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In the Forum: Musical Discussions
In the Thread: List of top 20 conductors on classical-music.com
Post Subject: Still there is some irony. And IMO, Furtwangler, HvK and Toscanini should not be in the top 10.Posted by oxric on: 11/9/2020
 steverino wrote:
I would put Stokowski with the other 3 in the top 10. I am not sure what the misunderstanding is. As for outdoor concerts obviously climate will affect it but I think to save the industry the classical music season might best re oriented to the late spring to early fall where outdoor concerts are more possible.

Hi Steve,
OK, no misunderstanding then. It's still amusing and not slightly ironic that after stating that "British are homers" that you should go on to recommend adding yet another, to all intent and purpose, British conductor to the top 10, albeit one who has a Polish name and deliberately cultivated the impression that he was of Polish origins (but born in Germany).

As I said, I agree with you about finding ways to hold live music concerts, even outside if possible. I am not too sure that culture is at the top of anybody's list of priorities these days.

I just had a bit of an argument with the children's school at the beginning of term when I found out that they were cancelling the music instrument classes because of worries about covid transmission. And to add insult to injury, they are converting the beautiful music room into a computer room. I am sure there is someone in the Landes' department of education who thought that this was progress and what the country needed. But I digress...

About the list, I think that Karajan's, Furtwangler's and Toscanini's places in the Top 10 are actually questionable... Much as I like Furtwangler's conducting, his position during the Nazi Third Reichtag years makes him not deserving of this accolade as a matter of course; Karajan's may be immense but then like a modern day version of Google or Facebook, he just positioned himself in a way that he simply dominated classical music for at least two decades, and Toscanini, well, it's a matter of taste but his approach worked well with some composers but not so much with others. 

Best rgds,
Rakesh

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