CSO Audio Program Notes

CSO Audio Program Notes

By Chicago Symphony Orchestra AssociationSociety & CultureMusicHistory
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CSO Audio Program Notes episodes

  • CSO Program Notes: Mäkelä & Trifonov
    CSO Artist-in-Residence Daniil Trifonov, “without question the most astounding pianist of our age” (The Times of London), takes on Brahms’ Second Piano Concerto, as remarkable for its rich orchestral writing as for its simultaneously glittering and muscular piano part. Dvořák’s turbulent Seventh Symphony is both an expression of the composer’s personal crises and a lyrical tribute to the Czech spirit.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/makela-and-trifonov
    15 min
  • CSO Program Notes: Mäkelä Conducts Mahler 3
    In his Third Symphony, Mahler portrays the whole of earthly existence. Its six movements — written for a massive orchestra, two choruses and a contralto soloist — explore humanity’s relationship with nature using fanfares, marches, folk dances and bird calls. Children’s voices portray angels while the sixth movement is a pantheistic love song to all of creation.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/makela-conducts-mahler-3
    17 min
  • CSO Program Notes: CSO x The Joffrey Ballet
    Dancers from Chicago’s world-renowned Joffrey Ballet join the CSO with newly commissioned choreographies. Symphonies by Haydn and the Chevalier de Saint-Georges abound in witty and joyful melodies while two 20th-century works are full of popular influences: Perkinson’s jazz-tinted Sinfonietta No. 1 and Milhaud’s rollicking Brazilian postcard, The Ox on the Roof.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/cso-and-the-joffrey-ballet
    18 min
  • CSO Program Notes: Canellakis Conducts Rachmaninov
    Earth, in all its marvelous vitality and fragility, has inspired generations of composers. In The Oceanides, Sibelius conjures the water nymphs of Greek mythology and the broad majesty of the sea. Dvořák’s The Wild Dove is based on a dark folktale about a dove’s prophetic song. Childhood memories shape Rachmaninov’s Symphonic Dances, his sumptuous masterpiece.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/canellakis-and-rachmaninov
    21 min
  • CSO Program Notes: Bruch & Schumann Rhenish
    Journey up the Rhine River, as lovingly portrayed in Robert Schumann’s Rhenish Symphony. Listen for the flowing water and contemplate the majesty of the Cologne Cathedral. To begin, Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider leads and performs the rich and alluring melodies of Bruch’s First Violin Concerto. Pierre Boulez’s iridescent Livre pour cordes marks the centenary of the composer’s birth.
    This program will also be performed at Wheaton College on Friday, March 28.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/bruch-and-schumann-rhenish
    21 min
  • CSO Program Notes: Hrůša, Trpčeski & Rachmaninov
    Shostakovich’s Eleventh Symphony unfolds with the immediacy of a newsreel as it depicts the harrowing events of the 1905 Russian Revolution. Brimming with rebellious anthems and prisoners’ songs, the Cold War-era score is widely heard as a veiled critique of the Soviet regime. Rachmaninov’s First Piano Concerto, a farewell to Russia, features the captivating Simon Trpčeski.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/hrusa-trpceski-and-rachmaninov
    24 min
  • CSO Program Notes: Haydn Mass in Time of War
    Composed as Napoleon’s forces were threatening Austria, Haydn’s Mass in Time of War features an extraordinarily ominous use of timpani and ends with a plea for peace. Beethoven’s spirited First Symphony bears the influence of Haydn but also foreshadows the development of his own compositional style. MacMillan’s eloquent Larghetto is based on his choral setting of Psalm 51.
    Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/haydn-mass-in-time-of-war
    18 min

About CSO Audio Program Notes

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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.

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