Conductors: Into the the Fray

The post of music director for the Chicago Symphony is sometimes known as a conductor's Waterloo. No wonder. Artur Rodzinski lasted exactly one year before the dissatisfied trustees ousted him. Rafael Kubelik was hounded out of the job by Claudia Cassidy, the relentlessly hostile—toward Kubelik, at any rate— but now retired critic of the Chicago Tribune. Jean Martinon quit last year after a series of disputes that culminated in a clash with his musicians over discipline. The only recent conductor to succeed in the job was the late Fritz Reiner, a Hungarian with Germanic musical...

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