Conductors and their 'special' unusual pieces

[lordlance]

All conductors seem to have pieces they have a special affinity for which are not part of the standard repertoire/lesser-known but that which they have played often live and recorded in studio. 

A few examples:

1. James Levine seems to have played/recorded Gurre-Lieder several times (it's not rare but having multiple recordings/performing it often is...)
2. Ozawa and Abbado liked the Bruckner First (especially the latter given his three recordings of it) 
3. Rattle in general seems to love American music such as Gershwin's Porgy and Bess (one performance on EMI, another on Digital Concert Hall) and Bernstein's A Wonderful Town (also twice); also know of 2 instances of Berlioz's Grande symphonie funèbre et triomphale
4. Giulini/Muti and Bruckner 2 (3 recordings each)
5. Orozco-Estrada and Strauss Macbeth (3 recordings at least - DCH, YT and on album)
6. K. Petrenko and Tchaikovsky operas

(I will add more as I remember but these are what I can remember correctly.)

I personally find it fascinating to see which pieces conductors have a special affinity for - pieces that are beyond the stale standard repertoire. It's a chance for listeners to expose themselves to pieces they may not have listened to otherwise. Anyone else find it interesting?

[Brian]

Very! I especially find it interesting when they have multiple specialties which are very different from each other. Charles Mackerras was known as a specialist in Czech music, especially Janacek operas...and also Handel's Water Music. Or Christopher Hogwood being a specialist in 1700s period instrument performance...and also 1920-1940 neoclassical music by Stravinsky and Martinu. Vladimir Ashkenazy may be the only conductor who has done multiple recordings of the Sibelius and Rachmaninov symphonies.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

Karajan recorded Shostakovich Sym #10 twice, but none of the other DSCH symphonies even once.

[Louis]

Harnoncourt recorded Schumann's obscure opera "Genoveva" twice.

Harnoncourt thought of it as one of the greatest operas ever and a highly innovative work.

(I only gave the opera a try due to him and now more or less share his opinion)

[AnotherSpin]

Karajan recorded Tchaikovsky many times, which might seem surprising at first glance. However, at a closer look, it is less so — after all, Tchaikovsky was the favorite non-German composer of Karajan's Parteigenosse, Adolf Hitler.

[lordlance]

Harnoncourt recorded Schumann's obscure opera "Genoveva" twice.

Harnoncourt thought of it as one of the greatest operas ever and a highly innovative work.

(I only gave the opera a try due to him and now more or less share his opinion)

Speaking of, he's also the only conductor AFAIK to have recorded the Schubert symphonies thrice. In fact has anyone even recorded them twice? Clearly he must have loved the works greatly. His interpretations remained... peculiar though. Bizarre. 

[Spotted Horses]

Parteigenosse

Leaving aside the specious insinuations about Karajan's past, the reasoning is defective. Karajan's penchant for performing Tchaikovsky is in line with the discography of other conductors of major orchestras, preferences of concert audiences, and desire of record producers to sell records. Hitler's preference for Tchaikovsky is not unusual, since Tchaikovsky is one of the most popular composers of classical music. It would be like saying Yo-Yo Ma's preference for white rice is not surprising, since it was the favorite of Chairman Mao.

I have noticed that Karajan has often returned to Dvorak's New World Symphony.

[Spotted Horses]

Karajan recorded Shostakovich Sym #10 twice, but none of the other DSCH symphonies even once.

I read somewhere that Karajan had proposed recording several other Shostakovich symphonies to EMI, but they declined because they didn't consider him a Shostakovich conductor. The fact that Karajan recorded all of the Sibelius symphonies except the third strikes me as the oddest thing about his discography.

[Archaic Torso of Apollo]

The fact that Karajan recorded all of the Sibelius symphonies except the third strikes me as the oddest thing about his discography.

Agreed. That's sort of the reverse of this thread's premise. It reminds me of how certain historically important Mahler conductors refused to perform some of the symphonies, Walter and Klemperer for instance.

[(poco) Sforzando]

Solti not only conducted Wagner with all appropriate bombast, but did surprisingly good jobs on Marriage of Figaro and Moses und Aron.

[VonStupp]

Riccardo Muti championed Cherubini, particularly his Masses and Requiems.

[ChamberNut]

Leaving aside the specious insinuations about Karajan's past, the reasoning is defective. Karajan's penchant for performing Tchaikovsky is in line with the discography of other conductors of major orchestras, preferences of concert audiences, and desire of record producers to sell records. Hitler's preference for Tchaikovsky is not unusual, since Tchaikovsky is one of the most popular composers of classical music. It would be like saying Yo-Yo Ma's preference for white rice is not surprising, since it was the favorite of Chairman Mao.

This is the post of the year, especially the Yo-Yo Ma analogy. 

[lordlance]

I read somewhere that Karajan had proposed recording several other Shostakovich symphonies to EMI, but they declined because they didn't consider him a Shostakovich conductor. The fact that Karajan recorded all of the Sibelius symphonies except the third strikes me as the oddest thing about his discography.

He's not the only one... Several other Sibelians like Beecham didn't either. The Third is the Bruckner Sixth of the cycle I guess.

[ChamberNut]

He's not the only one... Several other Sibelians like Beecham didn't either. The Third is the Bruckner Sixth of the cycle I guess.

Ormandy was another.

[Jo498]

Abbado: recorded at least 2 different (albeit overlapping) discs with partly obscure Mussorgsky excerpts as well as Khovanshchina, also Schubert's Grand Duo and the opera Fierrabras

Boulez: Handel's water music (twice) and fillers, also Bartok's earlyish 4 pieces twice

[Jo498]

Solti not only conducted Wagner with all appropriate bombast, but did surprisingly good jobs on Marriage of Figaro and Moses und Aron.

Excellent magic flute with Prey and Deutekom as well!

While haven't heard them, Solti also recorded Bach's St Matthew and b minor mass as well as Handel's Messiah which was not that common anymore for conductor of mostly symphonic/orchestral music in the late 1980s.

[Jo498]

Speaking of, he's also the only conductor AFAIK to have recorded the Schubert symphonies thrice. In fact has anyone even recorded them twice? Clearly he must have loved the works greatly. His interpretations remained... peculiar though. Bizarre.

Menuhin, a conductor only for the latter half of his career also recorded the Schubert symphonies twice (EMI and Teldec?).

In the case of Harnoncourt I wonder what the story is behind that European chamber orchestra (live) recordings that seem to precede the first official Concertgebouw cycle but were only posthumously published.

[Brian]

Abbado: recorded at least 2 different (albeit overlapping) discs with partly obscure Mussorgsky excerpts as well as Khovanshchina, also Schubert's Grand Duo and the opera Fierrabras

And several Rossini operas multiple times as well. Abbado is another person with an interesting variety of specialties. Rossini, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Debussy, and Brahms is an unusual collection.

[Brian]

The new Michael Tilson Thomas box set from Sony contains something like three performances of Rhapsody in Blue, I think two Americans in Paris, two complete Gershwin musicals, at least two Gershwin song recitals, and a Gershwin overture overture disc.

[ritter]

...

Boulez: Handel's water music (twice) and fillers, also Bartok's earlyish 4 pieces twice

And concertos by C.P.E. Bach for Harmonia Mundi (very rare...)

And several Rossini operas multiple times as well. Abbado is another person with an interesting variety of specialties. Rossini, Mussorgsky, Prokofiev, Debussy, and Brahms is an unusual collection.

Abbado recorded the Brandenburg Concertos twice. Firstly, very early in his career for RCA IIRC (a recording I don't know) and then, very late (with the Orchestra Mozart and a distinguished roster of soloists, a recording I find very successful).