CSO Audio Program Notes

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Dec 7-12. Distinguished conductor Neeme Jarvi, praised by the Los Angeles Times for his "masterful, gorgeously and dramatically shaped" interpretations, returns to Symphony Center to conduct music by two Czech masters. The program begins with selections from Smetana's The Bartered Bride and also features Dvorak's Fifth Symphony, which pays homage to Bohemia's landscape and folk dance traditions. The extraordinary Alisa Weilerstein also performs one of her favorite works, Barber's Cello Concerto, which she describes as "a very emotional piece...with fireworks and aching lyricism."

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Nov 30 - Dec 1. Gil Shaham, one of today's pre-eminent violinists and "a virtuoso of deeply intense sincerity" (The New York Times), performs Mendelssohn's enchanting and well-loved concerto. An acclaimed interpreter of Sibelius, Finnish conductor John Storgards makes his CSO debut leading the composer's first symphonic masterpiece.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Nov 16-21. Riccardo Muti and pianist Kirill Gerstein, recognized for his masterful technique and "boundlessly charismatic performances" (New York Classical Review), team up for Brahms' titanic First Piano Concerto. Completed when Brahms was only 25, the concerto, with its ferocious opening, is an early demonstration of the young composer's symphonic vigor. Puccini's stirring Preludio sinfonico and Strauss' charming orchestral showpiece Le bourgeois gentilhomme round out the program.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Nov 9-11. Conductor Manfred Honeck leads the CSO in a program of valedictory masterpieces. Arabella Steinbacher, highly regarded for her "finely polished technique and a beautifully varied palette of timbres" (The New York Times), performs Berg's last composition, his deeply moving Violin Concerto written in memory of Alma Mahler's daughter. Schubert's exuberant final symphony has one of the most exhilarating finales in symphonic repertoire.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Nov 2-5. World-renowned pianist Sir András Schiff returns to perform and conduct a program of spirited and expressive works, including Beethoven's playful First Piano Concerto and Bach's popular Keyboard Concerto No. 5. "Schiff made the music feel alive and of the moment...with shining tone and uncompromising, otherworldly intensity" (Los Angeles Times).

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Oct 26-27. Acclaimed American conductor James Gaffigan returns to conduct Rachmaninov's spirited orchestral masterpiece, the Symphonic Dances. As part of a season-long celebration of Leonard Bernstein's centenary, the program also features the dramatic Symphonic Suite from On the Waterfront, the only score Bernstein wrote for a film. Violinist James Ehnes, praised for his "honeyed tone and immaculate technique" (The Guardian), performs Barber's beguiling Violin Concerto.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Oct 5-7. French conductor Alain Altinoglu leads a program of richly scored works, including Poulenc's joyfully devotional Gloria. The power of Gounod's Saint Cecilia Mass is best described by his contemporary Saint-Saens: "This simplicity, this grandeur, this serene light which rose before the musical world like a breaking dawn…at first one was dazzled, then charmed, then conquered."

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Sep 28-Oct 1. "Nobility, lyrical feeling and dramatic thrust are keys to Muti's approach to the Bruckner symphonies. The sound he elicited from one of the world's great Bruckner bands was lean and incisive" (Chicago Tribune). Riccardo Muti and the CSO continue a multi-season exploration of Bruckner's symphonies with the sunny Romantic Symphony. Also on the program is the rousing William Tell Overture and a world premiere by Mead Composer-in-Residence Elizabeth Ogonek, whose music has been praised as "lush and enticingly scored" (The Arts Desk).

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Sep 23-26. The 2017/18 season opens with acclaimed violinist Anne-Sophie Mutter joining Riccardo Muti and the CSO for Tchaikovsky's dazzling Violin Concerto. Krzysztof Penderecki's atmospheric The Awakening of Jacob, best known from Stanley Kubrick's The Shining, and Schumann's rich and emotive Second Symphony, one of his noblest works, bookend this dramatic start to the season.

Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Jun 22-25. Riccardo Muti leads a collection of Italian opera's greatest masterpieces in this festive finale to the 2016/17 season. Enjoy some of the most well-known works by Giuseppe Verdi including "Va, Pensiero" from Nabucco and the famous Anvil Chorus from Il trovatore, along with the Prologue from Boito's Mefistofele, which tells the story of Faust's deal with the devil.