CSO Audio Program Notes
Summary: Founded in 1891, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the greatest orchestras in the world. In collaboration with the best conductors and guest artists on the international music scene, the CSO performs well over one hundred concerts each year at its downtown home, Symphony Center, and at the Ravinia Festival on Chicago’s North Shore, where it is in residency each summer. Music lovers outside Chicago enjoy the sounds of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra through best-selling recordings and frequent sold-out tour performances in the United States and around the globe. Visit cso.org for tickets and information.
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- Artist: Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association
- Copyright: Copyright Chicago Symphony Orchestra
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Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Mar 24-26. Denis Matsuev tackles Rachmaninov's noble and demanding Piano Concerto No. 3 under legendary Russian conductor Yuri Temirkanov. Balancing this is Brahms' sunniest symphony, No. 2 in D Major. "Temirkanov told stories in music. Everything was direct, vivid and full of character" (The New York Times).
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Mar 17-19. Innovative and influential conductor Michael Tilson Thomas joins forces with Symphony Center favorite Emanuel Ax in a program featuring Beethoven's Piano Concerto No. 4. Tilson Thomas also leads Sibelius' sensuous and lushly lyrical Symphony No. 2.
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Mar 10-15. Sir Mark Elder conducts a program of rousing Central European music, starting with Dvorak's quirky Scherzo capriccioso and ending with two haunting scores by Czech composer Janacek: a symphonic suite from his opera The Cunning Little Vixen and the wild and heroic Taras Bulba. Jeremy Denk, "a pianist you want to hear no matter what he performs" (The New York Times), is the featured soloist in Bartok's thrilling Piano Concerto No. 2.
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Mar 3-5. The fiery buzz of The Wasps makes a lively start to a concert devoted to two of England's most beloved composers, Ralph Vaughan Williams and Edward Elgar. Sir Mark Elder conducts three of their characteristic masterpieces, crowned by Elgar's First Symphony, recognized as one of the greatest symphonies of the 20th century.
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Feb 25-Mar 1. Polish composer Witold Lutoslawski wrote his Third Symphony for Sir Georg Solti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, which gave its world premiere in September 1983. Esa-Pekka Salonen, who has a particular affinity for the composer, leads the CSO in this compelling and powerful piece. Yo-Yo Ma lends his stellar talent and showmanship to Shostakovich's wryly playful Cello Concerto No. 1.
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Feb 18-20. This program features Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 6 and two enchanting Respighi scores: Fountains of Rome, the vivid tone poem that established the Italian composer's reputation and his soaring Concerto Gregoriano, spotlighting CSO Concertmaster Robert Chen.
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Feb 11-16. Ligeti's eerie and evocative Ramifications opens a program featuring CSO Principal Clarinet Stephen Williamson performing Mozart’s beautiful Clarinet Concerto. Psrt’s melodious Orient & Occident makes its Chicago Symphony Orchestra debut, followed by Tchaikovsky's treasured Serenade for Strings, which spotlights the Orchestra's brilliant string section.
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Feb 5-6. One of Russia's greatest conductors, Gennady Rozhdestvensky brings a program that pairs Dmitri Shostakovich's first and last symphonies. The lively First Symphony, written when Shostakovich was just 19 years old, reflects the young composer's optimism of the early years in the Soviet Union. His quirky and profound Fifteenth Symphony, written 45 years later, includes references to all of his earlier symphonies along with quotes from Rossini's William Tell and Wagner's Ring Cycle.
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jan 7-9. British conductor Jonathan Nott leads a wide-ranging program starting with the rambunctious Academic Festival Overture, which Brahms called "a boisterous potpourri of student songs," and ending with Ein Heldenleben, Strauss' tongue-in-cheek tone poem which includes a wry portrait of his beloved wife, Pauline. Also featured is Haydn's charming and stylish Cello Concerto in C Major, played by virtuoso cellist Johannes Moser.
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Dec 17-19. James Conlon conducts Dvořák's rambunctious The Golden Spinning Wheel, based on a dark Czech fairy tale. Chicago Symphony Orchestra Principal Bass Alexander Hanna will perform Czech composer Johann Baptist Vanhal's Double Bass Concerto in D Major, a fresh and dynamic staple of the double bass repertoire.
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Dec 20-20. One of the most beloved choral masterpieces of all time, Handel's Messiah has become a musical gem of the Christmas season. Bernard Labadie leads the CSO in a thrilling performance featuring a superb line-up of soloists and the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Dec 3-5. Two light-hearted classical works frame Scriabin's mystic Prometheus, the culmination of Riccardo Muti's exploration of Scriabin's symphonic works with the CSO. Muti masterfully contrasts this piece with two twists on the classical symphonic form: Beethoven's inventive Eighth Symphony and Prokofiev's mischievous Classical Symphony.
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Nov 27-29. Marin Alsop, "a shooting star in the firmament of international conductors" (Penguin Guide to Compact Discs), conducts a program of absorbing masterworks. Barber's noble Second Essay for Orchestra, written during World War II, prefaces Gershwin's exuberant Rhapsody in Blue, featuring Jon Kimura Parker, an enormously versatile pianist who has a long history with the popular piece. Dvorak's glorious and emotional Symphony No. 7 closes the program.
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Nov 19-21. Violinist, violist and conductor Pinchas Zukerman has remained a phenomenon in the world of music for over four decades. His prodigious technique and unwavering artistic standards are a marvel to audiences and critics. CSO Associate Concertmaster Stephanie Jeong joins Zukerman for Bach's Double Concerto in a delightful program that also features Mozart's Symphony No. 39 and Overture to The Magic Flute.
Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Nov 12-14. Edo de Waart returns with a lively program starting with Richard Strauss' mischievous Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks, a legendary CSO showpiece, followed by Mozart's Turkish Violin Concerto, played by rising young German violinist Augustin Hadelich. The concert ends with John Adams' striking Harmonielehre, inspired by a dream of an oil tanker suddenly pointing skyward and taking off like a rocket from the surface of San Francisco's Oakland Bay.
