Szell came to Cleveland in 1946 to take over its respected if undersized orchestra, which was struggling to recover from the disruptions of World War II.

Throughout his teenage years he performed with orchestras in this dual role, eventually making appearances as composer, pianist and conductor, as he did with the Berlin Philharmonic at age seventeen.

[9] Szell quickly realized that he was never going to make a career out of being a composer or pianist and that he much preferred the artistic control he could achieve as a conductor.

In fact, Szell ended up conducting part of the world premiere recording of Don Juan for Strauss.

The composer had arranged for Szell to rehearse the orchestra for him, but having overslept, showed up an hour late to the recording session.

[10] In the fifteen years during and after World War 1, Szell worked with opera houses and orchestras in Europe: in Berlin, Strasbourg — where he succeeded Otto Klemperer at the Municipal Theatre — Prague, Darmstadt, and Düsseldorf, before becoming principal conductor, in 1924, of the Berlin Staatsoper, which had replaced the Royal Opera.

[11] At the outbreak of war in Europe in 1939, Szell was returning via the U.S. from an Australian tour and ended up settling with his family in New York City.

“A new leaf will be turned over with a bang!” said Szell, who was named Music Director and Conductor of The Cleveland Orchestra in January 1946.

The Orchestra's previous music director, Erich Leinsdorf, had temporarily vacated his post after being drafted into the armed forces.

Following intense negotiations that included granting Szell complete artistic control over personnel, programming, scheduling, and recording, the Orchestra's Board of Trustees appointed him the ensemble's fourth music director.

[16] Shortly after accepting the position, Szell remarked that he would "dedicate all [his] efforts...to make The Cleveland Orchestra second to none in quality of performance.

[20] Not long into his tenure, Szell began making guest appearances in other cities, especially New York, and Cleveland steadily gained a reputation as one of the world's leading ensembles.

[24] As early as the 1955-56 season, Szell recognized the need for an outdoor venue at which the Orchestra would host summer concerts and programs.

[26] Around the same time, Szell determined that the Orchestra needed to embark on its first international tour if it hoped to keep pace with other major symphonies.

By the 1958-59 season, acoustic renovations had been completed on a new stage — the Szell Shell — that surrounded the musicians and projected their tone in a different way, eliminating “dryness” and providing clearer-sounding strings.

[30] In July 1968, the Orchestra opened its new summer home, Blossom Music Center, about 25 miles south of Cleveland, providing Szell and his musicians with year-round employment.

[31] Two years later, in May 1970, the Orchestra continued to advance its reputation internationally by touring to the Far East, including stops in Japan and Korea.

[33] During a concert in Anchorage, Alaska, Szell ceased conducting momentarily and, as cellist Michael Haber recalled, "I felt a chill through my body...I remember thinking something was terribly wrong.

[38] Preoccupied with phrasing, transparency, balance and architecture, Szell also insisted upon hitherto unheard-of rhythmic discipline from his players.

[38] Video footage also shows that Szell took care to explain what he wanted and why, expressed delight when the orchestra produced what he was aiming for, and avoided over-rehearsing parts that were in good shape.

In response to such criticism, Szell expressed this credo: "The borderline is very thin between clarity and coolness, self-discipline and severity.

A month after having recorded the concerto in Cleveland (October 1959), it was to be performed at Carnegie Hall, as part of an annual two-week tour of the Eastern United States along with Prokofiev's Symphony No.

I remember how you played these things in Philadelphia [over twenty years earlier at the Robin Hood Dell when Szell was guest conductor and Duff was a student at Curtis]."

"Szell primarily conducted works from the core Austro-German classical and romantic repertoire, from Haydn, Mozart and Beethoven, through Mendelssohn, Schumann, and Brahms and on to Wagner, Bruckner, Mahler and Strauss.

"[46] He did program contemporary music, however; he gave numerous world premieres in Cleveland, and he was particularly associated with such composers as Dutilleux, Walton, Prokofiev, Hindemith and Bartók.

[38] After World War II Szell became closely associated with the Concertgebouw Orchestra of Amsterdam, where he was a frequent guest conductor and made a number of recordings.

[3][50] Szell had homes on Park Avenue in New York City and in Shaker Heights, near Cleveland's orchestra hall.

Béla Bartók: Ludwig van Beethoven: Johannes Brahms: Anton Bruckner: Claude Debussy: Antonín Dvořák: Joseph Haydn: Zoltán Kodály: Gustav Mahler: Felix Mendelssohn: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: Modest Mussorgsky: Sergei Prokofiev: Maurice Ravel Franz Schubert: Robert Schumann: Jean Sibelius: Bedřich Smetana: Richard Strauss: Igor Stravinsky: Pyotr Tchaikovsky: Richard Wagner: William Walton: