Ludovyk, I strongly suspect that you have absolutely no idea how comically patronising are your remarks on Daniel Barenboim. "He could have been a good pianist" you say; instead of what, a brilliant one. "A mediocre conductor"; I really think you should take a long hard look at others out there before passing judgement. Merely "good" pianists and "mediocre" conductors would hardly have survived a 40 year plus career as Barenboim has. I have to ask myself how you set the standard.
If, by any remote chance, your own musical credentials are at least the equivalent of those of Mr Barenboim, I shall retract the tone of the above comments!!

IMHO, Baremboin is mediocre pianist and conductor.
I've never listen to him on something I like. To me,he
is superficial,full of mannerisms and arbitrary. And his long
career means nothing. except that many people like his
weackness. But I admit that he knows how to sell himself.

I really don't like Andre Rieu
That guy is a pure showman. All he is is lights, pretty colours and beautiful women. He Doesn't seem to get into the music as much as others. Like Perlman for instance. That man is fantastic.
Andre should pass his strad to someone who will make real music.

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"The next few years of your life are going to be hard and miserable if you want to be good" - My percussion teacher..
Damn

As much as I like Cello music; as much as he has an incredible repitore from what I have seen... I am not a fan of Yo-Yo Ma. I try to compare pieces and in every case so far I have simply enjoyed the other person I was comparing him to every time. It is odd as I enjoy Cello pieces so much and logically I know he is considered one of the best, but when I compre him to other Celloist so far... Even more so on pieces he does that is also done by Rostropvich or Du Pre, I find myself enjoying the other person more. One of these days I am going to try and listen to him blind and see if it is just a visual thing for me (I am actually setting this up with my sweetheart on a variety of conductors, performers and ensembles to see if/what influence is caused by visual versus audible).

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Remember the 3 SW's: Some Will, Some Won't, So What!

I can agree with you, Sam, up to a degree, but if you've seen him perform Dvorak's concerto (and I mean seen him), I think you'll find that he's almost as much as he's cracked up to be.

Admittedly, he really doesn't show nearly as much depth as the greats: du Pre, Slava, Casals...

I cannot stand Joshua Bell. I don't care what all you others have to say about him, I will not be so forgiving for him... and Andre Rieu as well.

Why is it that nobody from today can stand up to the phenomena of yesterday???

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"Aufersteh'n, ja aufersteh'n
wirst du, mein Herz, in einem Nu!
Was du geschlagen
zu Gott wird es dich tragen!"
-Gustav Mahler

Quite!


I think the greats sort of died with Horowitz. Van Cliburn is still kicking, but he's not nearly as public as Horowitz was at his age.

Sad to say but Van Cliburn's skills have declined. I heard him fill in for an ill pianist with the Fort Worth Symphony perhaps 4 years ago and his playing was not very good but he is not someone I dislike.

No, my musical credentials are not the equivalent of Barenboim, I’m just a concert goer; but the title of this thread is Musicians YOU don’t like, and I have just expressed my opinion about this musician. I don’t try to convince anybody about any Universal Truth.

How I do set my standard? I have been going to concerts for more than 30 years, and believe me: I know what I like and what I don’t like. "I really think you should take a long hard look at others out there before passing judgement". Thanks four your advice. Let's see: Abbado, Jansons, Haitink, Temirkanov, Harnoncourt, Chailly, Boulez, Davis, Barshai, Thielemann, just to speak about people that are still active… all of them brilliant conductors and true musicians, capable of leaving their personal stamp on whatever they do...

"Merely "good" pianists and "mediocre" conductors would hardly have survived a 40 year plus career as Barenboim has." Quanto mi piaci mai, semplicità... Yes, mediocre conductors can survive, as well as excellent conductors have been ignored thoughout their lives and bound to conduct second rate orchestras.

Despite my opinion about him, I have attended Barenboim’s concerts many times, always with the hope of discovering the reason of his success, and which contribution such a mediocre conductor could bring to orchestras named Chicago, Vienna or Berlin…Quoting oisfetz, he knows how to sell himself.

I feel like I can contribute something concerning this tangent, since I've subscribed to/heard live concerts at Orchestra Hall under Barenboim's baton. I (for one) did not find him to be "mediocre." I readily understand, though, that (to borrow a turn of phrase from an Albion-Islander) he's "not everybody's cup o' Earl Grey."

I do have some objections to Barenboim, but (he said, stepping dangerously close to our invisible barrier between Music and Politics) they are not musical ones.

Remember that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra members themselves held a vote, with the finalists being Barenboim and Abbado, and they chose Barenboim. That, I think, has to count for something.

To relate this back to the original topic, I think that one way for a conductor to turn into a "musician [people] don't like" is for he or she to be "force-fed" to Orchestra members without their consultation. This was Chicago's error in the Martinon tenure, Philadelphia's mistake in the (now concluding) Eschenbach era, and it may yet be Baltimore's reversal in the Alsop term.

My choice is definite:

Lang Lang

I don't like him for his flashy showmanship and dummy sensitivity. I think he is not sincere.

I like his teacher, Daniel Barenboim much, much, much more (as pianist). I'm suprised by your criticism. From my point of view he is noble pianist. What about his Beethoven Piano Sonatas? But as conductor he isn't exceptional in nothing, I think.

I think this is just her typical female temperament.

WALTZING MATILDA IS NUMBER ONE AGAIN IN AUSTRALIA!???

That made me chuckle

I don't get it.... lol?

Anyways I heard Yo-yo Ma play Shostakovich Cello No.1 concerto today on the radio and it sounded pretty pathetic tbh. I think he is just too gentle and elegant which is not how you play shosta from what I gather. The recording I have which is played by Han-Na Chang with LSO is much better. That Girl is crazy. Totally thrashes her Cello and it sounds SO good. Just like shosta should sound like. From what i've heard of yo-yo so far I haven'e been like OMFG he is awesome. Yes he is good. But not Jaw Droppingly good like Perlman on the violin. Love that guy

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"The next few years of your life are going to be hard and miserable if you want to be good" - My percussion teacher..
Damn

Ludovyk feels that Daniel Barenboim's success is based on self-promotion.
I have no view on that, as Mr. B. isn't involved in the music that I enjoy.
The comment does, however remind me of a certain American jazz trombonist whose name is familiar to many British jazz fans such as myself. He runs a record label, guests with many bands, and has a cool image. I went to hear him play with a band in Yorkshire, England, some time in the 1990s. He was so bad that I wondered whether I was just listening badly and missing the point. Over the years I have heard him on CD, and I have raised the issue with other jazz enthusiasts; they all agree that he is useless, but he's a good self-promoter. On the other hand, his services to jazz are immense. It's just that he shouldn't play.

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"Music is a social act of communication among people, a gesture of friendship, the strongest there is."
- Malcolm Arnold.