Conductors who avoid certain composers....

[Barbirollians]

Furtwangler had a pretty limited repertoire at the end of his career did he not - was the only Mahler he conducted the songs for DFD ?

[slarty]

Furtwangler had a pretty limited repertoire at the end of his career did he not - was the only Mahler he conducted the songs for DFD ?

He certainly conducted the 1st 2nd and 4th in his earlier days but after 1933, that all stopped. (from his concertography)

[RobertLeDiable]

The ultimate mini repertoire performers would be, Carlos Kleiber and Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli.

Actually, didn't Kleiber have a penchant for George Butterworth? I seem to remember he did either Shropshire Lad or The Banks of Green Willow in his youth.

I once heard a tape of Rattle conducting Elgar 1 with the BBC Scottish SO when he was assistant conductor there, and it was incandescent. It was around the time of the MU strike in 1980 when the orchestra was threatened with closure and they played like their live[lihood]s depended on it! But as far as I know Rattle has not done it since and doesn't conduct the 2nd either. People have been saying that's because it wouldn't go down well in Berlin, but that doesn't make sense. It's not as if he never conducts anywhere else - and I don't think he did the Elgar symphonies when he was at the CBSO. Presumably he doesn't feel comfortable with that music.

There are some conductors, I think, who are quite clever about not agreeing to conduct music they won't be able to make a good impression in. It may seem rather cynical thing to say, but one can't help feeling that someone like Rattle avoided composers like Brahms, Mozart and Beethoven when he was young as much as anything because they're very difficult for a young conductor, and critics (and orchestras) were less likely to be sympathetic than if he was doing the 19th and 20th C blockbusters that he made his name in (and which are arguably easier to get right). That would never have happened when people like Furtwangler and Klemperer were young - Mozart and Beethoven would have been part of their apprenticeship and failing in them to start with would have been understood as part of the training. Sometimes I think someone like Ed Gardner is canny in the same way as Rattle was. He studiously avoids the likes of Rossini, for example, in the opera house and who can blame him when those pieces are so hard to bring off well.

[makropulos]

Actually, didn't Kleiber have a penchant for George Butterworth? I seem to remember he did either Shropshire Lad or The Banks of Green Willow in his youth.

I once heard a tape of Rattle conducting Elgar 1 with the BBC Scottish SO when he was assistant conductor there, and it was incandescent. It was around the time of the MU strike in 1980 when the orchestra was threatened with closure and they played like their live[lihood]s depended on it! But as far as I know Rattle has not done it since and doesn't conduct the 2nd either. People have been saying that's because it wouldn't go down well in Berlin, but that doesn't make sense. It's not as if he never conducts anywhere else - and I don't think he did the Elgar symphonies when he was at the CBSO. Presumably he doesn't feel comfortable with that music.

There are some conductors, I think, who are quite clever about not agreeing to conduct music they won't be able to make a good impression in. It may seem rather cynical thing to say, but one can't help feeling that someone like Rattle avoided composers like Brahms, Mozart and Beethoven when he was young as much as anything because they're very difficult for a young conductor, and critics (and orchestras) were less likely to be sympathetic than if he was doing the 19th and 20th C blockbusters that he made his name in (and which are arguably easier to get right). That would never have happened when people like Furtwangler and Klemperer were young - Mozart and Beethoven would have been part of their apprenticeship and failing in them to start with would have been understood as part of the training. Sometimes I think someone like Ed Gardner is canny in the same way as Rattle was. He studiously avoids the likes of Rossini, for example, in the opera house and who can blame him when those pieces are so hard to bring off well.

Yes, Kleiber did indeed have a soft spot for Butterworth. I've a recording of him conducting it with the Chicago SO (no less).

Very interesting points you make - and since Elgar has been done with the Berlin Phil during SR's time (by Petrenko and Barenboim, among others), presumably he's just not very sympathetic to the music, at least not at the moment. That seems fair enough to me.

Incidentally, I remember a Rattle Brahms cycle in about 1987 with the CBSO, so it's not quite right to suggest that he avoided Brahms. But it's certainly right to say that in terms of interpretation it was very much work in progress with some odd tempo choices. It was very well played though.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Erm - devilishBob - could you unattribute the quotation from slarty attributed to me in #78, please. I'm not offended, but I spout* quite enough on these boards without needing extra attributation.


My nom-de-web may have occured to you in this context because I have previously cited the youTube recording of Kleiber's conducting Butterworth's first English Idyll. Happy to do so again:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pEwhe-3GXU

EDIT* = which is not to suggest that slarty was "spouting", just in case anyone so read it!

[french frank]

[I made a mess of trying to respond to ferney's request - hope this is right now (although quotes seem to have been misquoted all over the place)]

[aeolium]

Haitink I'm fairly sure has recorded his distaste for Mahler's 8th symphony (though he did record it as part of his complete Mahler symphony set with the Concertgebouw).

Kertesz recorded no Tchaikovsky and little Beethoven, Schumann or Bruckner. But he did die relatively young and some of that absence from his discography may also be due to his recording company (mainly Decca) having other preferred conductors for other mainstream repertoire.

Personally I think it's fine if conductors stay clear of composers or works for which they have no great affinity, rather than dutifully putting down a recording for posterity. Perhaps some of the hugely prolific conductors will have committed a few routine performances to disc partly in fulfilment of a recording contract (though I can't think of too many from Abbado and Mackerras).

[antongould]

Slightly off topic - some soloists seem to have avoided completely certain composers - Glenn Gould and Schubert being, I think, an example ......probably been a thread somewhere in a Galaxy far..............

[pastoralguy]

Slightly off topic - some soloists seem to have avoided completely certain composers - Glenn Gould and Schubert being, I think, an example .....

No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no...

God help us it was anything like his Mozart...

[kea]

Slightly off topic - some soloists seem to have avoided completely certain composers - Glenn Gould and Schubert being, I think, an example ......

Heh, that would have been amazing.

Gould avoided heaps of stuff, never playing any solo piano music by Schumann or Debussy for instance (he also claimed to avoid Chopin despite recording the Piano Sonata No. 3 at one point). However with soloists a narrow repertoire seems to be the rule rather than the exception.

[EdgeleyRob]

Remaining off topic,most pianists avoid Alkan,which is a shame IMV.

[Lento]

Slightly off topic - some soloists seem to have avoided completely certain composers - Glenn Gould and Schubert being, I think, an example ......probably been a thread somewhere in a Galaxy far..............

Steven Isserlis recently said he avoids Delius as he can't get on with it.