BP Chicago Symphony Orchestra Radio Broadcast Series

Retrospective: Conductor Emeritus Pierre Boulez turns 85 this month. This features his CSO Resound recording of Stravinsky’s Four Studies and Pulcinella, released in January.

• Stravinsky: Four Studies for Orchestra (Pierre Boulez, conductor)
• Stravinsky: Excerpts from Pulcinella (Pierre Boulez, conductor)
• Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D Major (Pierre Boulez, conductor)

Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink leads a performance of Haydn’s Sinfonia Concertante featuring four CSO principals: Eugene Izotov, David McGill, Robert Chen, and John Sharp, plus the final symphonies of twentieth-century composers Witold Lutoslawski and Anton Bruckner.

• Haydn: Sinfonia Concertante in B-flat Major (Eugene Izotov, oboe; David McGill, bassoon; Robert Chen, violin; John Sharp, cello)
• Lutoslawski: Symphony No. 4
• Bruckner: Symphony No. 9 in D Minor

Stephen Hough is a scholar as well as a pianist. Hear a fascinating interview with him about Rachmaninov’s unusual Fourth Piano Concerto, plus a performance by cellist Lynn Harrell of the Elgar Cello Concerto and 20th century Czech music, all conducted by Mark Elder.

• Elgar: Cello Concerto in E Minor, Op. 85 (Lynn Harrell, cello)
• Janácek: Jealousy
• Rachmaninov: Piano Concerto No. 4 in G Minor, Op. 40 (Stephen Hough, piano)
• Kancheli: r la Duduki
• Janacek: Taras Bulba

Bernard Labadie conducts and Benedetto Lupo is the soloist in this concert of Haydn and Mozart from May 2009.

• Haydn: Symphony No. 94 in G Major (Surprise) (Bernard Labadie, conductor)
• Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 18 in B-flat Major (Bernard Labadie, conductor; Benedetto Lupo, piano)
• Mozart: Ballet Music from Idomeneo, rc di Creta: Chaconne (Bernard Labadie, conductor)
• Mozart: Symphony No. 39 in E-flat Major (Bernard Labadie, conductor)
• Dvorak: Scherzo capriccioso (Mark Elder, conductor)

Markus Stenz conducts Mahler’s “heavenly” Fourth Symphony, with excerpts from the CSO’s Beyond the Score presentation. Works by Mendelssohn and Wagner round out the program.

• Mendelssohn: Violin Concerto in E Minor (Markus Stenz, conductor; Viviane Hagner, violin)
• Mahler: Symphony No. 4 in G Major (Markus Stenz, conductor; Nicole Cabell, soprano)
• Wagner: Siegfried Idyll (Bernard Haitink, conductor)

In his new song cycle, James Primosch tells the story of Adam, the Biblical first man. Sir Andrew Davis conducts and Brian Mulligan sings in this CSO-commissioned world premiere.

• Stravinsky: Concerto in E-flat Major for Chamber Orchestra (Dumbarton Oaks)
• Primosch: Songs for Adam (Brian Mulligan, baritone)
• Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 3 in A Minor (Scottish)
• Ravel: Mother Goose Suite

British pianist Paul Lewis plays Mozart in a concert from November 2009.

• Bartók: Divertimento for String Orchestra (Christoph von Dohnanyi, conductor)
• Mozart: Piano Concerto No. 12 in A Major (Christoph von Dohnanyi, conductor; Paul Lewis, piano)
• Schumann: Symphony No. 2 in C Major (Christoph von Dohnanyi, conductor)
• Bach: Orchestral Suite No. 3 in D Major (Pinkas Zukerman, conductor)

Music Director Designate Riccardo Muti conducts this program, featuring Mozart and Bruckner symphonies from his Chicago residency last October.

• Mozart: Symphony No. 35 in D Major (Haffner)
• Bruckner: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (1877 revised version)
• Ravel: Rhapsodie Espagnol
• Falla: Suite No. 2 from The Three-Cornered Hat (Three Dances)

An unusual juxtaposition of Baroque and Classical selections with a chamber work written by Richard Strauss during the Second World War. Nicholas Kraemer is conductor and harpsichordist.

• Mozart: Divertimento in D Major
• Haydn: Symphony No. 88 in G Major
• Telemann: Selections from Tafelmusik II (Nicholas Kraemer, harpsichord)
• Haydn: Trumpet Concerto in E-flat Major (Christopher Martin, trumpet)
• R. Strauss: Metamorphosen

American violinist Joshua Bell is featured in this concert from last fall. Yan Pascal Tortelier conducts.

• Faure: Suite from Pelleas et Melisande (Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor)
• Bruch: Violin Concerto No. 1 in G Minor (Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor; Joshua Bell, violin)
• Saint-Saens: Introduction and Rondo capriccioso in A Minor (Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor; Joshua Bell, violin)
• Saint-Saens: Symphony No. 3 in C minor (Organ) (Yan Pascal Tortelier, conductor)
• Ravel: Valses nobles et sentimentales (Pierre Boulez, conductor)

Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink leads the CSO in Mahler’s Third Symphony, the inaugural recording on the CSO Resound label.

• Mahler: Symphony No. 3 (Bernard Haitink, conductor)
• Mahler: Das Irdische Leben, Verlorne Muh, and Rheinlegendchen from Des Knaben Wunderhorn (Yvonne Minton, mezzo-soprano; Sir Georg Solti, conductor)

In this retrospective, we discover the many portraits of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition by listening to different movements by each of these conductors: Rafael Kubelik, Fritz Reiner, Seiji Ozawa, Carlo Maria Giulini, Neeme Jarvi, and Sir Georg Solti. Hear a whole program of music written about the visual arts.

• Mussorgsky/Ravel: Pictures at an Exhibition (1951-1989; various conductors)
• Takemitsu: Visions (1993; Daniel Barenboim)
• Rachmaninov: The Isle of the Dead (1957; Fritz Reiner)
• Hindemith: Nobilissima visione Suite (1967; Jean Martinon)
• Granados: Intermezzo from Goyescas (1958; Fritz Reiner)

Dutch violinist Janine Jansen makes her CSO debut as part of the orchestra’s Dvorák Festival. Sir Mark Elder conducts.

• Dvorák: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 10
• Dvorák: Violin Concerto in A Minor, Op. 53 (Janine Jansen, violin)
• Dvorák: Symphony No. 7 in D Minor, Op. 70

A retrospective from the CSO’s vast archive of commercial CDs.

• Brahms: Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90 (Daniel Barenboim, conductor)
• Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms (Chicago Symphony Chorus, Margaret Hillis, director; James Levine, conductor)
• Bach: Excerpts from Mass in B Minor (Felicity Lott, soprano; Anne Sofie von Otter, mezzo-soprano; Hans Peter Blochwitz, tenor; William Shimell, baritone; Gwynne Howell, bass; Chicago Symphony Chorus, Margaret Hillis, director; Sir Georg Solti, conductor)

David Zinman leads the orchestra in a winter-themed program.

• Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 77 (Julia Fischer, violin)
• Rouse: Rapture
• Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 1 in G Minor, Winter Daydreams
• Tchaikovsky: Excerpts from The Nutcracker

This retrospective with the Chicago Symphony Chorus features the new CSO Resound release of Mahler’s Symphony No. 2 conducted by Bernard Haitink.

• Verdi: Ave Maria, Laudi alla Vergine Maria and Te Deum from Four Sacred Pieces (Jo Ann Pickens, soprano; Chicago Symphony Chorus, Margaret Hillis, director; Sir Georg Solti, conductor)
• Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor, Resurrection (Miah Persson, soprano; Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano; Chicago Symphony Chorus, Duain Wolfe, director; Bernard Haitink, conductor)

The CSO’s 2009-10 opening concerts with Estonian-American conductor Paavo Järvi.

• Bernstein: Overture to Candide
• Bernstein: Serenade, after Plato’s Symposium (Vadim Gluzman, violin)
• Barber: Knoxville: Summer of 1915 (Renée Fleming, soprano)
• Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra
• Bernstein: Divertimento for Orchestra

Sir Mark Elder and the CSO share the stage with the Emerson String Quartet in the ongoing series of broadcasts from the orchestra’s spring Dvorák Festival.

• Dvorák: String Quintet in E-flat Major, Op. 97, American (Emerson String Quartet with Paul Neubauer, viola)
• Dvorák: Slavonic Dances, Op. 72, Nos. 2 and 3
• Dvorák: The Midday Witch
• Dvorák: Symphony No. 9 in E Minor, Op. 95, From the New World

An intriguing juxtaposition of English works and late Shostakovich.

• Purcell/Stucky: Funeral Music for Queen Mary (Bernard Haitink, conductor)
• Britten: Les Illuminations, Op. 18 (Ian Bostridge, tenor; Bernard Haitink, conductor)
• Shostakovich: Symphony No. 15 in A Major, Op. 141 (Bernard Haitink, conductor)
• Purcell: Suite from Abdelazer (Nicholas McGegan, conductor)
• Britten: Four Sea Interludes from Peter Grimes, Op. 33a (Manfred Honeck, conductor)

Pierre Boulez holds the title of conductor emeritus of the CSO. As a 100th birthday tribute to Elliott Carter, he conducts a work Carter wrote for Boulez’s own 80th birthday. The performance of Mahler’s Symphony No. 7 comes from a concert in November 2006.

• Carter: Réflexions
• Stravinsky: Symphony in Three Movements
• Mahler: Symphony No. 7

Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink mixes lesser-known works by Webern and Mahler, with some of the CSO’s core repertoire.

• Webern: Im Sommerwind
• Haydn: Symphony No. 101 in D Major, The Clock
• Mahler: Rückert Lieder (Christianne Stotijn, mezzo-soprano)
• Brahms: Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68

Italian conductor Daniele Gatti returns to the CSO to conduct the rarely heard Prokofiev Piano

• Concerto No. 4 for the Left Hand with Russian pianist Dmitri Alexeev.
• Mendelssohn: Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90, Italian
• Prokofiev: Piano Concerto No. 4 for the Left Hand in B-flat Major, Op. 53 (Dmitri Alexeev, piano)
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 3 in E-flat Major, Op. 55, Eroica

In his first concerts as music director designate in January 2009, Riccardo Muti conducts the CSO in Verdi’s Requiem; Sir Mark Elder conducts a sacred work from the CSO’s spring Dvoøák Festival.

• Verdi: Messa da Requiem (Barbara Frittoli, soprano; Olga Borodina, mezzo-soprano;
• Mario Zeffiri, tenor; Ildar Abdrazakov, bass; Chicago Symphony Chorus, Duain
• Wolfe, director; Riccardo Muti, conductor)
• Dvorák: Te Deum (Patricia Racette, soprano; Philip Cutlip, baritone, Chicago Symphony
• Chorus, Duain Wolfe, director; Sir Mark Elder, conductor)

One of Chicago’s city fathers was Daniel Burnham, who designed Orchestra Hall and in 1909 published his vision for the layout of the city. All this year Chicago institutions are honoring Burnham. Documentarian Geoffrey Baer co-hosts this broadcast with Lisa Simeone.

• Wagner: Hail Bright Abode from Tannhäuser (Frederick Stock, conductor)
• Wagner: Overture to Tannhäuser (Daniel Barenboim, conductor)
• Copland: Suite from The Tender Land (Fritz Reiner, conductor)
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 8 in F Major, Op. 93 (Sir Georg Solti, conductor)
• Strauss: Oboe Concerto in D Major (Alex Klein, oboe; Daniel Barenboim, conductor)
• Handel: Hallelujah Chorus from Messiah (Chicago Symphony Chorus, Margaret Hillis, director; Sir Georg Solti, conductor)

In this all-Sibelius program, the CSO presents commentator Gerard McBurney in excerpts from the Beyond the Score exploration of the composer’s Symphony No. 5.

• Sibelius: The Swan of Tuonela from Four Legends from the Kalevala (Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor)
• Sibelius: Lemminkäinen in Tuonela from Four Legends from the Kalevala (Jukka-Pekka Saraste, conductor)
• Sibelius: Violin Concerto in D Minor, Op. 47 (Lisa Batiashvili, violin; Charles Dutoit, conductor)
• Sibelius: Rakastava (Osmo Vänskä, conductor)
• Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 (Osmo Vänskä, conductor)

Music that the CSO’s three remarkable conductors, Pierre Boulez, Bernard Haitink, and Riccardo Muti, will conduct in the upcoming season - a Retrospective from the commercial archive

• Bartók: Excerpts from Bluebeard’s Castle (Jessye Norman, soprano; László Polgár, bass; Pierre Boulez, conductor)
• Bruckner: Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (Sir Georg Solti, conductor)
• Beethoven: Symphony No. 5 in C Minor (Sir Georg Solti, conductor)

Dutch conductor Jaap van Zweden was the youngest violinist to hold the position of concertmaster in the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra and is now an internationally known conductor. He guest-conducted the CSO twice in the 2008-2009 season

• Wagenaar: Cyrano de Bergerac
• Liszt: Piano Concerto No. 2 in A Major, S. 125
• Bruckner: Symphony No. 5 in B-flat Major

• Dvorák: In Nature’s Realm Overture, Op. 91
• Dvorák: Romance in F Minor for Violin and Orchestra, Op. 11 (Rachel Barton Pine, violin)
• Dvorák: Song to the Moon from Rusalka (Patricia Racette, soprano)
• Dvorák: Cello Concerto in B Minor, Op. 104 (Alisa Weilerstein, cello)
• Dvorák: Symphony No. 8 in G Major, Op. 88

• Respighi: Trittico botticelliano
• Ravel: Le Tombeau de Couperin
• Britten: Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge
• Fauré: Dolly (orch. Rabaud)
• Williams: Memoirs of a Geisha (Yo-Yo Ma, cello, John Williams, conductor)

• Mussorgsky: Night on Bare Mountain (orch. Rimsky- Korsakov)
• Shostakovich: Violin Concerto No. 1 in A Minor, Op. 99
• Encore: J.S. Bach: Sarabande from Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004
• Sibelius: Symphony No. 5 in E-Flat Major, Opus 82

Soloists: Joyce DiDonato, mezzo-soprano / Russell Braun, baritone / New York Choral Artists, Joseph Flummerfelt, director

• Mahler: Blumine
• Lieberson: The World in Flower
• Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D

• Dvorak: The Golden Spinning Wheel
• Saint-Saens: Violin Concerto No. 3
• Martinu: Symphony No. 4

• Verdi: Ballet of the Four Seasons from I vespri sicilliani
• Puccini: Preludio sinfonico
• Respighi: Pines of Rome

• Ravel: Piano Concerto in G
• Schubert: Symphony No. 9 in C-major, “The Great C-Major”

• Berlioz: Roman Carnival Overture
• Shostakovich: Cello Concerto No. 1 in E-Flat, Opus 107
• Strauss: Ein Heldenleben, Opus 40
• Encore: Sibelius: Valse Triste

• Stravinsky: Concerto in E-Flat for Chamber Orchestra,
• Dumbarton Oaks
• Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2 in G-Minor
• Tchaikovsky: Symphony No. 5 in E Minor

• Weber: Overture to Oberon
• Nielsen: Flute Concerto (Mathieu Dufour, Flute)
• Berlioz: Symphonie Fantastique, Op. 14
• McPhee: Tabuh-tabuhan, Toccata for Orchestra and Two Pianos (Mary Sauer, Patrick Godon, Pianos; Alan Gilbert, Conductor)

• Root: The Battle Cry of Freedom
• Payne & Bishop: Home, Sweet Home
• Harris: Symphony No. 6 (Gettysburg)
• Bennett: Selections from Abraham Lincoln (A Likeness in Symphony Form)
• Piston: Symphony
• Gershwin: Rhapsody in Blue (Marcus Roberts Trio)
• Bernstein: Symphonic Dances from West Side Story