CSO Audio Program Notes

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO May 31 - June 3. Written during World War II, Britten's Sinfonia da requiem is a powerful cry for peace, reaching such tension in the central scherzo that the music seems to explode into angry fragments, from the cooling shards of which arises its serene, hope-filled finale. Prokofiev's breathtaking Fifth Symphony, composed with an Allied victory over Nazi Germany in sight, evokes a waking giant and ends with an exhilarating finale.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO May 29-30. Shostakovich's neoclassical Ninth Symphony confounded expectations: instead of a triumphant celebration of Soviet victory over Nazi Germany, it is both sarcastic and cheeky, including a strutting march for piccolo. Britten's Suite on English Folk Tunes enchants the ear with richly contrasting orchestral colors and textures.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO May 22-24. Jaap van Zweden conducts two World War II-era pieces showcasing the glorious sound of the CSO. Shostakovich's Seventh Symphony, mostly written in Leningrad while the city was under siege, became symbolic of the indomitable spirit of both that city and of the Soviet people. Britten's Four Sea Interludes and Passacaglia from his opera Peter Grimes portray the sea on England's eastern coast in all its power and transformative beauty.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO May 15-17. Acclaimed Dutch conductor Edo de Waart leads a program devoted to some of Richard Strauss's most poignant and gorgeous music.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO May 8-10. Internationally acclaimed for his interpretations of eighteenth century music, Bernard Labadie conducts the First Symphony by Haydn's greatest pupil, Beethoven.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO May 1-3. Tchaikovsky's haunting Pathetique heads a program of some of the most affecting and heart-felt music ever composed. Beethoven's Third Concerto, played by critically acclaimed British pianist Paul Lewis, shows the first ripening of his distinctive brand of lyricism, most ravishingly in its central slow movement.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO April 24-26. English conductor Sir Mark Elder leads Richard Strauss' Till Eulenspiegel, a work that will display the CSO's virtuosity. Charles Ives' delightful Second Symphony is studded with quotations from works by Bach and Brahms as well as popular American songs such as America the Beautiful and Columbia, the Gem of the Ocean. Contrasting with these bold masterpieces, Richard Goode joins the CSO for Mozart's graceful Concerto in A Major.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO April 17-22. Capturing the glamorous excitement of 1920s Paris, Gershwin's An American in Paris is a modern American treasure. It is preceded by colorful, luxuriant masterpieces by his successors Samuel Barber and William Schuman. American violinist Anne Akiko Meyers gives the Chicago premiere of the Violin Concerto by CSO Mead Composer in Residence Mason Bates.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO April 10-13. Janacek's Sinfonietta with its jubilant brass fanfares and the overture to his final opera, exudes an impassioned belief in the essential goodness of mankind even in the bleakest circumstances. Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts his own work, Nyx, which he called a “complex counterpoint for almost one hundred musicians playing tutti at full throttle.”

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO April 3-8. Frequent guest conductor Esa-Pekka Salonen returns to lead the CSO in a gorgeous masterpiece from his native Finland, Sibelius' Four Legends from the Kalevala. This epic lyrical drama includes the profoundly haunting Swan of Tuonela with its unforgettable English horn solo.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO March 26-29. Once heard, the hauntingly beautiful cello melody in Schubert's Unfinished Symphony is never forgotten. Yet the work's ultimate power lies in its gaze into darkest despair culminating in the serenely beautiful second movement. In his Cello Concerto, played here by CSO Principal John Sharp, Edward Elgar gave sincere and heartfelt voice to his grief, defiance and wistful nostalgia in the face of World War I.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO March 20-22. The finale of Schubert's Great C-Major Symphony, energetically galloping to its tightly sprung rhythms, is among the most exhilarating in the symphonic repertoire. Yet, amazingly, this landmark work lay unknown after Schubert's death until discovered and championed by Robert Schumann. Schumann's own Piano Concerto is therefore an apt companion in this program, performed by the revered Japanese pianist Mitsuko Uchida.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO March 13-18. Inspired by Riccardo Muti's exploration of Schubert's symphonies this season, Japanese pianist Mitsuko Uchida joins four principal players of the CSO for Schubert's charming Trout Quintet, in which the piano weaves its silvery decoration through the string music like playful fish in a river.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO March 6-8. The restless wanderings in the first movement of Saint-Saëns' Organ Symphony gradually yield to serene contemplation, growing in majestic grandeur with powerful organ chords and concluding in a series of brilliant fanfares. Charles Dutoit, renowned for his refined sense of orchestral color, also leads the world premiere of Guillaume Connesson's flute concerto, Pour sortir au jour, performed by the CSO's own Mathieu Dufour.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO February 27-28, March 1. Marcelo Lehninger and CSO Solti Apprentice Matthew Aucoin lead a program of works by Ravel and Stravinsky, selected by Pierre Boulez. Ravel's vivid tone paintings evoke stormy seas and a jester's bittersweet serenade.