THE FRITZ REINER LEGACY NOW PRESERVED ON CD

Fritz Reiner (1888-1963), the Hungarian-born conductor who raised the Chicago Symphony to the heights during the last decade of his life with a method compounded equally of skill and intimidation, ranked with Arturo Toscanini and George Szell among the legendary tyrants of the podium. There is ample documentation of his blazing temper, his tiny beat (which, he claimed, forced the players to concentrate)--and his acutely sensitive ear for pitch and balance.

While Reiner specialized in 19th-Century repertory, he was hardly a subjectively Romantic interpreter. His work was, rather, forthright, marked by kinetic energy, rhythmic crispness and exceptionally clean orchestral sonority.

Reiner, in his lifetime a respected but less than universally appreciated artist, would seem to be becoming a venerated figure in death. His monument, currently being erected by RCA, is a series of compact discs devoted to his late-1950s recordings with the Chicago Symphony, which were originally produced by Richard Mohr and engineered by Lewis Layton.

These reissues reveal a man totally in control of his materials and of his orchestra, a splendid aggregation with a powerfully homogeneous string section--rich and vibrating, considerably more lush than one recalls--agile solo winds and lean, athletic-sounding brass.

In the CDs most recently added to the list one continues to be impressed by the thoughtfulness Reiner brought to the overly familiar, the likes of Tchaikovsky’s “Pathetique” Symphony (5602), Dvorak’s “New World” (5606) and, of all the unlikely repertory, Tchaikovsky’s “1812” Overture and portions of “The Nutcracker” (5642). These are shapely, finely detailed, energetic performances.

But there could also be a certain curtness in Reiner’s work, as in Prokofiev’s “Alexander Nevsky” (5605), where there is a glossing over of the composer’s exactingly plotted dynamics in the “Battle on Ice” section--it’s all too loud and rigid. Then too, this “Nevsky” is blighted by an English translation of the Russian text, sung by a put-upon sounding chorus unable to produce the requisite, richly labial Slavic sound. The inaptly lightweight mezzo-soprano soloist is Rosalind Elias.

The accompanying “Lt. Kije” Suite, however, expertly conveys the wit inherent in Prokofiev’s alternations of angularity and lyric breadth.

A number of short items are included with the larger works--quick, rhythmical pieces that are rather brutally banged out, their orchestral brilliance notwithstanding: Dvorak’s “Carnival” and Smetana’s “Bartered Bride” overtures and the Polka and Fugue from Weinberger’s “Schwanda,” all fillups for the “New World” Symphony. The same hard-edged approach works marvelously, however, for the spiffy little “Colas Breugnon” Overture of Kabalevsky, a side-dish for the “Pathetique.”

The most valuable and imposing releases of the Reiner-RCA series thus far are those devoted to large chunks of operas by Richard Strauss, “Elektra” and “Salome” (5603), and a pairing of Bartok’s “Concerto for Orchestra” and “Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta” (5604).

The Strauss title roles are taken by soprano Inge Borkh, whose big, smokily sexy voice and forceful dramatic projection illuminate both Elektra’s dementia and her femininity, as well as Salome’s primal passions (if not her youthfulness). Borkh is partnered in “Elektra” by the craggily sympathetic Orest of Paul Schoeffler. And everywhere, Reiner’s orchestra swoops, screams, sighs, seethes and surges gloriously.

Reiner’s reading of Bartok’s “Concerto for Orchestra” craftily balances the sugar and spice of this most popular and most abused--by Romantically inclined interpreters--of Bartok’s works, and the orchestra puts on a dazzling virtuoso show.

This edition of the “Music for SPC” may lack the variety of expression found in some other recordings and, certainly, the huge string ensemble employed contradicts the composer’s “chamber music” notions about this piece. But such mundane critical considerations crumble before the juggernaut excitement of the interpretation.

RCA’s sonics, notable in their time for an unusual combination of clarity and resonance, emerge even more handsomely in the digital remasterings on CD, in spite of vestiges of the quaint ping-ponging--the excessive directionality--on which early stereo prided itself.

In matters of documentation RCA proves stingy and uninspired. There’s plenty of the usual music-appreciation palaver about Tchaikovsky, Dvorak, etc., but no biography of Fritz Reiner, if that can be believed, or history of the Chicago Symphony (in which RCA played such a prominent part), nor any clue as to recording dates or locales. Hardly the way to perpetuate a legend--or to educate listeners.