Fritz Reiner, Maestro and Martinet

Recipient of an ASCAP Deems Taylor award in the classical music category (2006).

"A lively, polished, and succinct writer and scholar of the first rank, Kenneth Morgan has filled a critical gap left by Reiner's previous biographer, focusing as he does on Fritz Reiner's musicianship. Through impeccable research and revealing interviews, Morgan offers unprecedented insights into those distinctive characteristics that made Reiner one of the greatest conductors of all time. Especially welcome is his detailed discussion of the famous legacy of recordings that keeps Reiner's memory alive, even to those too young to have heard him in concert."--Steven Hillyer, editor of Podium

"Kenneth Morgan's eminently readable Fritz Reiner is a highly provocative and well-researched biography of one of the most interesting musicians who worked in the United States. It will certainly be of great value to all those interested in this legendary conductor."--Leonard Slatkin, music director, National Symphony Orchestra

"In the galaxy of brilliant Chicago Symphony maestri including such giants as Theodore Thomas, Frederick Stock, Georg Solti, and the incumbent Daniel Barenboim, Fritz Reiner was a masterful conductor in the great tradition, modest in demeanor yet fierce on behalf of the highest musical standards."--Danny Newman, Lyric Opera Chicago