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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Camille Saint-Saëns: Symphony No. 3 in C Minor, Op. 78
Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 22 Jun 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Dvořák: Symphonies Nos. 2, 5 & 7- 9
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner, The Cleveland Orchestra
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 28 Oct 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner
Classical - Released by 3D Sound Remaster on 11 Jul 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rossini Overtures
Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Released by Classically on 13 Sep 2023
24-Bit 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Fritz Reiner conducts Respighi
Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Released by G.O.P. on 22 Dec 2023
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, vol. 20
Norbert Brainin, Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Released by ArnebAudio on 21 Mar 2024
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Brahms: Double concerto pour violon et violoncelle, Op. 102 (Mono Version)
Nathan Milstein, Gregor Piatigorsky, Fritz Reiner
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1952
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Bach: Suites pour orchestre Nos. 2 & 3 (Mono Version)
RCA Victor Orchestra, Fritz Reiner
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1955
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Liebermann: Concerto pour jazz band et orchestre symphonique - Strauss: Don Juan (Mono Version)
Sauter-Finegan Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner
Miscellaneous - Released by BNF Collection on 1 Jan 1957
24-Bit 96.0 kHz - Stereo -
Reiner Conducts Mozart & Bach
Classical - Released by Sony Classical on 11 Sep 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Tchaikovsky: 1812 Overture, Op. 49
Classical - Released by RCA Red Seal on 26 Jun 2009
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
The Great Classical Music #57 : Pëtr Iljič Čajkovskij // Max Bruck
Jascha Heifetz, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner, David Oïstrakh, London Symphony Orchestra, Lovro von Matacic
Classical - Released by Ermitage Records on 30 Oct 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Strauss: Der Bürger Als Edelmann, Op. 60 (Album of 1947)
Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner
Pop - Released by Ginkgo Classics on 31 May 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Strauss: Ein Heldenleben
Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO)
Classical - Released by Vinyle Numérique on 28 Oct 2022
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Manuel De Fall: El Amor Brujo (Love by Witchcraft) (Album of 1947)
Carol Brice, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Fritz Reiner
Pop - Released by Ginkgo Classics on 31 May 2021
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Rachmaninoff: Rhapsody on a Theme of Paganini, Op. 43
Arthur Rubinstein, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 17 Sep 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Schumann: Piano Concerto in A Minor, Op. 54
Van Cliburn, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 18 Dec 2020
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Cartoon Classical
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Fritz Reiner, The Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra and Karl Jancik
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 10 Nov 2015
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Symphony No. 41 In C, K. 551 ("Jupiter")
Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 23 Nov 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Richard Strauss: Salome (Highlights)
Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO), Richard Strauss, Inge Borkh, Fritz Reiner
Classical - Released by Music Manager on 25 Oct 2012
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo -
Mussorgsky, Tchaikovsky, Borodin, Kabalevsky and Glinka
Fritz Reiner, Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Classical - Released by Mangora Classical on 10 Jul 2016
16-Bit CD Quality 44.1 kHz - Stereo