20 thoughts on the Top 20 conductors

This is the second in a series tentatively called “Erik responds to significant BBC-related items months after people stopped giving a shit.” The first, my take on the Havergal Brian “Gothic” Symphony, can be found here. There is a reason for the delay, however. If I were lying unremorsefully, I would say that it is because I embarked on a massive listening spree of the conductors on the list to better comprehend their respective legacies (in fact, this is somewhat true…I have been listening to the work of the conductors on the list lately, but I only decided to write this two hours ago, so it wasn’t part of some master plan or anything). If I were speaking truthfully, I would say that I spent major portions of the last month-and-a-half watching every episode of “The Wire,” which was one of the five best things I’ve done in 2011 (seriously, if you haven’t watched that show, it is without question the greatest thing I’ve ever seen on television and you should abandon all your obligations to watch it immediately……..after finishing reading this). For reference purposes, the list of the 20 greatest conductors can be found here.

Youth, and gigs, are wasted on the young

I don't always drink beer. But when I do...I prefer Dos Equis.

Somewhere between the world of Euro-retreads (Haitink, Boulez, Muti, Abbado, Chailly, etc.) and the new breed of pseudo-prodigy (Dudamel, Nelsons, Jurowski, Ticciati, etc.) lies a nether-world of conducting populated by the chronically under-appreciated.  They don’t have exciting hair.  They don’t have Johnny Cash’s Live from Folsom Prison wardrobe.  They weren’t the brightest stars in the firmament 30 years ago enabling them to trade on their great Firebird recording from 1983 to this very day.

They give consistently great performances.  And they do it in the kind of anonymity usually afforded Franciscan monks or Katie Holmes after Scientology.