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"I think that if my voice hadn't been suitable for opera, I would still be a singer of some kind. I just recorded an album of duets with singers like Josh Groban, Susan Boyle and Harry Connick, Jr., and I'm very pleased with how that turned out. I love all kinds of music, but perhaps because I grew up in my parents' traveling zarzuela company, I especially love the music of the theater. When I was a very young man, I sang in musicals and operettas before I switched over to opera, and I still love performing the songs from "West Side Story." Singing popular music makes me feel young, and it's exciting for me to be able to work outside my usual operatic repertoire. I still have the fondest memories of working with John Denver [pictured] three decades ago, and even today, whenever I hear his voice, I'm still awestruck by its effortless beauty and emotion." (Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times | Archive Photos/Reuters /December 28, 2012)
Asking some of the finest classical conductors in the world what pop, jazz or rock music they listen to seemed like a quixotic idea. Even if they had favorites, what were the chances conductors would take time out from their busy schedules to respond?
As it turned out most of those queried did respond, and with gusto. Riccardo Muti, music director of the Chicago Symphony, was asked while in transit to a conducting gig at the Italian Senate for the president of Italy. When he forgot to mention another favorite, he emailed again two days later on his way to Munich because he wanted to add Celine Dion's name to his list.
The collection, tied to this Los Angeles Times story, grew out of random comments made by Detroit Symphony music director Leonard Slatkin during an unrelated interview. After mentioning the British rock bands Emerson, Lake & Palmer and YES, the conductor suddenly said, "People forget how good these groups were. They were astonishingly good musicians."
PHOTOS: Conductors picks their favorites in pop
Would other conductors share Slatkin's enthusiasm? Or would their choices merely be guilty pleasures? Among the responses, there was very little duplication. Louis Armstrong, Art Tatum, Björk and Prince were chosen more than once, but otherwise these 17 singular conductors came up with different choices.
Marin Alsop was the only conductor to choose the 1960s hard rock band Deep Purple. She also sent a list, too long to include here, showing examples of how Deep Purple and guitarist Ritchie Blackmore's English-American band, Rainbow, fused their songs with music by Tallis, Bach, Grieg, Elgar, Richard Strauss, Gershwin and others.
Some of the conductor's responses have been lightly edited for clarity, with their original email formatting largely retained.
