We now have a conducting "Hall of Fame"

On April 5, Gramophone magazine announced on its website the winners of its first annual "Hall of Fame" for classical musicians.  The criteria seems slim at best:  "Each spring we will admit new honourees – artists, producers, engineers and record executives – as voted for by Gramophone’s readers and visitors to its website. An initial list was drawn up (it was not comprehensive and all the omissions and suggestions have been notes for the next wave of voting) and voting took place over the past few months."  The categories include conductors, singers, pianists, string/brass players (sorry woodwinds), and ensembles.

It would be quite easy to challenge many of the choices in each category (although I was overjoyed to see Jussi Bjorling appear among the singers!), my focus is--of course--on the conductors, which includes a number of the "usual suspects."  They are (in alphabetical order):

Claudio Abbado
Sir John Barbirolli
Daniel Barenboim
Thomas Beecham
Leonard Bernstein
Pierre Boulez
Wilhelm Furtwangler
John Eliot Gardner
Nikolaus Harnoncourt
Herbert von Karajan
Carlos Kleiber
Otto Klemperer
Sir Simon Rattle
Sir Georg Solti
Arturo Toscanini

Surprise!  I disagree with some of the inclusions (and there may be a surprise or two among my own choices--or non-choices, as the case may be).  The list is obviously Eurocentric, consisting of only one American and few that have held major positions on this "side of the pond."  And while I may strongly disagree with von Karajan's politics, there is no discounting his contribution to the body of recorded classical music (setting aside his immense ego, of course).

That being said, it is difficult for me to include Barenboim amid this list of giants.  Again, my feelings here must be jaded by his personal decisions--namely abandoning his wife, Jacqueline du Pre, after her diagnosis of multiple sclerosis.  BUT--musically speaking--I did hear a number of his performances with the CSO and there were just too many times when he was just going through the motions.  And programing?  Don't get me going...Even the players will note that the "Danny" that they ended up hiring was not the same guy that had appeared so often as a guest (read Donald Peck).

Is Boulez listed because of his work as a conductor or a composer?  That is difficult to state as he was a major musical figure (as composer, not conductor) when I was an undergraduate, over 30 years ago.  As for Rattle, should he be listed in this Pantheon?  One has to truly wonder how his efforts will withstand the test of time.

As for those who are grievously missing, we must include Szell (how did he not make the first cut?), Stokowski (say all you may, but he brought classical music into the 20th century mainstream, probably at a time when needed most), and Walter.  And I've hardly waded into the deep pool of the great Hungarians of whom I have previously noted.

This is the problem with "lists".  For as many artists as appear upon them, there will be countless dissenting opinions as to who should be included.  Maybe that's just what makes the whole exercise just that much more interesting.

For the complete Hall of Fame, read here, and don't get me going on the pianists...