CSO Audio Program Notes

Boulez Conducts Mahler, Bartók, & Stravinsky by CSO Association

Celebrating Frederick Stock by CSO Association

Szeps-Znaider & Carpenter by CSO Association

Mäkelä Conducts Mahler 3 by CSO Association

Beethoven, Mozart & Tchaikovsky by CSO Association

Rakitina, Weilerstein & Tchaikovsky by CSO Association

Hrůša Conducts Mahler 9 by CSO Association

The Song of the Earth by CSO Association

Hrůša Conducts Má vlast by CSO Association

Mäkelä Conducts Symphonie fantastique by CSO Association

Mäkelä & Trifonov by CSO Association

Sokhiev & Avdeeva by CSO Association

Haitink Conducts Mahler 2 by CSO Association

Solti Conducts Beethoven and Liszt by CSO Association

Salonen & Apkalna by CSO Association

Contemporary American Composers by CSO Association

Great Guest Soloists by CSO Association

A Chicago Symphony Chorus Spotlight by CSO Association

Handel Messiah & Tchaikovsky Nutcracker by CSO Association

Mahler Festival Broadcast: Mahler 7 by CSO Association

Solti Conducts Del Tredici by CSO Association

Rakitina, Weilerstein & Tchaikovsky by CSO Association

Guests in the House by CSO Association

Barenboim Conducts Bruckner 8 by CSO Association

Afkham & Gluzman by CSO Association

Opera Without Words by CSO Association

Ravinia Opening Night 2025 by CSO Association

Carmina burana by CSO Association

Mahler Festival Broadcast: Mahler 6 by CSO Association

Mäkelä Conducts Mahler 3 by CSO Association

Harding Conducts The Planets by CSO Association

Reiner Rarities by CSO Association

Musicians of the Orchestra by CSO Association

Janáček; J. Strauss, Jr. & Mussorgsky by CSO Association

Chicago Symphony Orchestra Daniel Barenboim, conductor

Salonen & Apkalna - Broadcast by CSO Association

Verdi’s Requiem Mass, in its fervent quest for eternal rest, stands as a powerful demonstration of the composer’s ability to harness the human voice. Hailed by NPR as “simply magnificent” for their two-time Grammy Award-winning CSO Resound recording of this work, Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus are joined by a thrilling quartet of international singers to once again deliver a masterful blend of passion and precision. Please note: This program replaces Berlioz’s The Damnation of Faust. Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/muti-verdi-requiem

Esteban Batallán, the CSO’s principal trumpet since 2019, makes his much-anticipated debut as a soloist with the Orchestra in a pair of brilliant, high-flying concertos. Riccardo Muti frames the program with Joseph Haydn’s tempestuous Symphony No. 48 and Schubert’s Haydn-inspired Tragic Symphony. Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/muti-and-esteban-batallan

2024 Ravinia Festival Opening Night: Celebration of Americana - Broadcast by CSO Association

In Randall Goosby, the pioneering American composer Florence Price “has her ideal champion,” writes The Guardian, “his playing full of old-school warmth and breadth but never schmaltzy.” Price’s beguiling violin concerto shares a program with Prokofiev’s enchanting Seventh Symphony, composed for a children’s radio broadcast. The suite from Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg gathers stirring moments from Wagner’s opera. Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/elder-goosby-and-price

Dvořák’s radiant salute to the New World kicks off an American road trip with James Gaffigan at the wheel. Take in poignant selections from Gershwin’s landmark opera — sung by Janai Brugger — and the composer’s urbane and nostalgic love letter to Paris. Chicago native Florence Price sets two American poems to song, and a pair of symphonic showstoppers by Bernstein transports audiences to “New York, New York” and beyond. Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/an-american-suite

Haitink Conducts Mahler 2 - Broadcast by CSO Association

Giulini Conducts Mahler 9 - Broadcast by CSO Association

Giulini Conducts Mahler 9 - Broadcast by CSO Association

The CSO brings the soaring emotional peaks and valleys of Mahler’s Sixth Symphony to Chicago audiences before performing it on Amsterdam’s Concertgebouw stage. The “hammer blows of fate” in the finale seem to foreshadow the tragedies in Mahler’s life, including his own fatal illness. But the symphony brims with life’s pleasures, too, from memories of mountain pastures (listen for the cowbells) to a rapturous portrait of the composer’s wife, Alma. Learn more: cso.org/performances/24-25/cso-classical/mahler-6-with-jaap-van-zweden

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

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

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

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