The Toronto Symphony Orchestra has been a part of the arts scene in Toronto for eighty years. Richard Warren, the orchestra's archivist since 1976, uncovers taped interviews and other documentation of the orchestra's musicians, visiting artists, music directors, and administrative personnel, to present an insider's view of the orchestra, and by doing so makes the history of this great cultural institution come alive.

In describing the challenges, achievements, and trials of the orchestra, Warren includes the stories of artists who performed with the orchestra and who then went on to...