CSO Audio Program Notes

CSO Audio Program Notes

By Chicago Symphony Orchestra AssociationSociety & CultureMusicHistory
Download on the App Store

CSO Audio Program Notes episodes

  • CSO Program Notes: Schubert & Beethoven
    Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony is treasured by generations of music fans for its whirling dance rhythms and majestic Allegretto movement. It finds an admirable interpreter in Czech conductor Petr Popelka, who “lets the music glow without overshadowing details” (Der Standard). Composed in his youth, Schubert's exuberant Sixth Symphony draws inspiration from Beethoven.
    Conductor Herbert Blomstedt has withdrawn from these concerts due to health reasons.
    Please note: the originally scheduled performance for March 5 has been canceled due to scheduling conflicts. Ticket holders for March 5 may exchange into the March 1 or 2 concert dates, or another CSO concert this season.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/schubert-and-beethoven
    16 min
  • CSO Program Notes: Tchaikovsky & Shostakovich
    With his Ninth Symphony, Shostakovich delivered a tragicomic work with nods to Haydn and circus tunes. Uzbek pianist Behzod Abduraimov makes his debut with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in Tchaikovsky’s thrilling First Piano Concerto. Mussorgsky’s radiant Khovanshchina prelude and Saariaho’s ethereal Winter Sky round out the program.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/tchaikovsky-and-shostakovich
    20 min
  • CSO Program Notes: Sheku Kanneh-Mason Plays Elgar
    Sheku Kanneh-Mason, hailed by The New Yorker as “a cellist of blazing sensitivity,” makes his CSO debut in Elgar’s rhapsodic Cello Concerto. Paavo Järvi conducts Nielsen’s Fifth Symphony, a visceral, dramatic work exploring humanity’s potential for conflict, born in the aftermath of World War I. Beethoven’s jubilant hymn to liberty opens the program.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/sheku-kanneh-mason-plays-elgar
    13 min
  • CSO Program Notes: Seong-Jin Cho Plays Beethoven
    Beethoven’s Third Piano Concerto is a landmark of his dark and restless middle period, here featuring Seong-Jin Cho, whose 2018 Chicago debut offered “about as thrilling a display of sheer powerhouse keyboard bravura as one is ever likely to encounter” (Chicago Classical Review). Gemma New conducts the program, which closes with Mendelssohn’s Scottish Symphony, evoking highland mists, warring clans and long-lost folk dances.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/seong-jin-cho-plays-beethoven
    26 min
  • CSO Program Notes: Sir Andrew Conducts Handel’s Messiah
    Experience the power of nearly 100 voices in magnificent harmony. From “The Trumpet Shall Sound” to the rousing “Hallelujah” Chorus, Handel’s Messiah is packed with regal choral passages, exultant arias and glittering instrumental fireworks. The award-winning Chicago Symphony Chorus and four world-class soloists join Sir Andrew Davis in this must-see holiday favorite.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/sir-andrew-conducts-handel-messiah
    22 min
  • CSO Program Notes: Bychkov Conducts Brahms
    When Renaud Capuçon and Semyon Bychkov last appeared together with the CSO, sparks flew. The French violinist “made you aware of a searching musical intellect supported by a superb technical arsenal” (Chicago Tribune). The parties reunite in Saint-Saëns’ brilliant Third Violin Concerto. Framing the program are Dvořák’s boisterous portrait of a street carnival and Brahms’ noble and heart-rending Fourth Symphony.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/bychkov-conducts-brahms
    14 min
  • CSO Program Notes: Hilary Hahn Plays Brahms
    CSO Artist-in-Residence Hilary Hahn illuminates Brahms’ Violin Concerto, with its ardent beauty and fiery finale. Mikko Franck conducts Wagner’s ecstatic Prelude to Tristan und Isolde before concluding with Sibelius’ Seventh Symphony, an awesome, “time-bending journey” (The Guardian), and the Finnish composer’s crowning symphonic achievement.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/hilary-hahn-plays-brahms
    14 min
  • CSO Program Notes: MTT Conducts Mozart
    Michael Tilson Thomas lends his fresh insights to a compelling Austro-Germanic program. It includes Mozart’s whirling Six German Dances as well as his expressive and intimate Piano Concerto No. 23, which features Orion Weiss, acclaimed for his “limpid touch, clean runs and purling legato phrasing” (Chicago Tribune). Schoenberg’s lavishly imaginative orchestration of Brahms’ Piano Quartet No. 1 completes the program.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/mtt-conducts-mozart
    14 min
  • CSO Program Notes: The Rite of Spring & Kavakos
    A panorama of ancient pagan rituals, Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring put modernism squarely on the map. Experience the swaggering and suspenseful ballet score that drove Parisian audiences to riot at its 1913 premiere. Leonidas Kavakos brings an “intense, silken, mercurial” sound (The Guardian) to his rendition of Szymanowski’s folk-inspired Second Violin Concerto. Mussorgsky’s fiery depiction of a witches’ sabbath opens the program.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/the-rite-of-spring-and-kavakos
    18 min
  • CSO Program Notes: Glass & Rachmaninov
    Rachmaninov’s poignant Third Symphony evokes the Russia he left behind. Violinist Karen Gomyo, hailed by the Chicago Tribune as “a first-rate artist of real musical command, vitality and brilliance,” joins the CSO for Philip Glass’ Violin Concerto No. 1. From its exciting first movement to its thrilling finale, this is one of Glass’ most powerful and captivating concertos. Complementing these works is Sibelius’ atmospheric Pohjola’s Daughter.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/glass-rachmaninov
    18 min

About CSO Audio Program Notes

From the publisher's feed

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.

More shows like CSO Audio Program Notes

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast by Joshua Weilerstein

Sticky Notes: The Classical Music Podcast

2,182 Listeners

The Bulwark Daily by The Bulwark

The Bulwark Daily

12,507 Listeners