A Love Letter to the Philadelphia Orchestra

It’s time for Sony to put together a 21st-century tribute to what is arguably the greatest orchestra ever to come down the pike. Not a tribute to Eugene Ormandy per se, but to the orchestra he led as “The Boss” for more than 40 years—the Philadelphia Orchestra—which in terms of ensemble virtuosity, as its recordings from the 1950s, 60s, and 70s readily attest, was without equal then, or at any time in the history of music. You may think it odd, but this love letter to Philadelphia’s orchestra starts out in Baltimore, where I grew up. In the 1960s, the …