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Posted by David Lee on October 17, 2006, 4:27 pm, in reply to "Re: Greatest Conductor" Han Knappertsbusch in the concert hall came alive in a way very few of his recording do. So...add the spectrum of what is the purpose of the recording and then we get into the dicey game of saying who IS THE greatest. ... Well, I think the late Herbert von Karajan conducted a very wide repetoire well and consistently. But, at times I feel we are getting the Karajan treatment in some of the repetoire he recorded...this means simply put tight ensemble with very little drama...his Ring cycle in the late 60s on Dg has always been something of a great dissapointment...it is slow dull and at times just plain academic sounding...so providing you with some of these thoughts is really key to such a huge undertaking as who is the greatest...''
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I think it very hard to come up with who is the greatest conductor...I do perceive a very strange cultural bias towards Toscannini but his NBC recordings have dreadful intonation and at times the orchestra sound more frightend of him...although Klemperer was pretty nasty too. so how is I have come about my ideals and concepts about what a great conductor is...well simply put many very great conductors in history were far more interested in the Live concert experience over the recording session.
Certainly Karl Bohm was more consistent in quality than either Karajan and Toscannini but he also didn't conduct such a wide repetoire as they did....
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