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On August 26, 2021, Frank Villella, director of the Rosenthal Archives of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association, sat down with Cheryl Frazes Hill and Don Horisberger — both longtime members of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, both as singers and members of the conducting staff — to talk about their colleague and mentor Margaret Hillis.
The recording of the conversation is here:
A few edited highlights from the conversation are below.
Villella: could you describe the first time you heard the Chicago Symphony Chorus?
Frazes Hill: As a young child, I heard the Chorus at the Ravinia Festival, and I was always fascinated. But the first up-close-and-personal experience was when my high school English teacher, Richard Livingston, a longtime member of the Chorus, invited me to a rehearsal. I remember Hillis walking in, precisely on time. After the warmup, she gave the downbeat, and this incredible sound enveloped me. I was just in awe. It was a sound like no other, and it was a great thrill.
Horisberger: I first heard the Chorus when I was singing in it. I got to know Miss Hillis as a student at Northwestern, and she encouraged me to audition. So, my first experience was sitting in the midst of the Chorus with all of those voices around me but not hearing it as a whole somehow. The thing that I most remember is not being particularly overwhelmed until I got out on stage for the first orchestra rehearsal and thought, “that is Georg Solti, this is the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.” He gave a downbeat, I breathed, and nothing happened for at least ten seconds. And I thought, “this is an illustrious start to my career.”
Villella: Let’s talk a little more about your interactions with Miss Hillis: her preparation process and how you would be involved, and how you assisted in rehearsals.
Horisberger: As most people came to experience, she was extremely organized. She knew from the very beginning what we were going to cover in each rehearsal. One of the things that I came to admire is that she really trusted her assistants, and she was incredibly supportive.
Frazes Hill: There were exceptional times that she would meet with us, and I remember Stravinsky’s Les noces. She gave us not only marked scores but she also gave us her beat patterns, because there are various ways in which that piece can be conducted. She had worked that piece with Igor Stravinsky, so it was completely embedded in her arm a certain way.
Villella: The Orchestra and Chorus performed Mahler’s Eighth Symphony in Carnegie Hall on October 31, 1977, when Margaret Hillis replaced an injured Sir Georg Solti on the podium. You were both there.
Frazes Hill: After the third performance in Chicago was canceled, Miss Hillis told management, “If I was needed, I will be ready.” At the dress rehearsal in New York, none of us knew who would be conducting that evening. And when she walked out onto the stage, it was pretty clear to all of us that this was going to be on her shoulders. She said, “Please don’t try to help me. Just do your job, and I’ll do mine, and we’ll keep the whole shooting match together.” Later, we were onstage for the performance and the gentleman from Carnegie Hall came out and made the announcement that Sir Georg Solti was injured, and the sold-out audience let out a corporate groan. When he announced that in his place would be the conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, he couldn’t even finish her name before the place erupted. We were all so proud, so nervous, there were so many emotions, and we had to come out with a big “Veni!”
Horisberger: We were all on pins and needles, wondering what was going to happen in New York. I remember thinking, “I wonder what she’s going to do in this section,” because her approach was different than Solti’s, and I was impressed that she was being very careful. This was my first time with the Orchestra and Chorus in Carnegie, I was overwhelmed by the response, and the applause went on and on and on.
Frazes Hill: When the final moments were over, there was such a collective sigh of relief and joy. Carnegie Hall audiences are always so incredibly enthusiastic when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus perform, and there’s always enormous applause. But this was something different and we knew it was all for her. And that made it even greater.
This article also appears here.
On September 22, 1957, the Orchestral Association announced Margaret Hillis would be organizing and training a chorus to perform with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Prior to her appointment, in New York Hillis had established a respectable conducting career. Particularly as a female conductor, rarely seen in those days, she was making a favorable impression with audiences and critics with her careful concert programming, precise conducting and the beautiful singing of her ensemble, all of which contributed to her growing reputation as a fine musician and conductor.
During his first season as the Chicago Symphony’s sixth music director, Fritz Reiner had become dissatisfied with local choruses who were being engaged to collaborate with the Orchestra. So, in February 1954, he traveled to New York, seeking a professional chorus that could perform the difficult symphonic repertoire he hoped to program. Reiner knew of Hillis’s reputation as a fine choral conductor, and, after attending one of her rehearsals, hired her New York Concert Choir to appear the following season with the CSO. Hillis’s Concert Choir performed Samuel Barber’s recently composed Prayers of Kierkegaard and Orff’s Carmina Burana in March 1955, and they would return in January 1956 to perform Mozart’s Mass in C minor and Bruckner’s Te Deum.
When the Orchestra’s manager George Kuyper invited Hillis’s chorus to return for performances of Verdi’s Requiem in 1958, Hillis turned it down, insisting she would need an ensemble twice the size of that which she had brought to Chicago in past seasons. Explaining that a larger chorus would be prohibitively expensive, Hillis suggested “If you were thinking of [spending that much money to bring a chorus from New York], then start your own chorus.” Reiner called Hillis the next day, excited at the prospect of starting a chorus in Chicago. When Hillis offered to help the CSO organize the process, Reiner replied (in his thick Hungarian accent), “No, ve don’t have it unless you conduct.”
Hillis recalled being stunned by his statement. It had never dawned on her that Reiner would make such an offer. She hastily replied that she would call him back the next morning with her answer. Searching her datebook for bookings already lined up for the next year and a half, Hillis was surprised to discover that she had nearly every Monday night free as well as the performance dates for Verdi’s Requiem. She checked airline schedules and discovered that she could fly out to Chicago on Sunday nights and return on midnight flights back to New York after the Monday rehearsals. Calling Reiner the next day, Hillis agreed to accept the position.
The Chicago Symphony Chorus would make its informal debut on November 30, 1957, at a private concert for guarantors and sustaining members. Hillis took the podium during the second half of that concert to lead her new chorus, also becoming the first woman to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. The CSC made its official debut with the Orchestra in Mozart’s Requiem on March 13 and 14, 1958, with Bruno Walter conducting and performed Verdi’s Requiem under Reiner the following month.
Hillis would serve as director of the Chorus for almost four decades, preparing the ensemble for countless performances in Chicago; New York; Washington, D.C.; London; and Salzburg under the batons of four music directors, numerous guest conductors, and her own.
In October 1997—a few short months before she died—Hillis sent a letter to the Chicago Symphony Chorus as they celebrated their fortieth season.
Dear People,
Happy anniversary to us! I remember so clearly that first rehearsal forty years ago. . . . When I first came here in the fall of 1957 to start a chorus for Reiner, I thought I’d be here for three or four years, get the chorus established and then turn it over to someone else. Each year was to be my last for the first six seasons. I realized that the challenge I had set for myself and you was to have a chorus that sang as well as the Chicago Symphony played, and I stayed thirty-seven years sustaining that ideal.
I think we accomplished it as much because of you, as it was of me. Your loyalty and steadfastness made it possible. May you continue this tradition of greatness in sound, phrasing, musicality and just plain fun in making great music.
The Chicago Symphony Chorus has indeed fulfilled Margaret Hillis’s wish, making an indelible mark upon the choral world with a tradition of excellence that continues today.
Cheryl Frazes Hill is associate director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. She is the author of the forthcoming biography Margaret Hillis: Unsung Pioneer from GIA Publications.
This article also appears here.
On October 1, 2021, we celebrate the centennial of Margaret Hillis (1921–1998), the founder and first director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. She led the ensemble for thirty-seven years—from 1957 until 1994—influencing the development of symphonic choruses to a level of precision, polish and refinement akin to the orchestras with which they perform. Hillis’s achievements with the Chicago Symphony Chorus have served as a model which others continue to emulate.
Hillis was born to a prestigious family in Kokomo, Indiana. Her grandfather, Elwood Haynes, invented stainless steel and one of the first automobiles, and her father, Glenn Hillis, was a successful lawyer who narrowly lost the 1940 race for the governorship of Indiana. She was raised to believe she could do whatever she set out to accomplish, and her dream, from the time she was child, was to become an orchestral conductor. However, society had other plans for her. Hillis’s aspiration was not an option for women of her generation. Unable to pursue a direct route for her desired career, she would find her way to the podium through the “back door,” opting to pursue choral conducting instead.
During her youth, Hillis taught herself to play many instruments, settling upon double bass as she entered her formal musical studies at Indiana University. She briefly left college in December 1942 to become a civilian flight instructor with the US Navy, teaching young pilots to fly during World War II. After the war, Hillis completed her degree, and in 1947, she headed to the Juilliard School to study with Robert Shaw, a leader in the field of choral conducting. She was advised that this could be her only way to a conducting career. As one who had been steeped in orchestral music throughout her life, Hillis bravely pursued choral conducting, requiring her to learn an entirely new set of skills. She would quickly adapt, and after only a few short years, she formed her own ensemble in New York—the American Concert Choir—and quickly gained the respect of audiences and critics alike.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s sixth music director, Fritz Reiner, would soon discover Hillis’s outstanding work, and he invited her to start a chorus in Chicago. On March 13, 1958, the newly formed Chicago Symphony Chorus made its debut in Mozart’s Requiem with Bruno Walter conducting. During Hillis’s time as director of the Chorus, the ensemble regularly appeared with the CSO in Chicago and on tour, performing in Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, and in their 1989 European debut at London’s Royal Albert Hall and Salzburg’s Grosses Festspielhaus. Perhaps one of the most noteworthy events during Hillis’s directorship occurred on October 31, 1977, when she replaced Sir Georg Solti on short notice at Carnegie Hall for a performance of Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, garnering international attention.
In addition to Hillis’s success with the Chicago Symphony Chorus, she was recognized in her role of “breaking the glass ceiling” for women pursuing orchestral conducting careers. She was the first woman to conduct the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and the first to regularly conduct a major symphony orchestra, and she contributed generously to the choral profession, establishing the American Choral Foundation, presiding as a founding member of the Association of Professional Vocal Ensembles (now Chorus America), and serving on the National Council of the National Endowment for the Arts. She also established the Do-It-Yourself Messiah tradition and was instrumental in the founding of the Dame Myra Hess Memorial Concerts series, both of which continue to thrive.
Throughout her career, Hillis tirelessly campaigned for the sustenance of professional singers, and she was equally passionate about teaching, serving on faculties of Northwestern and Indiana universities and leading countless conducting workshops. She received many honorary doctoral degrees and numerous recognitions—including nine Grammy awards—however, her greatest achievement was the rich legacy she established as she transformed the choral landscape.
Though Margaret Hillis would earn the respect of the world’s major conductors along with the admiration and affection of many musicians, colleagues, and music lovers, her journey was not an easy one. She deftly circumvented the constant barriers in fields where women were not welcome. Despite the obstacles, Hillis’s legacy lives on, in the continued success of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, in more frequent appearances of women conducting orchestras and in professional choruses that flourish throughout the world.
Cheryl Frazes Hill is associate director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. She is the author of the forthcoming biography Margaret Hillis: Unsung Pioneer from GIA Publications.
This article also appears here.
1967 London Records program book advertisement
Wishing a wonderfully happy eighty-fifth birthday to the legendary American mezzo-soprano Marilyn Horne!
Over the course of nearly forty years—between 1965 and 2002—Horne has appeared as soloist with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on a number of occasions in concert and on recording, indicated below:
September 23 and 24, 1965, Orchestra Hall
BERLIOZ The Damnation of Faust, Op. 24
Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano
Richard Verreau, tenor
Ezio Flagello, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Chicago Children’s Choir
Christopher Moore, director
Jean Martinon, conductor
June 2, 1967, Orchestra Hall
ROSSINI The Italian Girl in Algiers
Isabella Marilyn Horne, soprano
Mustafa Ezio Flagello, bass
Taddeo Theodor Uppman, baritone
Lindoro Ken Remo, tenor
Elvira Teresa Orantes, soprano
Zulma Carol Cornelisen, mezzo-soprano
Haly Charles Van Tasssel, bass-baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Ronald Schweitzer, assistant director
Henry Lewis, conductor
July 9, 1983, Ravinia Festival
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36
ROSSINI Non temer d’un basso affetto from The Siege of Corinth
ROSSINI Overture to The Silken Ladder
ROSSINI Assisa a piè d’un salice from Otello
ROSSINI Overture to Semiramide
ROSSINI Mura felici from The Lady of the Lake
Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano
James Levine, conductor
August 18, 1984, Ravinia Festival
MAHLER Das Lied von der Erde
Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano
James McCracken, tenor
James Conlon, conductor
July 20, 1986, Ravinia Festival
ROSSINI Overture to William Tell
ROSSINI Oh! patria! . . . Tu che accendi . . . Di tanti palpiti from Tancredi
ROSSINI Overture to The Silken Ladder
ROSSINI Da te spero, oh ciel clemente from Zelmira
ROSSINI Overture to The Italian Girl in Algiers
ROSSINI Deh, lasciate . . . Beviam, tocchiamo a gara from The Silken Ladder
SAINT-SAËNS Printemps qui commence from Samson and Delilah
THOMAS Overture to Mignon
THOMAS C’est moi, j’ai tout brise . . . Me voici dans son boudoir from Mignon
MASSENET Meditation from Thaïs
Samuel Magad, violin
GOUNOD Ou suis-je? O ma lyre immortelle from Sapho
COPLAND Hoedown from Rodeo
NILES Go ’way from my window
FOSTER/Cullen If you’ve only got a moustache
TRADITIONAL/Copland At the River
Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano
Henry Lewis, conductor
Marilyn Horne (Marty Umans photo)
July 4, 1992, Ravinia Festival
PROKOFIEV Symphony No. 1 in D Major, Op. 25 (Classical)
MENDELSSOHN Violin Concerto in E Minor, Op. 64
Sarah Chang, violin
COHAN/Davis You’re a Grand Old Flag
TRADITIONAL/Davis Shenandoah
TRADITIONAL/Matthews Billy Boy
FOSTER/Tunick Beautiful Dreamer
FOSTER/Cullen If you’ve only got a moustache
FOSTER/Matthews I Dream of Jeannie
FOSTER/Cullen Camptown Races
TRADITIONAL/Davis I’ve Just Come from the Fountain
MALOTTE/Davis The Lord’s Prayer
TRADITIONAL/Matthews When Johnny Comes Marching Home
BRYAN-PIANTADOSE/Davis I Didn’t Raise My Boy to Be a Soldier
TRADITIONAL/Davis Battle Hymn of the Republic
Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Cheryl Frazes Hill, assistant director
James Levine, conductor
Radio broadcast recordings of Camptown Races and I’ve Just Come from the Fountain were released in 2008 on Chicago Symphony Chorus: A Fiftieth Anniversary Celebration (From the Archives, vol. 22).
July 28, 2002, Ravinia Festival
Music of Rodgers and Hammerstein
Selections from Oklahoma!, Carousel, South Pacific, Victory at Sea, The King and I, and The Sound of Music
Sylvia McNair, soprano
Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano
Rodney Gilfry, baritone
John Raitt, baritone
John Mauceri, conductor
Horne also commercially recorded with Orchestra and Chorus, on two notable occasions:
MAHLER Symphony No. 3 in D Minor
Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano
Women of the Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus
Doreen Rao, director
James Levine, conductor
Recorded by RCA on July 21, 22, and 23, 1975, in Medinah Temple. The recording was produced by Thomas Z. Shepard and Jay David Saks, and Paul Goodman was the recording engineer. The Orchestra and Chorus also performed the work at the Ravinia Festival on July 13, 1975; Beverly Wolff was soloist.
MAHLER Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (Resurrection)
Carol Neblett, soprano
Marilyn Horne, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Claudio Abbado, conductor
Recorded by Deutsche Grammophon on February 13 and 16, 1976, in Medinah Temple. The recording was produced by Rainer Brock, and Heinz Wildhagen was the balance engineer. The Orchestra and Chorus also performed the work in Orchestra Hall on February 12 and 14, 1976; Neblett and Claudine Carlson were soloists.
November 28, 1999
On November 28, 1999, Horne and her longtime collaborator Martin Katz gave a recital at Orchestra Hall. Just before the final encores, she announced from the stage, “Today I sing my last classical recital. . . . I’ll still be around from time to time [but] one thing you cannot do is stop the march of time.”
“Perhaps not,” wrote John von Rhein in the Chicago Tribune. “But time has been on the side of this great and treasurable artist. She has sung everything she ever wanted to sing in every major opera house and concert hall. She has been at the forefront of the modern Handel and Rossini revivals. She has long held the mantle of the world’s foremost mistress of bel canto. Her place in history as one of the all-time great singers is secure.”
Happy, happy birthday!
In addition to releases with Deutsche Grammophon, Erato, and Teldec, Daniel Barenboim and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra made commercial recordings on several other labels. A complete list is below (all recordings made in Orchestra Hall unless otherwise noted).
Barenboim and du Pré at Medinah Temple on November 11, 1970 (Robert M. Lightfoot III photo)
Barenboim made his conducting debut with the Orchestra on November 4, 1970, on a concert at Michigan State University. The first work on that first program was Dvořák’s Cello Concerto, and the soloist was Barenboim’s wife, Jacqueline du Pré. One week later, they recorded the work—along with the same composer’s Silent Woods—with the Orchestra at Medinah Temple.
DVOŘÁK Concerto for Cello in B Minor, Op. 104
DVOŘÁK Silent Woods for Cello and Orchestra, Op. 68
Jacqueline du Pré, cello
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded in Medinah Temple on November 11, 1970
Angel Records
On January 26, 1998, in Orchestra Hall, Barenboim led—from the podium and the keyboard—a special concert called Star-Crossed Lovers, featuring Renée Fleming and Plácido Domingo in songs, arias, and duets along with narrators Lynn Redgrave and Timothy Dalton. The concert was recorded for a Great Performances telecast and a London Records release.
Domingo and Fleming on January 26, 1998 (Dan Rest photo)
BERNSTEIN Prologue, Tonight, Rumble, and Somewhere from West Side Story
ELLINGTON In a sentimental mood, Do nothin’ till you hear from me, and Prelude to a kiss
GARDEL El día que me quieras
GOUNOD Il se fait tard . . . Ô nuit d’amour! from Faust
LEHÁR Dein ist mein ganzes Herz from The Land of Smiles
LEHÁR Lippen schweigen from The Merry Widow
MORENO-TORROBA ¡Quisiera verte y no verte! and Jota castellana
VERDI Già nella notte densa from Otello
Renée Fleming, soprano
Plácido Domingo, tenor
Daniel Barenboim, piano and conductor
Recorded January 26, 1998
London Records
Barenboim led the Orchestra in the world premiere of composer-in-residence Shulamit Ran’s Legends in October 1993 and programmed the work again in June 2004. A recording of the second set of performances—along with Ran’s Violin Concerto, performed by Ittai Shapira with the BBC Concert Orchestra under Charles Hazlewood—was released by Albany Records in 2007.
RAN Legends
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded June 3, 4, 5, and 8, 2004
Albany Records
Three videos featuring the Orchestra and Barenboim, performing at the Philharmonie in Cologne, Germany, were also released, on the Arthaus Musik and EuroArts labels.
MAHLER Symphony No. 5
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded at the Philharmonie in Cologne, Germany on June 4 and 5, 1997
Arthaus Musik
SIBELIUS Concerto for Violin in D Minor, Op. 47
*BACH Sarabande from Partita No. 2 in D Minor, BWV 1004
*YSAŸE Ballad from Sonata No. 3 in D Minor
Maxim Vengerov, violin
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
FALLA Nights in the Gardens of Spain
Plácido Domingo, conductor
Recorded at the Philharmonie in Cologne, Germany on June 8 and 9, 1997
*Solo encores performed by Vengerov
Arthaus Musik
BOULEZ Notations for Orchestra I-IV
DEBUSSY La mer
FALLA The Three-Cornered Hat
*MORES/Carli El firulete
Elisabete Matos, mezzo-soprano
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded at the Philharmonie in Cologne, Germany on April 27 and 28, 2001
*Performed as an encore
EuroArts
In conjunction with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association’s annual Symphonython (previously Marathon and Radiothon) fundraiser, a themed collection of radio broadcasts was offered as a donation premium. Several works led by Barenboim were included on various sets, and one collection was dedicated solely to him.
Chicago Symphony Chorus: A Fortieth Anniversary Celebration
From the Archives, vol. 13 (1998)
BACH Singet dem Herr nein neues Lied, BWV 225
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded May 11 and 14, 1991
SCHUBERT Gesang der Geister über den Wassern, D. 714
Men of the Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded May 9, 1991
Beethoven
From the Archives, vol. 17 (2003)
BEETHOVEN Elegy, Op. 118
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe and Cheryl Frazes Hill, directors
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 17, 1994
A Tribute to Daniel Barenboim
From the Archives, vol. 20 (2006)
BERG Three Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 6
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded October 15, 1997
BERNSTEIN Symphony No. 1 (Jeremiah)
Birgitta Svendén, mezzo-soprano
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded February 15 and 16, 1996
FALLA El amor brujo
Jennifer Larmore, mezzo-soprano
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded May 22, 1997
HAYDN Symphony No. 48 in C Major (Maria Theresa)
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded May 20, 1993
MONIUSZKO Mazurka from Halka
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded at the Petrillo Music Shell in Grant Park, September 21, 1991
MORES/Carli El firulete
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded February 15, 2001
MOZART Finale Scene from The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492
Lella Cuberli, Joan Rodgers, Dawn Kotoski, sopranos
Cecilia Bartoli, Mimi Lerner, mezzo-sopranos
Graham Clark, tenor
Ferruccio Furlanetto, Michele Pertusi, Peter Rose, Günther von Kannen, basses
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded February 2, 7, and 12, 1992
SCHUBERT Psalm 23, D. 706
Women of the Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
Daniel Barenboim, piano
Recorded October 3, 1996
THOMAS Ceremonial
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded January 6, 2000
WAGNER A Faust Overture
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded October 18, 1991
WOLF Der Feurreiter
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe and Cheryl Frazes Hill, directors
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 17, 1994
Soloists of the Orchestra III
From the Archives, vol. 21
FISHER/Gould Chicago
Larry Combs, clarinet
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Petrillo Music Shell, September 1991
BOULEZ Messagesquisse for Seven Cellos
John Sharp, solo cello
Stephen Balderston, Phillip Blum, Loren Brown, Richard Hirschl, Jonathan Pegis, and Gary Stucka, cellos
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
September 22, 1994
Additionally, two large collections of radio broadcast material were released as commercial recordings: a twelve-disc set to celebrate the the Orchestra’s centennial in 1990 and a ten-disc set as a retrospective of the twentieth century in 2000.
Chicago Symphony Orchestra: The First 100 Years (1990)
SCRIABIN Symphony No. 4, Op. 54 (The Poem of Ecstasy)
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded December 13, 14, and 16, 1984
BRAHMS Concerto for Piano No. 2 in B-flat Major, Op. 83
Daniel Barenboim, piano
Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor
Recorded November 28, 1977
RAN Concerto for Orchestra
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded October 20, 22, and 25, 1988
Chicago Symphony Orchestra in the Twentieth Century: Collector’s Choice (2000)
BUSONI Lustspiel Overture, Op. 38
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded January 4, 1996
MOZART/Busoni Overture to The Abduction from the Seraglio, K. 284
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded February 8, 1996
BEETHOVEN Christ on the Mount of Olives, Op. 85
Laura Aikin, soprano
Ben Heppner, tenor
René Pape, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded February 15 and 16, 1996
from the archives 