While America was grieving over the untimely death of their president and Khrushchev was fighting nuclear disarmament, two eastern European expats were battling out the biggest influence of the 20th Century: The Music of Gustav Mahler.
When Bruno Walter died in 1962, no one really quite knew what exactly to do with Mahler's music. There were a few symphonies recorded, but nothing complete. Mahler had no legacy. His symphonies were considered long, droll, and obtuse.
However, Leonard Bernstein in New York and Sir Georg Solti in Chicago were both thinking of Mahler, Walter, and their own legacies. They wanted to be the first to have a complete Mahler Cycle for the masses. Bernstein barely beat Solit, but music aficionados debated for over a decade on which cycle was best. Solti had a brass section on par with Peter O'Toole's trek through Arabia, while Bernstein drew listeners in with pure raw emotion and a longing for something more, even if they could figure out just what they were longing for.
Mahler became popular and a household name. His music was revered for both the epic proportions and the feelings it could invoke out of the listener.
Soon other conductors followed in their own cycles; Tennstedt, Abbado, Mehta, Ozawa, Jansons, Chailly, Tilson Thomas, Maazel, Dudamel, and many many more. Mahlerites still argue today on who the best interpreter was, their own "all star" cycle, and whether the 10th is true Mahler.
A great derivate of this battle was popularizing the work of similar composers, such as Bruckner, Sibelius, Schoenberg, and Richard Strauss, who would have otherwise been all but forgotten.
If it was not for Georg and Lenny, I wonder where Mahler, and the others, would be today.