Search - Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms, Felix Mendelssohn :: Great Conductors of the 20th Century: Fritz Reiner

Superb Collection...

Henry Mautner | Ludlow, KY, USA | 12/02/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Dating from the mid 1940's to the late 1950's, this is an unusual and wonderful collection of recordings by the late Fritz Reiner. The latter period constituted his "Golden Age" - his storied collaboration with the Chicago Symphony produced some of the most spectacular recordings of the 20th Century, and a number of interesting examples are included here, including the wonderful Brahms "Tragic Overture."



But the most fascinating recordings in this collection for Reiner fans are those preceding his Chicago years. The "Til Eulenspiegel" recording, from the early '50's in New York City, is a wonder - it is certainly one of the most completely satisfying recordings ever made of this very early Strauss work, and it has become the favorite (out of nearly a dozen) in my collection. His recording of "El Amor Brujo" is equally fascinating - I have loved his Chicago Symphony recording with Leontyne Price for decades, but my recent invited guest preferred this recording hands-down, despite the somewhat inferior sound and less-than-hair-trigger playing. She found it more idiomatically Spanish, and I grudgingly agree.



Perhaps best of all, for less than the price of a single modern bit of plastic, I own - forever - a living slice of a truly glorious musical era. Considering its status as a "compilation," I suggest picking it up while the pickin's good - these collections generally don't stick around for very long, and this one is truly terrific."

A Real Find!

D. J. Zabriskie | Park Ridge, NJ USA | 12/04/2004

(5 out of 5 stars)

""Great Conductors of the 20th Century" has proven to be a fascinating, revealing series of recordings, and perhaps no volume in the series has shown itself to be more revealing than this one.

While Toscanini is generally given credit for being a literally faithful interpreter of scores, he made minor adjustments even to the scores of composers he revered, like Beethoven and Brahms. The legendary conductor who came the closest to being a literal interpreter was Fritz Reiner.

This is not to say the Reiner's performances were dry or lacked character. Far from it! Like Szell, Solti, and to a lesser extant, Toscanini, Reiner sought to sublimate his ego in the service of the composer's intent, as indicated in the score. Reiner's achievement was to inject less of his personality into his performances than those of the other Apollonarians. When we listen to a Reiner recording, therefore, we don't find out a lot about Fritz Reiner. We do discover a lot about Beethoven, or Brahms, or Wagner, or Ravel, or Bartok, or whoever else's music he's conducting. It's sort of like watching a production of Shakespeare, mounted by a great director, who shapes the overall vision of the play, and lets the actors play their parts with as little editorial comment but as much faithfullness as possible.

Reiner's object is to mount a performance which gets the audience to love the composer's work as much as he does. He doesn't seem to really care what you think about him.

I bought this set on a recommedation from a friend about the Brahms 2nd Piano Concerto with Emil Gilels. I was not disappointed. Gilels delivers his usual robust, muscular performance and Reiner and the Chicago Symphony are right there with him, every step of the way. The Andante - piu adagio is as gentle and refined as the other movements are strong and confident. This is one extraodinary performance.

Beethoven's "Coriolan Overture," which preceeds the Brahms, is, if anything, even better. It hits you like a stiff left jab in the nose, and once it has your attention, it doesn't let go of it. The Brahms "Tragic Overture" is equally impressive.

"Dawn and Siegfried's Ride" from Wagner's "Gotterdammerung" reveals just how beautiful Wagner's music can sound when given a lean and disciplined approach.

Perhaps one reason Reiner is so hard to pin down as a conductor is that he was a true cosmopolitan, who appreciated the differences in flavors, feelings and aromas of different cultures. Thus, he is equally at home presenting the shining, delicate surfaces, and underlying subtelties, of Ravel's "Le Tombeau de Couperin," or the firey passion and mysticism of de Falla's "El Amor Brujo" as he is with the German repertoire. In fact, this particular version of "El Amor Brujo" is to die for. Carol Brice may not be able to match Leontyne Price in terms of glorious tone, but she more than makes up for it in an idiomatically correct performance, full of that Iberian fire that Price, for all her talent, just couldn't fathom.

By the way, the other selections, by Mozart, Mendelssohn, Bartok

and Richard Strauss, are all up to the same high standards.

This CD is a special musical treat, and, at the price, a real FIND!"

One of the great conductors of the 20th century

Marc Haegeman | Gent, Belgium | 02/18/2005

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Undoubtedly, Fritz Reiner's twofer is one of the most satisfying releases in this batch of the excellent "Great Conductors of the 20th Century" series. A lot of the material covered here is not only new to CD, most is moreover of the highest order.



One will be hard-pressed to find more gripping recordings of Beethoven's "Coriolan", Brahms' "Tragic Ouverture" and 2nd Piano concerto (which highlights the superb cooperation between Reiner and the Russian keyboard giant Emil Gilels again). There is also an excellent Mozart Symphony #36 "Linz". All are vintage Chicago Symphony of the late 1950s (with a well-nigh ideal orchestral balance, a stunning clarity of structure and excitingly incisive playing), magnified by truly awesome early stereo.



CD two also features an earlier account (1946) of de Falla's "El amor brujo" with soprano Carol Brice and the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, which Reiner headed from 1938 until 1948. Ravel's "Tombeau de Couperin" with the NBC Symphony Orchestra and Richard Strauss' "Till Eulenspiegel" with the RCA Victor Symphony Orchestra from the early 1950's rounds off this outstanding release. Both composers, Ravel and Strauss, have always been close to Reiner.



In short, a great introduction for anyone wishing to taste Fritz Reiner's art, as well as a must for collectors."