CSO Audio Program Notes

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jun 21-24. "Rossini's Stabat mater is a longstanding specialty of Mr. Muti's. It moves in several directions at once: the arias are as operatic as can be, yet the two unaccompanied choruses are sublimely devotional. The music is unquestionably dramatic: not the extroverted drama of a costumed operatic pageant, but of a prayerful supplicant's interior passion" (The New York Times). Riccardo Muti leads the CSO, Chicago Symphony Chorus and internationally celebrated singers in Rossini's dramatic and thrilling Stabat mater. Lovers of opera and choral works alike will not want to miss this remarkable program that also features Mozart's Kyrie in D Minor and the haunting Chant sur la mort de Joseph Haydn by Cherubini, whom Beethoven considered the greatest of his contemporaries.

When Riccardo Muti and Yo-Yo Ma join forces, it is "music-making at the highest level" (Chicago Tribune). The incomparable cellist, renowned for his "technical command, purity of tone and generosity of spirit" (Chicago Sun-Times), collaborates with Muti and the CSO in Shostakovich's introspective and dark-hued Second Cello Concerto. This program of works by 20th-century Russian masters also features Shostakovich's buoyant Festive Overture and Prokofiev's thrilling Third Symphony, a work of dramatic climaxes, rich melodies and vivid orchestral color.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jun 14-16. When Riccardo Muti and Yo-Yo Ma join forces, it is "music-making at the highest level" (Chicago Tribune). The incomparable cellist, renowned for his "technical command, purity of tone and generosity of spirit" (Chicago Sun-Times), collaborates with Muti and the CSO in Shostakovich's introspective and dark-hued Second Cello Concerto. This program of works by 20th-century Russian masters also features Shostakovich's buoyant Festive Overture and Prokofiev's thrilling Third Symphony, a work of dramatic climaxes, rich melodies and vivid orchestral color.

"Superstar mandolinist" (The New York Times) Avi Avital and Italian conductor Giovanni Antonini make their CSO debuts with an exceptional program featuring rarely heard Baroque masterpieces, including the first CSO performances of mandolin concertos by Bach and Vivaldi. "Avital's mandolin breathes captivating new life into Vivaldi's music, giving it a luminous performance with a lovely lyrical jeu d'esprit" (The Daily Telegraph). Haydn's Drumroll Symphony brings the concert to an enchanting close.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jun 7-9. "Superstar mandolinist" (The New York Times) Avi Avital and Italian conductor Giovanni Antonini make their CSO debuts with an exceptional program featuring rarely heard Baroque masterpieces, including the first CSO performances of mandolin concertos by Bach and Vivaldi. "Avital's mandolin breathes captivating new life into Vivaldi's music, giving it a luminous performance with a lovely lyrical jeu d'esprit" (The Daily Telegraph). Haydn's Drumroll Symphony brings the concert to an enchanting close.

Conductor Marek Janowski and the CSO, both great masters of music from the Austro-German tradition, perform a program of works by Weber, Beethoven and Wagner. Janowski, in his subscription series debut, leads the CSO in glorious orchestral excerpts from two of Wagner's grandest operas. Also on the program is Beethoven's sunny Fourth Symphony, a work imbued with romantic pathos.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO May 31-Jun 3. Conductor Marek Janowski and the CSO, both great masters of music from the Austro-German tradition, perform a program of works by Weber, Beethoven and Wagner. Janowski, in his subscription series debut, leads the CSO in glorious orchestral excerpts from two of Wagner's grandest operas. Also on the program is Beethoven's sunny Fourth Symphony, a work imbued with romantic pathos.

Esa-Pekka Salonen leads a program that pairs Brahms' captivating Variations on a Theme by Haydn with Schoenberg's hauntingly beautiful Transfigured Night and Bartók's serene and expressive Third Piano Concerto, featuring Mitsuko Uchida. “It was in the otherworldly slow movement that Uchida's profound poetic sensibility rose to the fore, building to an eloquent emotional climax from the simple, hushed chords of the opening bars—atmospheric yet as clear as ice water” (Chicago Tribune).

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO May 24-26. Esa-Pekka Salonen leads a program that pairs Brahms' captivating Variations on a Theme by Haydn with Schoenberg's hauntingly beautiful Transfigured Night and Bartok's serene and expressive Third Piano Concerto, featuring Mitsuko Uchida. "It was in the otherworldly slow movement that Uchida's profound poetic sensibility rose to the fore, building to an eloquent emotional climax from the simple, hushed chords of the opening bars-atmospheric yet as clear as ice water" (Chicago Tribune).

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO May 17-22. His final completed work before his tragic death at the age of fifty, Mahler's Ninth Symphony reflects his personal turmoil and spiritual uncertainty as he faced his own mortality. The result is a fearlessly introspective symphony containing some of the most devastatingly beautiful music he ever composed. Esa-Pekka Salonen leads the CSO, one of the world's great Mahler orchestras, in this profound work by one of history's greatest symphonists.