CSO Audio Program Notes Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association
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- Musik
Chicago Symphony Orchestra Audio Program Notes are accessible, interesting, and full of information about the works being performed by the CSO as well as the history and personalities behind the music.
Download Program Note PDFs at cso.org/ProgramNotes.
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CSO Program Notes: Montgomery & Bruckner 7
Conductor Manfred Honeck leads the CSO in two captivating works. Principal Percussion Cynthia Yeh takes the spotlight in the premiere of a new concerto by Jessie Montgomery, the CSO’s Mead Composer-in-Residence. Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony awes with its breadth, drama and rapturous intensity. This enthralling score includes a radiant tribute to Bruckner’s idol, Richard Wagner, and a boisterous Austrian country dance.
The June 1 performance of Montgomery & Bruckner 7 is a part of the 2023/24 Season of CSO MusicNOW.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/montgomery-and-bruckner-7 -
CSO Program Notes: Mahler Resurrection
In his Second Symphony, Mahler constructs a universe all his own, exploring themes of death and afterlife using a massive orchestra, offstage brass and percussion, chorus and vocal soloists. Estonian conductor Neeme Järvi — whose music-making is “as dynamic and exhilarating as ever” (Chicago Classical Review) — guides the CSO from the great, tragic opening march, through pastoral dances and gentle songs to a final tableau of trumpet calls, percussive thunderbolts and the hymn of resurrection.
Conductor Neeme Järvi replaces Esa-Pekka Salonen, who has withdrawn from these performances for personal reasons.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/mahler-resurrection -
CSO Program Notes: Helmchen Plays Beethoven
Martin Helmchen, “who brings both freshness and expressive depth to everything he plays” (Chicago Classical Review), takes on Beethoven’s First Piano Concerto, a work of youthful bravura and pensive elegance. To open the program, Kazuki Yamada conducts Takemitsu’s shimmering How slow the Wind and Franck’s D Minor Symphony, featuring a mix of soaring lyricism and brooding intensity.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/helmchen-plays-beethoven -
CSO Program Notes: Mozart & Stravinsky
The versatile Nikolaj Szeps-Znaider leads the CSO as soloist in Mozart’s richly melodic Violin Concerto No. 2 and Kreisler’s wistful Liebesleid. Trading violin bow for baton, Szeps-Znaider conducts Stravinsky’s Pulcinella Suite, a neoclassical gem that shines a spotlight on the orchestra’s principal players, and Mozart’s Prague Symphony, a work of grand gestures and profound, melodious depth.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/mozart-and-stravinsky -
CSO Program Notes: Sheherazade
Elim Chan leads Rimsky-Korsakov’s sumptuous symphonic suite Sheherazade, inspired by the legendary heroine and tales of One Thousand and One Nights. Paul Jacobs, “a virtuoso of dazzling technical acumen” (The New York Times), performs Barber’s Toccata festiva, an exuberant showcase for organ containing echoes of J.S. Bach.
Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/sheherazade -
CSO Program Notes: CSO x Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis
Two mighty orchestras present a rousing, jazz-meets-classical event. Discover selections from Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet, alternating between the original orchestral version performed by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and imaginative new jazz arrangements presented by the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. Both ensembles join forces for a selection from Wynton Marsalis’ Swing Symphony, which The Telegraph calls “a journey through jazz history and the sounds of America itself.”
Learn more: cso.org/performances/23-24/cso-classical/cso-x-jazz-at-lincoln-center-orchestra