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The May 7, 1973, issue of Time featured a cover story by the magazine’s music critic William Bender, calling Sir Georg Solti “the fastest baton in the west.”

Bender’s article, “Solti and Chicago: A Musical Romance,” described to Time‘s readers what most everyone in Chicago already knew: “Solti’s love for the orchestra, and its for him, is obvious. ‘It’s a marvelous thing to be musically happily married,’ he says. ‘I am and I know, I’m a romantic type of musician, and this is a romantic orchestra. That is our secret: at a time when everybody is doing exactly the opposite, we are unafraid to be romantic.'”

At the end of the article, Bender briefly rates U.S. orchestra, planting Chicago firmly at the top, only writing “Sine qua non.”

The complete article is available here. If you are a Time subscriber, you can also access the article on their webpage.