Symphonies 1 And 9

From the liner notes by Claudia Cassidy, Music Critic, The Chicago Tribune: This (April 1961 Orchestra Hall performance) " was Beethoven of power and mystery and towering scope, formidable in that it invoked powers not easily explained, elemental in that it seemed plucked not just from instruments, human and man made, but from the air. It had deep tenderness, a welling beauty, the surging crescendo of double fisted power. And not the least of its marvels, there in mesmeric command was Fritz Reiner, as if he had never been ill a day in his life." " Such was the Beethoven Ninth that night and as recorded the following day, along with the lustrous First Symphony, that had been its concert companion piece."