Strauss: Also Sprach Zarathustra; Ein Heldenleben
This recording wasthehi-fi demo disc of the 1950s. On CD, it still sounds  pretty incredible; an achievement as remarkable technically as it is musically. And what playing!  Fritz Reiner sadistically enjoyed driving his players to despair. There's a famous story about  principal trumpeter Adolph (Bud) Herseth, who played his tricky little fanfare at the beginning of  the second half ofZarathustraso perfectly so many times that even Reiner finally gave up.  Most critics and Strauss lovers consider Reiner's performance ofA Hero's Lifeto be the  best ever committed to disc, and I'd be the last one to disagree. This is one of those recordings  where everything just went right.--David Hurwitz