As Reiner died in 1963, it seems clear that the 1967 review of the Symphonia domestica listed above was probably of a reissue, and so it proves: that recording was in fact made in 1956 (the mono version was reviewed in March 1958), which was three years after he had taken over the Chicago SO and by dint of his relentless and ruthless perfectionism (at the cost of making himself intensely disliked and feared) was turning it from a second-class into a first-class orchestra. This particular recorded performance quickly acquired the status of a classic, and its present reappearance on CD confirms Reiner as an outstanding Strauss interpreter. He obtains the utmost clarity from the huge orchestra's complex textures, with carefully considered balance throughout, meticulous observance of all the composer's rhythmic and dynamic nuances, and beautifully shaped phrasing, and though by the best modern standards the string sound is a trifle diffuse, the brilliance of the playing is obvious, and the big climaxes are quite thrilling.
Strauss apologists are constantly urging us to ignore the programmatic connotations of this intimate picture of the composer's home life (which for long has provoked so much accusation of bad taste) and listen to the work purely as music. Well all right if you can, and certainly there is plenty to admire in Strauss's virtuosity in counterpoint and scoring; but apart from the question of how, then, to interpret (for example) the baby's howling, in the face of so much vividly onomatopoeic or suggestive (employing that word in both its senses) detail this seems to me a perverse flouting of the composer's intentions.
Tod und Verklarung is also given a committed performance, but the recording is cruder, seemingly cramped for space, the brass blaring uncomfortably in places and sustained tutti fortes being brutally harsh. Nobility, already hazardous through the much-criticized 'idealism' theme (wickedly described by Edward Dent as ''like a giraffe looking over a fence'') is threatened by this shallowness of sound. The indexing of this work is most eccentric, dividing it up at arbitrary moments not corresponding to the tempo changes logically listed as entry points.'