Ormandy discusses his experiences as a conductor, including his tenure as Music Director of the Minneapolis Symphony, his first appearance with the Philadelphia Orchestra when he filled in for Arturo Toscanini, how he was chosen as the successor to Leopold Stokowski as Music Director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, the years of transition bewteen Stokowski and himself and how they divided the programming, his philosophy upon replacing Stokowski, how and why Stokowski parted with the orchestra and his attempts at arranging return engagements for Stokowski, how his concept of orchestral sound compares to that of Stokowski, the relationship between a conductor and the board of directors of an orchestra, his recording career and the financial aspects of recording, his desire and attempts to perform the Eighth Symphony of Gustav Mahler with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Hungarian tradition of musicianship, the benefits of government support of the arts, and his view of music critics. Ormandy also talks about various practical matters related to conducting, including the use of the eyes and hands in conducting technique, the differences between live and recorded performances, the challenges of programming and performing contemporary music, the audition process, the importance of good sight reading skills in a player, his concept of orchestral sound, especially in regard to the string section (in which he refers to a concept he calls "multiple string quartet"), how he achieves this sound when guest conducting other orchestras, the longevity of conductors, and advice to young conductors. He also offers opinions and anecdotes concerning other people, including Arthur Judson, Arturo Toscanini, Karlheinz Stockhausen, Pierre Boulez, Leonard Bernstein, Pierre Monteux, Igor Stravinsky, Sergei Rachmaninioff, Béla Bartók, Zoltan Kodály, Jeno Hubay, Georges Enesco, Serge Koussevitsky, Jack Pfeiffer, and Virgil Thomson.
