Misunderstood/neglected/ignored conductors

[Pulcinella]

I don't think Wit and Wordsworth's repertoires coincide to any great degree so I'm not sure how appropriate it is to rate one over the other - I have recordings by both conductors which I find very good, and far from uninspiring!

Oops! I meant in terms of 'deserving' neglect (or not!).
We clearly disagree, and I'm pleased for you (and Beefy) if you enjoy more of his performances than I do.

[EdgeleyRob]

Antoni Wit. (Superb recordings of Szymanowski, Lutoslawski, Messiaen ... much underrated in Mahler, too! Dry-eyed, powerful, searing intellectual passion; good bloke.)

A shattering Warsaw Phil/Weinberg Symphony No 8 too.
Although the only competition is a live concert performance on you tube with the same Orchestra under Jacek Kaspszyk,a performance which,along with his Weinberg 4 and violin concerto (Warner Classics),makes him IMO unjustly ignored too.

[sidneyfox]

Prompted by another thread, I looked up some interesting posts about Wyn Morris in this thread (in the first 20 or so posts). The late Hornspieler is a little harsh, in my opinion.
Apparently Wyn was fond of the odd whisky, here and there that might have contributed to mixed opinions about him.

From the Independent's obituary of Wyn Morris cited by Richard Tarleton in msg #2

"In 1957 he won the Koussevitsky Memorial Prize at Tanglewood, the Massachusetts summer home of the Boston Symphony Orchestra, and attracted the interest of George Szell, the martinet conductor of the Cleveland Orchestra.

Thus began a three-year apprenticeship under a man known as a formidable orchestral trainer; Morris rehearsed the orchestra for him and conducted the Cleveland Chamber Orchestra and Orpheus Choir. All went well until one day when the Orchestra had had some new recording equipment installed and Szell was being shown how it worked, asking Morris to take a rehearsal while he went up to the studio. Morris rehearsed a Tchaikovsky symphony, at Szell's request, and enjoyed the compliments of the players afterwards, many of them commenting what a refreshing rehearsal it had been. The implicit contrast was obvious to the jealous Szell, listening upstairs through the open microphones, and the next day Morris was out on his ear."

Other past winners of the Koussevitzky prize include Seiji Ozawa (1960) and Michael Tilson Thomas (1969)

[sidneyfox]

I enjoy the Handel recordings of Iona Brown with the Academy of St Martins in the field. Underrated and rarely mentioned.

[Bryn]

I enjoy the Handel recordings of Iona Brown with the Academy of St Martins in the field. Underrated and rarely mentioned.

Rightly honoured and celebrated for her work in Norway.

[sidneyfox]

RIP. Sadly missed. Died young.

[Lordgeous]

Yes - I remember Collins' Sibelius from my teenage years and Sibelius LPs from the local Library. A very good Delius disc, too (bought on cassette from Woolworths in 1984 together with my first "Walkman", in preparation for a hospital trip).

Likewise!

[Lordgeous]

Playing Brahms symphony #1, Philharmonia Orchesrta, Guido Cantelli.

A most neglected conductor.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Icon-Guido-Cantelli/dp/B006LZN3ES/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1365018191&sr=1-1

Still my favourite Brahms 1 (since teenage days). Have the box collection too.

[Lordgeous]

Fascinating thread. Can I add:

Peter Maag

Paul Kletzki

[Barbirollians]

Definitely Kletzki - sadly Warner appear to have killed off Icon boxes a Kletzki one would have been great.

As for Iona Brown the ASMF tended to sound a lot more interesting under her direction than that of Marriner.

[cloughie]

Definitely Kletzki - sadly Warner appear to have killed off Icon boxes a Kletzki one would have been great.

As for Iona Brown the ASMF tended to sound a lot more interesting under her direction than that of Marriner.

You do make broad sweeping statements Barbs. Yes, Marriner made some recordings that were not exciting, but he made many that were sparkling superb. Iona Brown did make some good recordings but please do not denigrate the founder and great inspiration to a great little orchestra that firmly left its mark in the development of interpretation of baroque music and very much more. Listen to his early Argo recordings!

[Barbirollians]

You do make broad sweeping statements Barbs. Yes, Marriner made some recordings that were not exciting, but he made many that were sparkling superb. Iona Brown did make some good recordings but please do not denigrate the founder and great inspiration to a great little orchestra that firmly left its mark in the development of interpretation of baroque music and very much more. Listen to his early Argo recordings!

Sorry I struggle to think of any Marriner recording I have heard that excites me in the 1980s his recordings were ubiquitous and I heard enough of them to know his smooth style of conducting was not for me.

[Wychwood]

Leslie Heward.

A conductor who died tragically young, in May 1943. Who knows what he might have gone on to achieve if illness had not ended his career at the age of 45?

I know his work mainly through the Dutton remasterings of the Ireland piano concerto with Eileen Joyce, and the Moeran symphony, its first recording. The Moeran, recorded in Manchester towards the end of 1942, must surely rank as Heward's supreme achievement for the gramophone. Is it fanciful to say that you can hear the musicians of the Hallé playing their hearts out for him? They must have sensed that the end was near. He died five months later.

Leslie Heward should not be, IMVHO, a neglected or forgotten conductor.

He had been a student in Adrian Boult's conducting class. In his notes for the Dutton CD, Lyndon Jenkins quotes Boult on Heward: "There was no one to touch him, in my opinion; he'd have gone a very long way, if he had lived".