Yet another fine Reiner.
I appreciate them all, but Concerto is quite special.
You don’t want to be the first violinist making a mistake in this orchestra 
Nope! LOL
Especially given the power conductors had at this time. He could fire you on a whim, take away your pension, etc.
I’ve been on kind of a Linn run this afternoon. This one is very interesting - a collection of Mozart piano concerti arranged for piano quartet. Very nice.
Famous, possibly apocryphal, story about Reiner, known for his small gestures when conducting, about a member of the Chicago Symphony sitting towards the back of the stage who brought a telescope to rehearsal. When the orchestra returned from a break he again focused in on Reiner who was holding up a small piece of paper with the words YOU’RE FIRED. And he was.
This is true and to what I reference above.
Reiner purposely conducted with a small beat to force your attention to it. A bass player brought a telescope as a joke on his last day before retirement, was fired by Reiner, and lost his pension.
Hobson and the Sinfonia da Camera were artists in residence at the University of Illinois’s Krannert Center for the Performing Arts when my wife and I lived in Champaign in the ‘80s. They were a wonderful chamber orchestra, and Hobson a brilliant pianist, often conducting from the keyboard. We got very spoiled attending their concerts in the Center’s Great Hall - great musicianship and sound, little expense, and about 10 minutes from our home in downtown Champaign to our seats in the hall.
Ozawa was another tough conductor! But at least he smiled once in a while.
I forgot to mention another part of the story of the bass player with the telescope.
The means of firing was characteristic Reiner. He tore a small piece of paper from the score in front of him and wrote in small letters “You are fired.” Only the bass player with the telescope could read what the note. He was indeed fired, without his pension.
New release from ECM recordings under the Christmas tree this morning. It lives up to the stellar reviews, wonderful!
Nice talent, pleasing warm sound.
