‘Kappelmeister’-ish Conductors

[Katzelmacher]

Bohm, Sawallisch, Jochum, certainly.

It was how Karajan chose to describe himself (and how he wanted to be remembered), but he didn’t somehow fit the bill.

Know what I mean? A conductor who is highly skilled, talented, frequently inspired and inspirational but somehow lacking in that indefinable quality (let’s call it ‘glamour’ for lack of a happier word) that makes a podium star.

I’m sure there are plenty of others, but can we name them?

[Petrushka]

Bohm, Sawallisch, Jochum, certainly.

It was how Karajan chose to describe himself (and how he wanted to be remembered), but he didn’t somehow fit the bill.

Know what I mean? A conductor who is highly skilled, talented, frequently inspired and inspirational but somehow lacking in that indefinable quality (let’s call it ‘glamour’ for lack of a happier word) that makes a podium star.

I’m sure there are plenty of others, but can we name them?

The term 'kapellmeister' has somehow come to be a derogatory one in modern English usage, closer to 'bandmaster' but in reality refers to those conductors, mostly German/Austrian, brought up in that tradition, who learned their craft through the opera houses.

I'd settle for 'highly skilled, talented, frequently inspired and inspirational' over 'glamour' any day of the week and it is conductors of this type who form the bedrock of my CD collection. Other names that come to mind are Klemperer, Schuricht, Keilberth, Knappertsbusch, and Kempe. Perhaps the last such example was Günter Wand.

[gurnemanz]

Kurt Masur comes to mind. I tend to associate it with someone who sticks in the post for a longer duration, as he did in Leipzig.The traditional job description Gewandhauskapellmeister is still used.

Also breadth of responsibility, going back to Haydn at Esterhazy.

[Katzelmacher]

The term 'kapellmeister' has somehow come to be a derogatory one in modern English usage, closer to 'bandmaster' but in reality refers to those conductors, mostly German/Austrian, brought up in that tradition, who learned their craft through the opera houses.

I'd settle for 'highly skilled, talented, frequently inspired and inspirational' over 'glamour' any day of the week and it is conductors of this type who form the bedrock of my CD collection. Other names that come to mind are Klemperer, Schuricht, Keilberth, Knappertsbusch, and Kempe. Perhaps the last such example was Günter Wand.

I’d agree with you on all those - and with your point about Wand - with the exception of Klemperer, who was surprising/erratic and showed little interest in developing the orchestra he inherited (the NPO). I should add that OK is one of my absolute favourite conductors.

[cloughie]

Krips, van Beinum, Munchinger, Leppard, Weldon, Sargent, Weller, Thomson.

[Katzelmacher]

Kurt Masur comes to mind. I tend to associate it with someone who sticks in the post for a longer duration, as he did in Leipzig.The traditional job description Gewandhauskapellmeister is still used.

Also breadth of responsibility, going back to Haydn at Esterhazy.

Masur is another excellent example, and one I should have thought of.

The ‘responsibility’ factor is also relevant - and reminds me of Karajan’s remark about the BPO sound (‘it needs tending like an English garden’). I think von K definitely saw himself as the ‘civic steward’ of the BPO.

[Petrushka]

I’d agree with you on all those - and with your point about Wand - with the exception of Klemperer, who was surprising/erratic and showed little interest in developing the orchestra he inherited (the NPO). I should add that OK is one of my absolute favourite conductors.

I admit to dithering over whether to include Klemperer or not but he fits the bill, so to speak, of the German conductor who made his way through the opera house.

Perhaps another later example of the form is Klaus Tennstedt.

[jayne lee wilson]

I’d agree with you on all those - and with your point about Wand - with the exception of Klemperer, who was surprising/erratic and showed little interest in developing the orchestra he inherited (the NPO). I should add that OK is one of my absolute favourite conductors.

He didn't "inherit" the New Philharmonia. He was a prime supporter (in 1964, with Guilini and Barbirolli and others) for the reformation and continuation of the suddenly disbanded Philharmonia, of which he was a conductor from the very start, invited by Legge, the founder. Before WWII he was a devoted conductor of new music at the Kroll Opera and elsewhere and promoted Bruckner's cause in his live concerts early on. So it is a little unfair to say he was uninterested in developing the NPO, as he was often an adventurous programmer, but conducted the NPO in his later years when he was often very infirm and coping, as always, with manic depression i.e. bipolarity. He was truly heroic to continue at all.

I would disagree with his record as "erratic". Listen to the many live recordings (and the mono 50s EMI) alongside the "official" EMI Stereo ones and you soon hear a conductor of remarkable insight, ear for orchestral balances, ability and consistency; but consistent in always reconsidering and revitalising his own interpretations, instead of just trotting out the same one. He had a composer's insight into how to recreate older music anew.

A good comparison is with the three extant issues of the Brahms German Requiem; the earlier live performances in Vienna and Cologne are quicker, far more urgent, and impassioned than the well-known stereo version, deservedly legendary though that is in other terms.

***
Not sure about the usefulness of the "Kapellmeister" designation, except insofaras it applies to the aforementioned Austro-German opera house tradition and the related "mainstream" repertoire.
OK fine, but if Karajan wasn't a podium star (a self-appointed and a media-promoted one, as well as a Great Artist - in the good and mythological senses of the term) who on earth was?

The most interesting conductors today (Dausgaard, MGT, Simone Young, YNS, Kannelakis, Rattle etc) are doing very different things, giving us very fresh readings of that very Austro-German symphonic repertoire and exploring much newer and unfamiliar music, and thank goodness for that.

[gradus]

He didn't "inherit" the New Philharmonia. He was a prime supporter (in 1964, with Guilini and Barbirolli and others) for the reformation and continuation of the suddenly disbanded Philharmonia, of which he was a conductor from the very start, invited by Legge, the founder. Before WWII he was a devoted conductor of new music at the Kroll Opera and elsewhere and promoted Bruckner's cause in his live concerts early on. So it is a little unfair to say he was uninterested in developing the NPO, as he was often an adventurous programmer, and conducted the NPO in his later years when was often very infirm and coping, as always, with manic depression i.e. bipolarity.

I would disagree with this record as "erratic". Listen to the many live recordings (and the mono 50s EMI) alongside the "official" EMI Stereo ones and you soon hear a conductor of remarkable consistency; but consistent in always reconsidering and revitalising his own interpretations, instead of just trotting out the same one. He had a composer's insight into how to recreate older music anew.

A good comparison is with this three extant issues of the Brahms German Requiem; the earlier live performances in Vienna and Cologne are quicker, far more urgent, and impassioned than the well-known stereo version, deservedly legendary though that is in other terms.

Klemperer was very closely associated with the Philharmonia and as Jayne implies the natural chief conductor of the New Philharmonia when it was created. Klemperer PO/NPO concerts were sell-outs for the very good reason that they were great musical events.
In his day he, along with Pierre Monteux were the two 'Star Conductors' on the London concert scene. Both were very modest in demeanour - the polar opposite of Karajan - and neither would be adequately described by the slightly derisory 'Kappelmeister' label.

[Katzelmacher]

Christian Thielemann (no-one’s idea of a Kappelmeister, unless it’s his own) gives his thoughts on the subject:

https://youtu.be/NFmQDmBuPwA

[Petrushka]

...slightly derisory 'Kappelmeister' label.

As mentioned in my #2, 'Kapellmeister' seems to have been misunderstood in the English speaking world to mean 'second rate'. The term more correctly refers to those, mostly German/Austrian conductors who worked their way through the opera houses. This rules out those mentioned in Cloughie's #5 with the term also being misunderstood.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapellmeister#Contemporary_usage

[jayne lee wilson]

As mentioned in my #2, 'Kapellmeister' seems to have been misunderstood in the English speaking world to mean 'second rate'. The term more correctly refers to those, mostly German/Austrian conductors who worked their way through the opera houses. This rules out those mentioned in Cloughie's #5 with the term also being misunderstood.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapell...emporary_usage

You remind me of Deryck Cooke's disparaging comments on the finale of Mahler 7 in his 1980 book, where he ends a very insulting paragraph about it with:

"Mahler had written for once the one thing he most detested - Kapellmeistermusik"

I remember being puzzled at why he so disliked it (the CSO/Solti LP set was already a favourite (well, I knew no better then; I loved the vibrant black-and-blue of the box, and would have adored the finale whoever played it...)); and then having to look this strange new term up at the library....it took me quite a while to figure out what he meant.

[Katzelmacher]

You remind me of Deryck Cooke's disparaging comments on the finale of Mahler 7 in his 1980 book, where he ends a very insulting paragraph about it with:

"Mahler had written for once the one thing he most detested - Kapellmeistermusik"

I remember being puzzled at why he so disliked it (the CSO/Solti LP set was already a favourite (well, I knew no better then; I loved the vibrant black-and-blue of the box, and would have adored the finale whoever played it...)); and then having to look this strange new term up at the library....it took me quite a while to figure out what he meant.

The man who introduced us to a place called ‘Nibbleheim’.

[cloughie]

As mentioned in my #2, 'Kapellmeister' seems to have been misunderstood in the English speaking world to mean 'second rate'. The term more correctly refers to those, mostly German/Austrian conductors who worked their way through the opera houses. This rules out those mentioned in Cloughie's #5 with the term also being misunderstood.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kapell...emporary_usage

Don’t mind me Pet, I’m a serial misunderstander. Whether they are in the Kap Club or not most of the conductors mentioned are welcome shelf buddies!

[richardfinegold]

Bohm, Sawallisch, Jochum, certainly.

It was how Karajan chose to describe himself (and how he wanted to be remembered), but he didn’t somehow fit the bill.

Know what I mean? A conductor who is highly skilled, talented, frequently inspired and inspirational but somehow lacking in that indefinable quality (let’s call it ‘glamour’ for lack of a happier word) that makes a podium star.

I’m sure there are plenty of others, but can we name them?

I think charisma might be what is lacking. Zubin Mehta in his prime had charisma in spades. He probably had the same ratio of hits and misses as the Conductors mentioned in the O.P. but then he was on it seemed really exceptional.
I used to dislike Haitink--the "Dour Dutchman"--but when he did Shostakovich and RVW cycles at a time when that was rare representation for both Composers he peaked my interest, and then when I saw him conduct he completely changed my perception. Blomstedt is another dynamo who can deceive. Christian Thielemann and Franz Welser Most
don't really pigeonhole easily as well.