I think there's much to be said for the spirit of "support your hometown side." Then again, I guess that's very easy for me to say, because my hometowns have been... well- look at my screen-name

In any event, I think that if one were to do a Monopoly-board based on Symphony Orchestras, Vienna PO and Berlin PO would be Boardwalk and Park Place, respectively. Beyond that, I'll also admit to a fondness for the Concertgebouw and the Boston Symphony Orchestra (lucky enough to have heard the latter live). Any further personal comment would be silly, as your humble dilettente ought not presume to pass judgement on many of the world's greatest musicians.

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The hardest knife ill us'd doth lose his edge. Shakespeare- Sonnet 95

My top 10 orchestras:
1)Staakskapelle Dresden
2)Royal Concertgebouw
3)Leningrad philharmonic
4)NBC Symphony
5)LeipzigGewandhaus
6)NDR-sinfonieorchester
7)Munchener-Bach ensemble
8)Amsterdam Baroque soloists
9)London Symphony
10)Bavarian Radio Symphony

My top 10 conductors:
1)Arturo Toscanini
2)Wilhelm Furtwangler
3)Every Mravinsky
4)Carlos Kleiber
5)Willem Mengelberg
6)Karl Bohm
7)Sir Colin Davis
8)Nickolas Harnocourt
9)Jochum Wand
10)Rafael Kubelik

I don't have a list, I haven't listened to enough classical music yet, but up until now my favourite orchestra is The Academy Of Saint-Martin-in-the-Fields. I also like the Berlin Philharmonic, but Karajan's... over-emotionality can get on my nerves.

Did you mean Eugene Jochum, or perhaps Gunter Wand?

I'm pickin' 12, in four groups of three. No particular order within each group, but the groups are in order of preference.

Group 1--Chicago, Berlin, Concertgebouw.
Group 2--London Sym, Philharmonia, Vienna.
Group 3--Boston, Gewandhaus, Czech PO.
Group 4--St. Petersburg, Philadelphia, Bavarian RSO.

I think that George Szell was nothing less than the greatest conductor who ever lived, and under his Music Directorship, the Cleveland Orch was the greatest orchestra in the world. But I think it is now nowhere near as good as it was under Szell. As for the MYPO, its a great orchestra, but in a mediocre hall. They'd have to be in my top 12 in any other venue; I suppose I'd drop the Bavarian to accommodate them.

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"Don't drink and drive. You might spill it."--J Eugene Baker, aka my late father.
"Crescit sub pondere virtus."--Motto on McCann family crest.

Obviously, that should have been NYPO, not MYPO. My bad.

And that's why I think everyone should also list a period along with each orchestra. The members (of the orchestra) change, and more importantly the directors/conductors change, and that seems to be the biggest influence on the listener.

Yes, well, I think there are a number of orchestras which, while they have had ups and downs, are up almost all the time and have been for a long time. Among them are NYPO, Boston, Chicago, and arguably Philly in the US, and, in Europe, the Concertgebouw, Berlin, Vienna, Leipzig, and, arguably, the Czech Phil.

Chicago is the one I know most about, as I was born there and lived in that area until 2002. Many people mistakenly think that Georg Solti was the first great music director there. Others, a bit more sophisticated, will acknowledge the greatness of Fritz Reiner's leadership there. But the CSO had at least two great MDs before Reiner--Theodore Thomas, the founder of the orchestra in the 1890's, and Frederick Stock, who succeeded him. Thomas staffed the orchestra entirely with German musicians. It has to be said that America had not yet the educational institutional infrastructure to staff orchestras itself. But the CSO had its first guest conductor in 1904--none other than Richard Strauss, a friend of Theodore Thomas's, and Arthur Schnabel thought enough of the CSO and Frederick Stock that he recorded the last two Beethoven Piano Concerti with them even after he had already done the complete set with Sir Malcolm Sargent in the 1930's.

What Solti did was very important, though. He brought in the big bucks. When he took over, the CSO was the only one of the Big Five American orchestras without either a Brahms or a Beethoven symphony cycle on the market. Solti marched the orchestra pretty systematically and almost ruthlessly through much of the standard repertoire and did big box after big box--the Beethoven symphonies twice, the Beethoven piano concerti, the Brahms symphonies, the Mahler symphonies, and made the CSO a commercial force to be reckoned with.

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"Don't drink and drive. You might spill it."--J Eugene Baker, aka my late father.
"Crescit sub pondere virtus."--Motto on McCann family crest.

Berlin Philharmonic
Vienna Philharmonic
Israel Philharmonic
Cincinnati Symphony
Chicago Symphony
Les Violons du Roy

Can't think of many, I've only recently gotten into large-scale symphonic works.

Has anyone heard of "The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields"? I have heard of some of their recordings and they sound so clear and pristine to me. Maybe it's just the way iTunes changes the sound quality.

I liked the Berlin Philharmonic when Karajan conducted.
I hope to see the London Symphony Orchestra under Sir Colin Davis in March.
Then all of the normal ones. Boston Pops, Vienna Philharmonic, NYPO

Yup. My first CD of orchestral music was by them. (With three serenades by Mozart.) I think they will touring the U.S. this year or the next with Murray Perahia.

Yes, I believe I went onto their website and saw that they were coming here in March. They will be performing all of Beethoven's symphonies, concertos, and sonatas. I would love to go to see a #5 or #9. The nearest city that they are in is 6 hours away in Nashville, TN though..

Neville Marriner & the Academy of St. Martin-in-the-Fields is excellent, yeah.

I don't have any "favourite" favourites, but I would say that when looking for recordings, here are some conductors and/or orchestras I tend to trust if I want a good representation of a composition (in no order)

Yoel Levi & the Atlanta Symphony
Pierre Boulez & the Cleveland Symphony
Neemi Jarvi & the Scottish National Orchestra
Simon Rattle & the Birmingham Symphony
Michael Tilson Thomas
Esa-Pekka Salonen
Kent Nagano
~josh

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"There is no theory. You have only to listen. Pleasure is the law.” ~ Claude Debussy

I'm going to mention my local orchestra who I am a great fan of and I havn't seen listed so far in this discussion. The Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra (RLPO).

What did you listen from them?