The Eroica symphony featured on Solti’s very first concert with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, in August 1954 at the Ravinia Festival. “I still remember the performance of Beethoven’s ‘Eroica’ Symphony during our first concert – the most wonderful musical experience of my life up to that time” (Memoirs, 103). During his celebrated tenure as Music Director of the Chicago Symphony (1969-1991) Solti recorded two complete cycles of Beethoven’s symphonies with the orchestra: the initial cycle (1972-1974) was the first recorded cycle in which all repeats were observed in all the symphonies; the second, (1986-1990) was a re-examination of the works in matters of tempo and metronome markings. This score of the Eroica shows the manner in which Solti recorded the venue and year of his performances of a given work, a practice seen in many of his conducting scores.

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