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Top 10 Orchestras

49K views 152 replies 78 participants last post by  perempe 
#1 ·
These are my top 10 Orchestras:
Berlin Phil
Boston Symphony
Chicago Symphony
Cleveland Orchestra
Royal Concertgebouw Amsterdam
London Symphony
Orchestre de Paris
Staatskapelle Dresden
Bavarian Radio Symphony
Vienna Philharmonic

I was wondering what else you guys think? What metric do you use to pick your Top 10?

Discuss amongst everyone
 
#3 ·
I do not have favourite orchestras as such. But I wonder whether you list is about the current orchestras, or those from years gone by, or overall, since their performances tend to change as their music directors, conductors and players change.
 
G
#4 ·
I also do not have a list but the Berlin Phil is my favorite. I have a CD of them playing Tchaikovsky's 5th and 1812 Overture. By FAR my favorite recording of any music i own. It was given to me for my birthday and if you come across it, get it! VERY passionate
 
#7 ·
I was wondering what else you guys think? What metric do you use to pick your Top 10?
Well, my metrics are my taste, my experience and the recordings I own. :D

It's very difficult to pick up a Top 10, because as ChamberNut says there are a lot of very good orchestras all over the world, well-known and lesser known. In Germany we have some good Radio Symphony Orchestras - the Bavarian one was already mentioned, others are in Frankfurt, Cologne and Hamburg. The Gewandhaus orchestra Leipzig is also very good, it has a long tradition back to Mendelssohn. One of my favourites is the Cologne Chamber Orchestra, they made some fine recordings of Baroque and Classical music on Naxos.
 
#10 ·
down with the metric system...it's the devil's tool !!! :angry: oops, you meant something else...:eek:

i don't believe i really have a 'top 10'.

i gravitate toward chicago/st. louis general sound.
others are - london, berlin, l'orchestra de la suisse romande, philharmonia.

my metric? brass section and overall orchestral sonority as shows up in recordings.

dj
 
#11 ·
Difficult to answer.

In a non-specific order:

Les Violons du Roy
Akamedie für Alte Musik Berlin
La Petite Bande
Tafelmusik Orchestra
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Orchestra of the 18th century
Collegium Cartusianum
Concerto Köln
London Mozart Players
Les Musiciens du Louvre

There are many others but this is my top 10.
 
#14 ·
Difficult to answer.

In a non-specific order:

Les Violons du Roy
Akamedie für Alte Musik Berlin
La Petite Bande
Tafelmusik Orchestra
Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment
Orchestra of the 18th century
Collegium Cartusianum
Concerto Köln
London Mozart Players
Les Musiciens du Louvre

There are many others but this is my top 10.
Heh, being from Québec City, I thought you'd say Les Violons du Roy :). I only have one recording from them, and it's Appolo e Dafne and Silete venti. Excellent in every aspect!
 
#55 ·
This is not true. Every player in the Vienna Phil. has to have some years of experience in the opera orchestra. And some of the more famous players do have small classes at the conservatory, but that is not uncommon for any orchestra players.

I'm pretty sure they'd be considered professional by the overwhelming majority ;-)
 
#15 ·
Because I live in Québec City I can attend Violons concerts. However, I didn't choose the orchestra because it was from Québec City. Rather because it is truly a great orchestra.
 
#16 · (Edited)
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 dilettante ought not presume to pass judgement on many of the world's greatest musicians.
 
#17 ·
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
 
#20 ·
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.
 
#22 ·
under [Szell's] Music Directorship, the Cleveland Orch was the greatest orchestra in the world.
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.
 
#23 ·
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.
 
#30 ·
#25 ·
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
 
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#26 ·
Has anyone heard of "The Academy of St. Martin in the Fields"?
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.
 
#27 ·
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..
 
#31 ·
I grew up in Chicago and the CSO is one of the great ones. The next great orchestra I have been priviledged to hear is the Royal Concertgebouw. Among the excellent ones I have heard is the Houston Symphony and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. I have not heard the New York Philharmonic for 10 years but never thought they were quite as good as the CSO and ROyal Concertgebouw.
 
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