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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BRAHMS: Double Concerto / Violin Sonata No. 3 / BEETHOVEN: Violin Sonata No. 5 (Milstein) (1950-51)
Nathan Milstein, Artur Balsam, Vladimir Horowitz, Gregor Piatigorsky, Philadelphia Robin Hood Dell Orchestra, Fritz Reiner
Chamber Music - Released by Naxos on 29 Aug 2006
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Best of Classical - The 200 greatest works of classical music (More than 23 hours of the greatest classical music ever!)
Symphonic Music - Released by 200 Greatest Hits on 8 Apr 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tristan und Isolde (Melchior, Flagstad, Reiner) (1936)
Kirsten Flagstad, Lauritz Melchior, Royal Opera House Chorus, Covent Garden, London Philharmonic Orchestra, Fritz Reiner
Opera - Released by Naxos on 17 Sep 2000
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Best of Klassik: Die 200 grössten Werke der Klassischen Musik
Symphonic Music - Released by 200 Greatest Hits on 8 Apr 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fritz Reiner Conducts Shostakovich, Kodály, Weiner and Bartók
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 24 Feb 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Haydn: Symphony No. 101 in D "The Clock"; Symphony No. 95 in C Minor
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 25 Nov 2013
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: Piano Concerto No. 1 & The Nutcracker
Emil Gilels, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner
Classical - Released by Mangora Classic on 1 Jan 2014
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125 "Choral" & Symphony No. 1 in C Major, Op. 21
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 11 Nov 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 11 Nov 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fritz Reiner conducts Bartok live
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner, Yehudi Menuhin
Classical - Released by Archipel on 2 Dec 2022
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss : Elektra (New York, Metropolitan, 1952)
Astrid Varnay, Elisabeth Höngen, Paul Schöffler, Set Svanholm, Fritz Reiner
Full Operas - Released by OperaPrima-Carillon on 1 Jan 2003
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Concerto pour piano No. 3 (Mono Version)
Vladimir Horowitz, Fritz Reiner, RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1952
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
RACHMANINOV: Piano Concerto No. 2 / Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini (Kapell) (1950-1951)
William Kapell, Philadelphia Robin Hood Dell Orchestra, William Steinberg, Fritz Reiner
Classical - Released by Naxos on 15 Apr 2002
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Don Quixote, Op. 35 & Saint-Saëns: Cello Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 33 (Remastered)
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 16 Nov 2018
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Master of Music, Rachmaninoff - Piano Concerto No. 3, Op. 30, Vokalise Op. 34
Vladimir Horowitz, Fritz Reiner, Serge Rachmaninoff, RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra, Philadelphia Orchestra
Classical - Released by Oscardigital on 21 Jul 1998
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Ottorino Respighi: The Pines of Rome - The Fountains of Rome (Album of 1960)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner
Pop - Released by Ginkgo Classical on 30 Nov 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Reiner Sound (Mono Version)
Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1960
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Ravel: La Valse - Debussy: Images - Berlioz: La damnation de Faust (Remastered)
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 11 Sep 2020
24-Bit 192.0 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Scenes from Elektra & Salome
Classical - Released by Living Stereo on 11 Nov 1997
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms Piano Concerto in D Minor No.1
Arthur Rubinstein, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Released by In Vinyl We Trust on 12 Oct 2022
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Symphony No. 2 (Recorded 1960) (Live)
New York Philharmonic, Fritz Reiner
Classical - Released by New York Philharmonic on 8 Dec 2017
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo