Routine in Detroit

The Detroit Symphony Orchestra's President Henry H. Reichhold had threatened his rebellious musicians with a good ''house cleaning," if they didn't behave (TIME, Feb. 14). Last week, most of Detroit's musicians were wondering if Reichhold had already gotten out his broom.

One thing was sure: all of the orchestra's 90 players had been fired. But, said both Orchestra Personnel Manager Karl Chase and Union President Jack Ferentz, that was just a routine matter. Under their complicated agreement, as long as no master contract had been signed for next season, the orchestra was obliged to make all the musicians free agents. That gave the men a chance to find new jobs if they wanted to, and the orchestra a chance to make replacements. The joker: in the past, the musicians had been warned in advance that the firing was a mere formality. Last week, on this point, President Reichhold was silent.

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