12 Major Conductors Dumped by Major Labels

Oh I am glad you mentioned Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos. I love everything I have heard of his, such energy and balance. It is a tragedy there are not more recordings of his in the world. A fantastic conductor.

Mata's Ravel was great. I also heard him do some excellent Bartok in the concert hall. Leinsdorf was like the Toyota Corolla of conductors: You might not get a life-changing experience, but you could always expect solid, sensible work.

Okko Kamu's 1987 BIS disc which couples the 1st and 3rd symphonies by Aulis Sallinen (plus other works by Sallinen, but non-Kamu led) remains a thing of wonder - an indispensable disc that is still in print!

I'm very glad you mentioned both Leinsdorf and Fruhbeck de Burgos. Both charismatically challenged but with all that musicianship who cares? Among other goodies Leinsdorf conducted the RCA recording of the 1960 Met Macbeth with Warren, Rysanek, Bergonzi and Hines. What's not to like? Superb. Fruhbeck de Burgos' EMI Haydn Creation with the Philarmonia, Donath, Tear and VanDam is one of my own personal Dave's Faves.

Glad you mentioned Christoph Eschenbach! I saw him live just yesterday(!) at Athens music hall, here in Greece. He performed Mahler Symphony no. 2 with the Athens State Orchestra. Really a brilliant and emotional performance!

Maybe an idea for another video, "dead" labels that have been resurected on streaming platforms like Collins Classics, Koch-Schwann or Westminster.

Great list!

The best Verdi Requiem I ever heard live was Rafael Frühbeck de Burgos' final performance as Principal Conductor of the Orquesta National de España, in 1978. Simply superb!

In 2019 I heard Flor conduct the Orchestra Sinfonica di Milano Giuseppe Verdi and was so disturbed/amused by the concert that I wrote a blog post I titled "The Tantrum Maestro". I'm not sure what was going on with him and/or the orchestra that night but he seemed angry, and the angrier he got the more bemused the orchestra looked. There were even moments during the music where I could hear him yelling at the orchestra. It actually made me uncomfortable, like when you were a kid and your friend's parents started to argue in front of you. I lived in Minnesota during the de Waart years and was amused to hear you mention his divorces. At least locally in some snide circles, he was known as Edo de Vorce.

I am glad you took up Jukka-Pekka Saraste. He is in my opinion a very good conductor, in general I loved his conducting of Beethoven symphonies (and of ..... Bruckner).

Edo spent a lot of time in Sydney running the SSO and I think retrospectively people still think he did a pretty good job.

It's too bad that Myung-whun Chung did not get to finish his promising Dvorak symphony cycle with the Vienna Philharmonic under DG. The recordings were well received, especially by Gramophone, and I in particular find them enjoyable.

I've been collecting Litton's BIS recordings lately. I'm really glad he wound up there, because the recording quality is stellar more often than not.

Some fans solved the Burgos problem by referring to him as “R F de B”. I had great admiration for him.

de Waart announced this week his retirement.

Release the Neeme Järvi complete Deutsche Grammophon recordings box already!

Fell in love with Leinsdorf's '66 Lohengrin I got for a birthday present when it came out. In his book (can't remember the title offhand) he relates that he had a terrible time with the mezzo who sang Ortrud, Rita Gorr. Had to do a huge number of takes. One critic described his tenure with Boston as "dry as dust". I heard him do a routine Schubert 8th at the Hollywood Bowl in '81, I think. Then he announced to the audience that since California was experiencing a drought, the orchestra would now play J. Srauss Jr.'s "Thunder and Lightning Polka".

Very interesting talk, thank you Dav! May be you can also do a video on records that were promoted by major labels like gems but are actually CD from hell, one such example immediately comes to my mind is Solti's Schubert Great by Decca

Dave, I'm a pilot, and I promise not to go beyond listening! Your videos are always interesting.

Enjoyed this very much, Dave. Just wondering how many major conductors have dumped their record labels and made a better deal elsewhere?