land to pursue his own career in the bigger cities of New York and, later, Chicago. For Erich Leinsdorf, the next music director (1943-46), timing was everything — and World War II largely precluded him from making much impact in Cleveland. Many of the ensemble’s musicians were on leave for military duty, and Leinsdorf himself was away part of the time for military service. Evenso, he made some solid recordings, led a variety of radio broadcasts, and re-affirmed his own bona fides for the high-powered international career he enjoyed in the ensuing decades. The Szell Era: Rise to International Fame George Szell, music director from 1946 until his death in 1970, took a credibly good orchestra and made it great. It’s not that he put The Cleveland Orchestra on the map, for it had been touring around the U.S. for years. It was more that he took the stage and insisted that Cleveland could be — in real fact, would become — as good
as any orchestra anywhere. His legendary standards focused 100 musicians toward a kind of peerless perfection that dazzled many ears. Just as a great restaurant grows its reputation through delivering consistent excellence, Szell was concerned with repeatability. Day in and day out, critics and audiences around the world could more and more count on The Cleveland Orchestra to deliver a great performance, everytime, anywhere. That predictability, coupled with the rise of audiophile home listening equipment (and stereo sound) turned Cleveland into a powerhouse in the recording studio, creating an outstanding catalog across the standard repertoire, many selections from which still hold their own as much as half a century later. The Orchestra’s ambitions also grew along with Szell’s tenure, touring internationally to amaze Europeans unaccustomed to such constant perfection in live performance. A ten-week tour in 1965 included a month in the Soviet Union, which became legendary among Cleveland’s musicians,
Education has long been a fundamental part of The Cleveland Orchestra’s programs each year, including teaching and coaching future musicians — such as these young students in 1929.
Severance Hall 2017-18
About the Orchestra
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