I know this is classical music nerdy, but here is a master class in the conductors craft. Grainy, dull, black and white, yet riveting. The late, great, Carlos Kleiber conducting at Bayreuth. The soprano is Catarina Ligendza. Thanks for the tip, Alex Ross

The Shostakovich 4th is one of my most favorite pieces perhaps due to the way I first heard it; performed by the Boston Symphony, me  a naive college student walking in completely unprepared. I walked out a different person. This video is short. Make sure you listen to the end.

No particular order… James Levine Leonard Bernstein Erich Leinsdorf Christoph von Dohnanyi Michael Tilson Thomas Daniel Barenboim Sir Colin Davis Leonard Slatkin Mistislav Rostropovich Raphael Fruhbeck de Burgos Neemi Jarvi