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George Szell

George Szell (; June 7, 1897 – July 30, 1970), originally György Széll, György Endre Széll, or Georg Szell, was a Hungarian-born American conductor, composer and pianist. Considered one of the twentieth century's greatest conductors, he was music director of the Cleveland Orchestra of Cleveland, Ohio, and recorded much of the standard classical repertoire in Cleveland and with other orchestras.

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. By the time of his death he was credited, to quote the critic Donal Henahan, with having built it into "what many critics regarded as the world's keenest symphonic instrument."

Through his recordings, Szell has remained a presence in the classical music world long after his death, and his name remains synonymous with that of the Cleveland Orchestra. While on tour with the Orchestra in the late 1980s, then-Music Director Christoph von Dohnányi remarked, "We give a great concert, and George Szell gets a great review."

Birth and Death Data: Born Budapest (capital and largest city of Hungary), Died July 30, 1970 (Cleveland (city in and county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, United States) )

Date Range of DAHR Recordings: 1934

Roles Represented in DAHR: conductor, arranger

= Recordings are available for online listening.
= Recordings were issued from this master. No recordings issued from other masters.

Recordings

Company Matrix No. Size First Recording Date Title Primary Performer Description Role Audio
Gramophone 2WX771 12-in. 6/23/1934 Voices of spring Wiener Philharmoniker Orchestra conductor  

Citation

Discography of American Historical Recordings, s.v. "Szell, George," accessed January 23, 2026, http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/100049.

Szell, George. (2026). In Discography of American Historical Recordings. Retrieved January 23, 2026, from http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/100049.

"Szell, George." Discography of American Historical Recordings. UC Santa Barbara Library, 2026. Web. 23 January 2026.

DAHR Persistent Identifier

URI: http://adp.library.ucsb.edu/names/100049

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