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Historic Conductors
Orchestral Music - The Great Conductors
Many classical music enthusiasts believe that the first half of the 20th century was the golden age of symphony conducting. The great Hungarian Artur Nikisch influenced nearly all of his successors, including Leopold Stokowski, Arturo Toscanini, Václav Talich, and Serge Koussevitzky. Unlike the conductors of today, each developed highly individual and immediately recognizable style. Nikisch himself made a few acoustic recordings, including the first recording of a complete symphony – Beethoven's Fifth. However, the severe limitations of the acoustic process make it quite difficult to appreciate his work today.
Like Nikisch, conductor Gustav Mahler was also a powerful influence. His friends and disciples included the wayward but invariably fascinating Oskar Fried, Otto Klemperer, Bruno Walter, and Willem Mengelberg. (Look for Mengelberg's incomparable Mahler 4th, with its constantly fluctuating tempos, to reappear some day on CD.) However, the severe limitations of the acoustic process make it quite difficult to appreciate his work today.
Sir Thomas Beecham and Wilhelm Furtwängler were also among the most outstanding interpreters of their era. Sadly, two of Furtwängler's most powerful and moving recordings are not currently available: the apocalyptic 1945 Beethoven 5th and the 1953 Schubert 9th, both originally recorded for DG. Beecham, on the other hand, is well represented in the current catalog, and his later stereo recordings of music by Franz Schubert, Edvard Grieg, and Wolfgang Mozart are especially compelling.
Recommended Recordings
- Beethoven: Symphonies 1, 3, 6 & 8/MCA MCAD2-9802
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Herman Scherchen/Vienna State Opera Orch & Royal Philharmonic
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Beethoven: Symphony 7
Haydn: Symphony 101
Mendelssohn: Midsummer Night's Dream (selections)/RCA 60316-2 -
Arturo Toscanini/New York Philharmonic
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Brahms: Symphony 4
Strauss: Death and Transfiguration/DG 423-715-2 -
Victor de Sabata/Berlin Philharmonic
- Bruckner: Symphony 8/Music & Arts CD-624
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Wilhelm Furtwängler/Berlin Philharmonic
- Dvořák: Symphonies 7 & 8/Koch 3-7007-2
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Václav Talich/Czech Philharmonic
- Mahler: Symphony 2 (1923/acoustic)/Pearl GEMM CDS 9929
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Oskar Fried/Berlin State Opera Orchestra & Cathedral Choir
- Mahler: Symphony 9/EMI CDH 7 63029 2
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Bruno Walter/Vienna Philharmonic
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Moussorgsky-Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition
Ravel: Boléro, La Valse, Daphnis and Chloé Suite #2/RCA 61392-2 -
Serge Koussevitzky/Boston Symphony
- Sibelius: Symphonies 2, 5, 7, Tapiola, Pohjola's Daughter, Maiden with the Roses/Pearl GEMM CDS 9408
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Serge Koussevitzky/Boston Symphony
- Sibelius: Symphony 4, The Bard, In memoriam, Lemminkainen's Return, En Saga, Valse triste/Koch 3-7061-2
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Sir Thomas Beecham/London Philharmonic
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Strauss: Ein Heldenleben (Mengelberg/New York Philharmonic), Also Sprach Zarathustra (Koussevitzky/Boston Symphony), Don Quixote (Beecham/New York Philharmonic), Death and Transfiguration (Stokowski/Philadelphia Orchestra)/RCA 60929-2
- Vaughan Williams: Serenade to Music/Pearl GEMM CD 9342
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Sir Henry Wood/BBC Symphony & the vocal soloists for whom the work was composed
- Wagner: Orchestral Works (1943-52)/Music & Arts CD 794
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Wilhelm Furtwängler/Various orchestras
