As I was under an engagement to play my Concerto at the Philadelphia Orchestra, it was necessary for me to return to that city, and in somewhat unusual circumstances. Having been detained in the country, I could not reach Philadelphia until the afternoon of the very day of my concert. Moreover, the guest conductor, Fritz Reiner, of Cincinnati, who was to accompany me in place of Leopold Stokowski, who was away just then, had barely time to rehearse the program for the evening, as he himself had arrived only that morning. Most conductors devote several rehearsals to the preparation of my Concerto, but on this occasion we had barely half an hour. And there was a miracle. There was not a single hitch. It was as though Reiner had played it time and again with that orchestra. Such an extraordinary phenomenon could never have occurred, notwithstanding the prodigious technique of the conductor and the high quality of the orchestra, if Reiner had not acquired a perfect knowledge of my score, which he had procured some time before. One could aptly apply to him the familiar saying: he has the score in his head and not his head in the score. << less