What If Klemperer Had Become The Philadelphia Orchestra’s Music Director?

“He stood before the Philadelphia Orchestra with the face of an anguished god, saying little with his partially paralyzed mouth, much through his hands, and more through his eyes – behind thick, sometimes askew glasses. In 1962, Otto Klemperer, one of the great conductors of the 20th century, returned to the Philadelphia Orchestra after an absence of more than 25 years, having suffered a brain tumor, a stroke, severe bipolar disorder, and third-degree burns from setting himself on fire by smoking in bed.”