Along similar lines, There was an review in the Philadelphia Inquirer Re: The Art of Eugene Ormandy (Biddulph Recordings 2 CD - good + rating) Recordings from 1923-1948 .... What kind of a violinist was he (Ormandy). In a 1923 take of Rimsky-Korsakov's 'Hymn to the Sun', his sound is thick and dark like molasses, and he doesn't hesitate to schmaltz it up. Pieces such as Herbert's 'Kiss Me Again' and Franz Drdla's 'Souvenir' (in which he is accompanied by his first wife, New York Philharmonic harpist Stephanie Goldner) must have helped to put the popular-song bug in his ear - a taste he did not fail to exercise later as one of the most recorded conductors ever. With the Dorsey brothers' concert orchestra, Ormandy leads an exceedingly sweet 'Was It a Dream?' The two-CD release reminds us that Ormandy was music director of the Minneapolis (now Minnesota) Symphony Orchestra, with takes of Charles Griffes' impressionistic 'The Pleasure Dome of Kubla Khan' and other works. With the Philadelphia Orchestra, he is heard in a 1940 recording of Barber's 'Essay No. 1 for Orchestra, Opus 12', Nicolai Miaskovsky's 'Symphony No. 21 in F Sharp Minor' and Richard Strauss' 'Sinfonia Domestica'. One movement of Mahler's 'Symphony No. 8' in included. Performed with the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, it comes from a 1948 live broadcast, and the sound quality is variable. But a certain humanity shines through, not to mention a greater sense of theater than is usually ascribed to Ormandy. .... Peter Dobrin Unfortunately, the review doen't give the CD Numbers. Mary Esterheld Office of the Deputy Provost