R. STRAUSS Symphonia domestica. Le bourgeois gentilhomme: Suite * Fritz Reiner, cond; Chicago SO * RCA 708282 (Hybrid multichannel SACD: 74:09) Fritz Reiner's 1956 performance of Richard Strauss's Symphonia domestica was essentially its first recording in modern stereo sound. As such, it probably...

Following his inauguration as Russian president in May 2000, Vladimir Putin walked the short distance across the Kremlin grounds to the Cathedral of the Annunciation for a thanksgiving service. At this brief service, Patriarch Aleksii II praised the new president for his "thoughtful...