Best Classical Music Conductor

Cogito is right; Kaplan made his fortune on Wall Street as a broker/investment adviser, I think, and so loved the Resurrection Symphony that he studied it intently and made that recording. I understand he was involved in the editing of the recording as well, doing some gain riding/mixing to bring out certain parts, etc. An interesting reading. Wouldn't call him a great conductor, though. Continuing the thread, I agree with many of the recommendations above; I'd like to add Sir Adrian Boult, at least on Vaughn Williams' music--I still view his cycles on EMI as benchmarks for that music.

Oh, and Kertesz (sp., I'm sure) for his Dvorak cycles.

Kitch29 with reference to Reiner and Lewis Layton producing how about one of my very favorite Russian showpieces "Scherazade" re-released on both Chesky records (vinyl) and Classic records on gold CD. This is my very favorite performance of that piece and as an added bonus on the CD is Stravinsky'a "Song of the Nightingale" which is a fabulous recording and performance. One of the best sounding orchestral CD's I currently own.

A number of fine names submitted for best classical conductor. As one or two others have noted, you can't have a legit list without Fritz Reiner, Eugene Ormandy, Georg Szell, etc., on the list. On my personal list I would also include Gerard Schwartz, conductor and music director of the Seattle Symphony.

sugarbrie: thanks for the nod to marin alsop. she is the center of a huge improvement in the quality of the colo symphony orchestra. like zander, she gives a little talk before each piece the symphony performs. after each concert she comes into the audience for informal "chats." BTW, ms. alsop is also the principal conductor of a major orchestra in scotland. can't remember which-- SDCAMPBELL, CAN YOU LEND ME A HAND? hard to argue with any of the other choices made in this delightfully stress-free thread. the best conductor i ever have had the chance to see and hear was eugene ormandy and the phila, symphony. they performed at the maytag auditorium in ames, iowa (iowa state university). that is a great acoustic space, believe it or not. wish we had it in denver, instead of our replica of berlin's theatre-in-the-round.