Fritz Reiner
Fritz Reiner was a legend among conductors. Universally admired for his music-making, widely disliked for his aggressive and exacting temperament, and survived by a legacy of definitive recorded performances, he was largely responsible for the artistic ascendancy of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, and exerted considerable influence on generations of musicians.
Born in Budapest in 1888, he studied piano with his mother and, at the age of 15, entered the Franz Liszt Academy -- an institution that also boasts Bela Bartók, Zoltan Kodály, Ernst von Dohnányi, George Szell, Eugene Ormandy, Georg Solti and Antal Dorati as graduates. Reiner gained conducting experience at a number of regional opera houses before eventually returning to Budapest in 1911 to serve at the city's Volksoper, where his reputation as a conductor of special abilities finally emerged.
In 1914 Reiner accepted a position at the Dresden Court Opera, where he formed a fortuitous relationship with both the conductor Arthur Nikisch and the composer Richard Strauss; Reiner would eventually give the German premier of Strauss' Die Frau ohne Schatten, and would remain a devoted interpreter of the composer's works throughout his career. The economic chaos and emergent anti-Semitism that followed the First World War made Reiner anxious to leave Europe, and an invitation (in 1921) to become the music director of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra provided just the right opportunity. From that point onward, Reiner's career was firmly rooted in the United States, where he became a citizen in 1928.
After resigning his post at Cincinnati Reiner became a professor of conducting at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia, where his students included both the young Leonard Bernstein and Lukas Foss; Bernstein, in particular, credited Reiner with a great deal of influence in his development.
In 1938 he became the director of the Pittsburgh Symphony -- one of several positions that established Reiner as a fine builder of orchestras, with a talent for steering ensembles toward new levels of quality and success. A number of Reiner's well-known recordings stem from his tenure there. Guest appearances during his Pittsburgh years include those at Covent Garden and the San Francisco Symphony. From Pittsburgh he moved to the Metropolitan opera, where he remained on the conductor roster until 1953; his advocacy of Strauss' operas was especially strong there, and his performances of Salome and Elektra number among the most memorable evenings in the Met's history.
1953 was a watershed year for Reiner, since it was then that he assumed the directorship of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. This was to become his signature partnership, and the position that would establish his lasting legacy. His relationship with the orchestra was never a smooth one -- he was known for hostility and impatience in rehearsal, and for firing musicians for mistakes in concerts -- but he undeniably raised the ensemble from its status as a good American orchestra to that of one of the finest in the world. Unlike a number of other prominent conductors who excelled in narrow corners of the musical canon, Reiner maintained his excellent standards and clarifying precision throughout an especially broad repertory that crossed boundaries of nationality and style. He was as renowned for his performances of new works, such as Bartók's Concerto for Orchestra -- a piece that Reiner himself commissioned from the dying composer -- and Alan Hovhaness' Mysterious Mountain as he was for his Mahler, Strauss and Haydn. His tenure in Chicago also resulted in what was then an unprecedented volume of fine recordings, some of which still remain as favorites, despite the improved fidelity of modern competitors. Reiner resigned from Chicago in 1962 (after only nine seasons), and died the following year of heart failure.
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Rimsky-Korsakov: Schéhérazade, Op. 35 & Stravinsky: Le chant du rossignol - Sony Classical Originals
Classical - Lançado por RCA Red Seal em 12 de jan. de 2015
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky: Pictures at an Exhibition, A Night on Bald Mountain...
Classical - Lançado por Living Stereo em 14 de mar. de 2014
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra, Sz. 116
Classical - Lançado por RCA Red Seal em 1 de jan. de 2000
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Dvorák: New World Symphony
Classical - Lançado por Living Stereo em 3 de mar. de 2014
24-Bit 88.2 kHz - Stereo -
Respighi: Pines of Rome, Fountains of Rome by Fritz Reiner (2023 Remastered, Chicago 1960)
Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Lançado por Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording em 11 de nov. de 2021
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini: Overtures - Sony Classical Originals
Classical - Lançado por RCA Red Seal em 1 de jan. de 1960
A discografia ideal da QobuzQualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Hovhaness: Mysterious Mountain / Prokofiev: Lieutenant Kijé / Stravinsky: The Fairy's Kiss: Divertimento
Classical - Lançado por Living Stereo em 3 de mar. de 1995
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff by Rubinstein: Piano Concerto No.2, Rhapsody on a theme of Paganini
Arthur Rubinstein, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Lançado por Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording em 1 de nov. de 2021
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mozart : Symphonies Nos. 39, 40 & 41 (Diapason n°556)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra / Fritz Reiner
Classical - Lançado por Les Indispensables de Diapason em 25 de fev. de 2008
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 3 in D minor, Op. 30 by Vladimir Horowitz (2024 Remastered, New York 1951)
Vladimir Horowitz, Fritz Reiner, RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Lançado por Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording em 14 de dez. de 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: The Isle of the Dead, Op. 29 by Fritz Reiner and Serge Koussevitsky
Fritz Reiner, Serge Koussevitzky, Boston Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Lançado por Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording em 9 de jun. de 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Vienna
Classical - Lançado por Living Stereo em 1 de set. de 1995
A discografia ideal da Qobuz24-Bit 176.4 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss Waltzes
Classical - Lançado por RCA Red Seal em 23 de out. de 2023
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Strauss In High Fidelity
Classical - Lançado por Living Stereo em 1 de fev. de 1993
A discografia ideal da QobuzQualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Iberia
Classical - Lançado por RCA Red Seal em 4 de nov. de 2016
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Overture solennelle, 1812, Op. 49; Marche slave, Op. 32 - Sony Classical Originals
Classical - Lançado por RCA Red Seal em 20 de ago. de 2010
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90 - Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21 ((Remastered))
Classical - Lançado por RCA Red Seal em 25 de nov. de 2013
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 "Pathétique"
Classical - Lançado por RCA Red Seal em 4 de nov. de 2016
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony 9 ("Choral")
Classical - Lançado por RCA Gold Seal em 10 de ago. de 1987
A discografia ideal da QobuzQualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symph. 3, 5, 6, 7
Classical - Lançado por RCA Red Seal em 23 de abr. de 2002
Qualidade de CD de 16 bits 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 35 by Jascha Heifetz (2023 Remastered, Chicago 1957)
Jascha Heifetz, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Lançado por Alexandre Bak - Classical Music Reference Recording em 11 de out. de 2023
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo