Classical music thread welcoming your suggestions and why...

Another conductor worthy of mention for his passionate dynamics, tender adagios, and understanding of soloists, is Sir John (born Giovani Battista) Barbirolli. When I first listened to Barbirolli's Mahler 2 & 4 I was transported. 

A contemporary who seems to be on a (relentless) path of discovery is Theodore Currentzis. While many are suspicious of his approaches and his affectations (spending the night at the music hall with the orchestra, rehearsing in the middle of the night, analysing together the score with the composer's personality, the moment in time of the composition, and the emotional content he wishes to inspire...) -- I don't care. I the listener, am only subjected to the result, and the result can be magical at times (take the Mozart Requiem Lacrymosa, for example).

At the end of the day, I believe that what attracts me the most is the conductor\s personality and their psyche which emerges through the music; T was a powerhouse and, although he was a master of timing and score, what I get from his music is ultimately the power, the strength, and a sense of huge confidence. Furt OTOH was an amateur philosopher, very knowledgeable in ancient Greek philosophy (which he apparently read in the original text...) and his sense of humanity is evident in the music - i think.

A note re, Pollini - his technical prowess is beguiling. The only thing for me is that he seems to attack pieces of music as if he is solving a mathematical equation...

There is a large Barbirolli box that has been released, with many 78 recordings.

My impressions of J.B. Are from his stereo recordings, in his last decade or so.

His Mahler is impressive, but ultimately just to slow and world weary for me.  I like the Sibelius stereo set with the Halle Orchestra, but  the Orchestral deficiencies are wearying.  It would be interesting to hear the younger J.B.

  Re Curentzis, I admit that I am one of those that is off put by his relentless P.R. Machine.  The one recording of his that I did stream, Tchaikovsky 6, didn’t begin to live up to the hype.

  I second the comments about Barenboim as a Furtwangler wanna be.  The young D.B. was so phenomenally talented.  It just seems weird to want to ape another musician to the extent that he has, and to alter the natural growth curve that he may otherwise have experienced.  Furtwangler make it seem as though he was playing the Orchestra like an individual instrument, exercising complete command, apparently able to manipulate the musicians to follow him wherever he went.   I think it was that improvisatory feel that D.B. the Pianist wanted to bring to his conducting 

This thread takes me back to my Tower Records days at the Panorama City branch, where the classical music department was up the squeaky stairs to the second floor. There was the customer who pronounced Deutsche Grammophon as "duchesses grab-a-phone," and Daniel Barenboim as Daniel Bound-boom. He was a good guy, though, who always bought one or two albums.

@edcyn: I had no idea the Panorama City store had an upstairs. I did my Classical buying at the Hollywood store on Sunset Blvd. They had almost everything that was in print in stock a lot of the time.