part! I would have expected Barenboim and Segerstam, but that's just me. Perhaps for the third part? ;-) PS: what do you think about Ashkenazy as a conductor?

Gerard Schwarz is great! Love his Naxos recordings of American music! Seiji Ozawa, Yay! Wonderful recordings indeed! Sensitive when it's warranted! Zubin Mehta is a marvelous energetic conductor, without being violent as Solti (Lol) His operas are incredible. His Turandot is the best overall for me! Of course Nilsson is THE Turandot of the 20th century, but Mehta with the LSO is just glittering!

Gosh, the second 10 makes me think just how quickly I made my list in response to your first 10....all good.... both 10s

Great video, and point well-taken on the early music conductors! I think this means that there is an opportunity for a top ten list of ensembles that specialize in music written before Berlioz.

Your second list has a lot in common with my first, minus Dohnanyi, Alsop, and Schwartz, plus Blomstedt, Honeck, and Chung. Because the general level of playing is so high among musicians, there are many conductors who can get a relatively precise rendering of a score from a competent orchestra nowadays. It is increasingly rare to find conductors who can turn out performances that are both inspired and stylistically appropriate. While some are uneven, like Chung, all have turned out inspired performances that are more than literal realizations of the scores. Others have commented about Muti, Blomstedt, Paavo and Neeme Jarvi and others on my list, and their comments are similar to my thoughts. Myung Whun Chung has also made some remarkable recordings of Brahms and Dvorak available commercially and on RU-vid that are exciting and insightful stylistically and gets a place in my top 10.

Really good point about Mackerras. I love the Brahms and Mozart cycles he did on Telarc but I also really like his recording of Rusalka and even his Walton record on EMI. I should check out his Planets. I think I might re-evaluate some of the recordings I have with Gardiner.

During the years I was in Seattle, I and many others especially appreciated Gerry Schwarz's devotion to and performance of mid century American composers, Piston, Harris, Hanson, Diamond, Taylor, etc. I had the chance to ask Diamond about Koussevitsky's BSO performance of his 2nd symphony and he thought Schwarz realized it more fully.

I love Mackerras! I heard a great Ozawa/BSO performance at Tanglewood some time ago. I had never been interested in most of his work (apart from Takemitsu) but this one woke me up. Antony Wit did the most idiomatic Mahler 2 since Lenny. Love it. Mehta lost me when I bought a Brahms box by him - shockingly pedestrian (though beautifully recorded). I've always liked the concept of the Orpheus Chamber Orch but I've never found any excitement/intensity in their recordings.

Love Alsop’s inclusion here, Mr. Hurwitz! I loved the Dvorak Symphony 6 she did, but it’s unfortunately the only one of hers I have heard with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra (where she seems to have become quite a beloved figure). I have a bit of a sleeper suggestion from Alsop’s discography, and that’s her Harris Symphonies nos. 3 & 4, and particularly no. 3 (the one with more competition for being the best). Like a number of her recordings, the 3rd and 4th Harris Symphonies she did were a Naxos release, and the Colorado Symphony she conducts sounds full and gorgeous. She did one or two later Harris Symphonies with a different orchestra, and they were very nice too, but no. 3 and no. 4 are golden. Curious whether you have heard much from Edusei, Mr. Hurwitz? Any thoughts or suggestions on him would be so appreciated.

Lovely!

Dave, Thanks for doing this. Beyond identifying and offering a second set of '10 Best,' it provided a number of deep laughs especially toward the end. Because i file my CD and record collections by composer (and even that has grown problematic as I've grown older), I have to find the physical product to know who's conducting. Undoubtedly I can use the exercise, but please take a breath before you create the "Top Ten (30 List)". That will probably occur incrementally because viewers (like me) think another 'Best Living Conductor' has escaped your attention: Canadian conductor, Yannick Nézet-Séguin. He is versatile, still loved here in Philadelphia, and who has gone on to conduct at The Met. I think he deserves, at the very least, the Number 21 Spot. Take care. Thanks for the videos. I watch one almost every day,

Very pleased to see Paavo Jarvi on this list. I often feel he gets overlooked but boy, his performances are so uniformly excellent.

Perhaps we just ran out of room, but given how often he was mentioned in the comments to the last video, a little surprised Ivan Fischer didn't make the "11-20". I mean, he got no less than 8 "10/10" reviews on Classicstoday. That said, not sure who on this most recent list ought to make room for him.

I lived in the Twin Cities, MN for a few years and learned to appreciate Osmo Vänskä. His recordings, esp with the Minnesota Orchestra, of Sibelius is top notch. He is recording the Mahler symphonies and I am also appreciating his interpretations, esp. 2 and 4.

❤️bravo !!!

I have Wit’s Szymanowski, but those other recordings you’ve mentioned David, I think I’d better hear!

All the conductors I expected to be in the first list showed up in this list. I enjoyed the comments about early music conductors. Barenboim is notably absent from both lists. I guess his recorded legacy has been too variable in spite of some excellent recordings in the Germanic repertoire.

Please make now one list with 10 great conductors of the past!

Quite puzzled Barenboim still didn't get a 'look in' - surely his first Bruckner cycle, his great series of Wagner operas, his championship of Elgar....and his recent DG Brahms symphonies are worth.....but I seem to be a lone voice!

How about Jaap Van Sweden? The best conductor I've seen.

I cannot believe Yannick Nezet-Seguin didn't make either list! I've seen many performances of his in the past year and he can just about do it all. New music by today's top composers, a full Beethoven cycle, and quite the wide range of operas. Yannick gets my vote.

Herreweghe produced the best recording of Mendelssohn's Elias that I've listened to so far. It's more colorful and emotional than the other Eliases/Elijahs, including the famous Terfel and Fischer-Dieskau recordings. It's out of print, but the whole recording is availiable on RU-vid.

I'd like to throw my hat into the ring and nominate my favourite living conductor, Salonen the conductor from Finland. Why? Because it does not matter which orchestra he conducts ,as the results are always the same perfect recordings .Just my opinion of course

Off topic, Dave, could you please look at the music of Nicolai Kapustin?

Surely David Zinman should have appeared in the top 20. His Beethoven symphony cycle on Arte Nova deserves pride of place.

Not sure Mehta did himself any favors when he became the de facto conductor with the "Three Tenors". It blinded people to the phenomenal recordings he made before.

I would have added Andrew Davis - I belive he's such a wonderful conductor but unfortunately he is seldom remembered like that...

I've warmed up to Mehta a lot in the last few years. I would not have thought of him because he almost ruined the NY Phil after his long tenure there. But the Brahms set that he did while he was there is very good and he did my reference recording of Ein Heldenleiben with soloist Glenn Dicterow.

Dave, you are probably aware of Klaus Mäkelä', who became the music director of the Oslo Philharmonic at the ripe old age of 25. Decca has just released his complete cycle of the Sibelius Symphonies with that orchestra. Have you heard those recordings, and what do you think of them?

Fine list! - What you said about period-style conductors and that they aren't needed: I think you're right. In Vienna, we had long ago a concertant performance of Monteverdi's "L'Orfeo". Three days before, the conductor (I don't remember, who it was) got ill. Anthony Rolfe Johnson, who was the leading part as Orfeo, took over his job (and sang, too) - and the performance was marvellous! In my opinion, the conductor of such music isn't a interpreter as in Brahms or Mahler or, yes, even Haydn, but a spiritus rector, who establishes how to play and with which forces and disposition of instruments. Maybe, the conductor as I (and you) understand him, becomes important, when the composer becomes an individuum free of the conventions of techniques - and this starts in fact with Haydn, although I would claim an individual voice for composers like Monteverdi, Bach, Handel and Rameau, too. But it's not ususal at this time to have an individual voice as strong as these had.

I forgot Kwu wun chung in the last list. His Dvorak with WPo is awesome and his and his Mahler 5 is amazing.

Alsop, Falletta, Wit, Schwarz, Slatkin, Serebrier, and Kuchar. 7 of 20 are Naxos contractors. Naxos is the major label.

What about Barenboim and Thielemann?

Hi Dave, how do you rate (the late) Frank Zappa ?

And what about Andris Nelsons and Gustavo Dudamel? They have great recordings with Boston and Los Angeles orchestras.

Barenboim? His Wagner, Bruckner, Beethoven, Schumann are great..

Can you make a video about how Mahler and Bruckner are substantially different and how mistakenly some conductors approach Mahler in the same way they would approach Bruckner?

What about Dutoit, Barenboim and Ashkenazy?

I would think Petrenko could have crashed the Top 20 but obviously not.

My iconic comparison conductor would have to be Leonard Bernstein. He could be just as amazing with Haydn as he was with Mahler. And BTW, there is one living conductor who I think at least deserves an honorable mention, and that's Richard Bonynge. Remember that great ballet box? I think we need an opera box by him, too!

What about MTT and Salonen? They should be recognized.

How about ten great or likable Living Composers . We have many Beethovens living now WilliamBolcolm,WintonMarsalis'violin concerto!Per Norgard,Saariaho,Matthias Pintscher!,BeateFurer

Just saw this video-great choices and would also like to add Iván Fischer to this list!

No Simon Rattle, Daniel Harding, or most of all, Christian Thiemann? How dare you! (laughs sneeringly :) )

I agree with you about baroque conductors. savall and some others are artistic directors who have the great value of reviving a forgotten repertoire. the exception to this is Garcia Alarcon who, in my opinion, has great conductors qualities. it's the only one I could have put in the top 20 list

What about Dudamel?

Glad you mentioned Alsop because she is FANTASTIC