Customer Reviews

Fritz Reiner, Maestro and Martinet (Music in American Life)

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As Dr. Reiner conducted the first Chicago Symphony Orchestra concert I ever heard, I have held a fond place in my heart towards him. Therefore it is a treat to have this more analytical biography of the musical life of this great Hungarian-American conductor to accompany Philip Hart's 1994 "Fritz Reiner: A Biography", which was rather anecdotal in its approach. Morgan has also blessed us with his detailed information on the Reiner recordings, which for the standard repertoire, as well as for most of the orchestral works of Richard Strauss, and also some surprise offerings, my favorite being Alan Hovhaness' "Mysterious Mountain" Symphony No.2, has created one of the most important American archives of classical musical interpretation, ranking finally, I believe, in importance even above that of the recorded musical legacy of Leonard Bernstein. Hopefully still more of the older commercial recordings and the taped live performances of Reiner with various orchestras over the decades will be recovered, engineered, and released on CD (or whatever format the future holds for us) - Kenneth Morgan has gone the full measure to document those issued to date.

Kenneth Morgan's book seems to be only the second full-length work devoted to the eminent conductor Fritz Reiner (1888-1963). It is thoroughly researched and Morgan has had the benefit of access to extensive archival material including Reiner's own papers. As an academic study it fills an important gap. However as a biography of Fritz Reiner it does not tell the whole story.
Morgan, not a musician but a history professor, is really only interested in Reiner's career, achievements and legacy as a conductor, teacher and recording artist. Thus the usual biographical details are summarised in the first (20-page) chapter, which reads like a separate article, leaving Morgan free to spend the rest of the book on charting Reiner's career. Reiner was married three times but we learn little about his wives or his three children. Certainly readers are interested in Reiner's friendships with major figures like Bartók and Richard Strauss, but they are also interested in what Reiner was like away from the concert hall and the opera house. Reiner was a private man but surely it is the job of a biographer to provide insights into his subject's personal life, or at least appropriate parts of it.
I also found some features of Morgan's writing style unhelpful, particularly his penchant for setting out streams of information rather than listing it (or, better, moving it to an appendix). A half-page paragraph running through the repertoire which Reiner conducted in a season or a location quickly becomes indigestible. The writing style is occasionally maladroit, as with this example from page 157: "He did not find a place for all leading American composers on his programs, notably Charles Ives, Elliott Carter, and Roger Sessions". There are also some factual lapses, such as including Flotow's opera Martha among French repertoire (p.34) and stating that the original version of Mozart's G minor symphony (K.550) has oboes rather than clarinets (p.214 - there are oboe parts in the `clarinet version' too). Two uses of the non-word `miniscule' should have been picked up in proof reading.
But for all my criticisms, this is an important and valuable book. Reiner was a significant figure in 20th century music, but he was not a charismatic man and he remains much less well known than he deserves. It is unlikely we will get another biography of similar quality in the foreseeable future so I certainly recommend buying and reading this one. Print and paper quality are good and there is a very interesting selection of photographs.

It is a pleasure to read Kenneth Morgan's excellent biography of Fritz Reiner, giving music lovers a wonderful account of his extraordinary life, far surpassing the pathetic, earlier work by Philip Hart.

Although one could still hope for a biography even richer and more complete than this, Morgan at least gives us a well-balanced account of the great conductor's career, and writes with a style infinitely superior to that possessed by Hart.

This book is a real pleasure to read, and I recommend it to everyone interested in Dr. Reiner's career.