The Moment Before the Downbeat

On a Thursday evening in 1951, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra sat tuning in Orchestra Hall. Oboes bleated against cellos. Timpani rumbled beneath shrieking violins. A visitor in the balcony leaned to her husband and whispered, "This is awful." Eighty musicians, each world-class, each playing independently — and the result was pure chaos. Then Fritz Reiner walked to the podium. He said nothing.…