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Finally.

“My long-delayed debut with the Chicago Symphony took place at Ravinia in August 1954, two years [sic] later than originally planned. In one of the concerts, the violinist Ruggiero Ricci and the cellist Paul Tortelier played the Brahms Double Concerto, but as a result of the intense humidity in the park, Tortelier’s bow slipped during the cello’s opening cadenza. He stopped, shook his head, and kept on repeating, ‘No good, no good,’ until we started again.

“These performances with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Ravinia were an absolute joy. I still remember the performance of Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony during our first concert—the most wonderful musical experience of my professional life up to that time. The orchestra’s music director was another Hungarian, Fritz Reiner, who, along with George Szell in Cleveland, Antal Dorati in Dallas, and Eugene Ormandy in Philadelphia, was one of the Hungarian conductors who helped build the excellence of today’s modern American orchestras. Even more than the much-feared Szell, Reiner was infamous among orchestra musicians for his dictatorial behavior. But he did marvelous things for the Chicago Symphony. Despite the imperfect acoustical environment of Ravinia at that time, I had no doubt that this was the finest ensemble I had ever conducted.”*

Reviews from the Chicago Tribune of three of the performances are here, here, and here.

August 3, 1954

August 5, 1954

Original program for August 7, 1954 (see below)

Original program for August 8, 1954 (see below)

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Of course, things rarely go as originally planned. Alexander Uninsky canceled due to illness and was replaced by Jacob Lateiner for the August 8 program, also performing Prokofiev’s Third Piano Concerto. Tchaikovsky’s Fifth Symphony switched concerts, along with Mozart’s G minor symphony and Strauss’s Don Juan. And Wagner’s Prelude to Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg was unfortunately dropped altogether.

*Text excerpted from Memoirs by Sir Georg Solti. Reviews courtesy of Proquest via the Chicago Public Library.

Note: Post was revised on August 14, 2012, to include the program insert further detailing changes to the August 7 and 8 concerts.