Reiner bombastic? He was a superb orchestral technician who’s intepretations were quite subtle.
Oh, I met Fritz Reiner shortly before his death when I was young. He was a brilliant conductor and actually gave the Chicago that wonderful burnished tone that Solti inherited and expanded upon.
His accompaniment of Cliburn in the Rach Second recording is a bit boomy in places. Now I’m not sure that’s because of the limitations of the available technology in 1959 or what. But he completely covers the piano in a few climaxes, and that just shouldn’t happen. I do love their choice of tempo, though. And I was speaking of one particular recording.
But even the greats make mistakes. Witness the Toscanini recording of Haydn’s “Surprise” symphony with the NBC Symphony Orchestra. He rattles through the delicate minuet as if it were background music for a Keystone Kops car chase.
Without a doubt Reiner was one of the greatest maestros in history.