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Wishing a very happy eighty-fifth birthday to John Corigliano!
The recipient of numerous honors—including a Pulitzer Prize, an Academy Award, the Grawemeyer Award, and multiple Grammy awards—Corigliano served as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first composer-in-residence from 1987 until 1990.
The Orchestra first performed Corigliano’s Concerto for Piano in February 1969, with Sheldon Shkolnik as soloist and acting music director Irwin Hoffman on the podium. Under the baton of Sir Georg Solti, the Orchestra performed the Concerto for Clarinet with Larry Combs, as well as the Tournaments Overture on concerts in Orchestra Hall and during the 1985 tour to Europe, performing the work in Hamburg, Madrid, Paris, and London.
On March 15, 1990, music director designate Daniel Barenboim led the world premiere of Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1, jointly commissioned for the Orchestra’s centennial by the Chicago Symphony and the Meet-the-Composer Orchestra Residencies Program.
“During the past decade I have lost many friends and colleagues to the AIDS epidemic, and the cumulative effect of those losses has, naturally, deeply affected me. My First Symphony was generated by feelings of loss, anger, and frustration,” wrote Corigliano in the program note for the premiere. “A few years ago, I was extremely moved when I first saw ‘The Quilt,’ an ambitious interweaving of several thousand fabric panels, each memorializing a person who had died of AIDS, and, most importantly, each designed and constructed by his or her loved ones. This made me want to memorialize in music those I have lost, and reflect on those I am losing.”
The live recording—Barenboim and the Orchestra’s first on the Erato label—featured principal cello John Sharp and, offstage, pianist Stephen Hough. The recording was recognized with two 1991 Grammy awards for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Contemporary Composition. Barenboim programmed the symphony again in 1992, also taking it on tour to Carnegie Hall, Madrid, and London.
Corigliano’s First Symphony also has been performed at the Ravinia Festival under the batons of Christoph Eschenbach in 1996 and Marin Alsop in 2003; Eschenbach also led performances in Orchestra Hall in 1998.
With the Orchestra, Neeme Järvi conducted the Pied Piper Fantasy with Sir James Galway; Eschenbach led The Red Violin: Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra with Joshua Bell; William Eddins conducted Phantasmagoria on The Ghosts of Versailles; and Leonard Slatkin has led Three Hallucinations, Fantasia on an Ostinato, and The Mannheim Rocket.
To celebrate Sir Georg Solti’s seventy-fifth birthday in 1987, associate conductor Kenneth Jean led the Orchestra in the world premiere of Corigliano’s Campane di Ravello. Written while on vacation in Ravello, Italy, the composer remarked, “On Sundays, the multitude of churches in Ravello and the surrounding towns play their bells, each in a different key and rhythm. The cacophony is gorgeous, and uniquely festive. My tribute to Sir Georg attempts to make the sections of the symphony orchestra sound like pealing bells: that tolling, filigreed with birdcalls in the woodwinds, provides the backdrop for a theme that grows more and more familiar as it is clarified. At the end, it is clear and joyous—a tribute to a great man.”
Jean also led the work on the Centennial Gala concert on October 6, 1990, and current music director Riccardo Muti conducted it on September 19, 2015, on the Symphony Ball concert launching the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 125th season.
MusicNOW, the Orchestra’s contemporary music series, kicked off its twentieth season on October 2, 2017, at the Harris Theater with a concert celebrating past composers-in-residence. Samuel Adams and Elizabeth Ogonek honored their predecessors by programming works by Anna Clyne, Osvaldo Golijov, and Mark-Anthony Turnage, along with—in attendance—Mason Bates, Shulamit Ran, Augusta Read Thomas, and Corigliano.
Most recently, in January 2019, the Orchestra performed “One Sweet Morning” from the song cycle of the same name, with baritone Thomas Hampson as soloist and Bramwell Tovey conducting. In Chicago Classical Review, Lawrence A. Johnson wrote that Corigliano’s song, “made an apt and hopeful coda, envisioning a world with no more war . . . Hampson was able to convey the gentle optimism of the Yip Harburg text, and Corigliano’s fragile, bird-like rising line.”
Happy, happy birthday!
This article also appears here.
The Chicago Symphony Orchestra family joins the music world in mourning the loss of the eminent British conductor and pianist Bramwell Tovey, who died yesterday, July 12, 2022, following a long illness. He was sixty-nine.
“The music world has lost a true renaissance man with the passing of Bramwell Tovey, and I have lost a dear, dear friend,” wrote CSOA President Jeff Alexander. “We began our tenures at the Vancouver Symphony Orchestra the same week in September 2000. For the subsequent fourteen years, we were joined at the hip in our daily quest to advance all artistic and administrative aspects of the organization, and many advancements we indeed made. Bramwell’s concerts were always extremely enjoyable. His many compositions, about which he was so humble, were intricate, thoughtful, meaningful additions to the repertoire. His piano playing a joy to listen to. His unyielding support of my work and the well-being of the institution forever appreciated. In the eight years that have passed since I left the VSO for the CSO, we were simply friends. And he was a wonderful friend. He will be missed by the tens of thousands of people who benefited from experiencing his great talent each concert season. Even more so by his family and his friends, who were very much a part of his family.”
A frequent guest to the Chicago Symphony podium in recent years, Tovey also appeared with the Orchestra as a pianist, most notably leading Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue from the keyboard in all-Gershwin concerts in March 2017.
“Elgar’s Enigma Variations does not lack for concert performances, but Tovey’s stood out,” wrote Howard Reich in the Chicago Tribune, following Tovey’s most recent appearances with the Orchestra in January 2019. “From the statement of the main theme, which the conductor delivered with unusual care and deliberation, it was clear that this was going to be a singular interpretation. Sure enough, Tovey turned these vignettes—each depicting someone in Elgar’s circle of friends—into vividly imagined portraits.”
A complete list of his appearances with the Orchestra is below.
August 10, 2014, Ravinia Festival
BRAHMS/Juon Hungarian Dance No. 4 in F Minor, WoO 1, No. 4
BRAHMS Hungarian Dance No. 10 in E Major, WoO 1, No. 10
BRAHMS Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 77
Miriam Fried, violin
LEHÁR Gold and Silver Waltz
J. STRAUSS, Jr. On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Op. 314
R. STRAUSS Suite from Der Rosenkavalier
August 20, 2016, Ravinia Festival
BEETHOVEN Violin Concerto in D Major, Op. 61
Itzhak Perlman, violin
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 7 in A Major, Op. 92
February 3 and 4, 2017, Orchestra Hall
WALTON Orb and Sceptre
BRITTEN The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra, Op. 34
TCHAIKOVSKY Act 2 from Sleeping Beauty
March 24 and 25, 2017, Orchestra Hall
GERSHWIN/Rose Overture to Strike Up the Band
GERSHWIN/Tovey A Foggy Day
GERSHWIN Catfish Row: Suite from Porgy and Bess
GERSHWIN/Grofé Rhapsody in Blue
Bramwell Tovey, piano
GERSHWIN An American in Paris
January 10, 11, and 12, 2019, Orchestra Hall
IVES/Schuman Variations on “America”
IVES/Adams At the River
COPLAND Selections from Old American Songs
STILL In Memoriam: The Colored Soldiers Who Died for Democracy
DAMROSCH Danny Deever
DAUGHERTY Letter to Mrs. Bixby from Letters from Lincoln
CORIGLIANO One Sweet Morning from One Sweet Morning
Thomas Hampson, baritone
ELGAR Variations on an Original Theme, Op. 36 (Enigma)
Most recently, Tovey had accepted the position of music director of Sarasota Orchestra, continued artistic leadership positions with the Rhode Island Philharmonic and BBC Concert Orchestra, and was appointed as principal guest conductor with Orchestre Symphonique de Québec.
This article also appears here.
Sir Georg Solti and Margaret Hillis show off their 1986 Grammy Awards for Liszt’s A Faust Symphony and Orff’s Carmina burana. (Jim Steere)
During her 37 years as director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, Margaret Hillis prepared her ensemble for many recordings—including nine Grammy Award winners—with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on the Erato, Deutsche Grammophon, London, and RCA labels. A sample of some of those iconic records is below.
BACH Mass in B Minor, BWV 232Sir Georg Solti conductor
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
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1990
BACH Saint Matthew Passion, BWV 244Sir Georg Solti conductor
Kiri Te Kanawa soprano
Anne Sofie von Otter mezzo-soprano
Anthony Rolfe Johnson tenor
Tom Krause bass
Hans Peter Blochwitz tenor
Olaf Bär baritone
Richard Cohn baritone
Patrice Michaels soprano
Debra Austin mezzo-soprano
William Watson tenor
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus
Doreen Rao director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1987
London
BARBER The LoversDale Duesing baritone
BARBER Prayers of Kierkegaard
Sarah Reese soprano
Andrew Schenk conductor
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
BEETHOVEN Missa solemnis in D Major, Op. 123
Sir Georg Solti conductor
Lucia Popp soprano
Yvonne Minton mezzo-soprano
Mallory Walker tenor
Gwynne Howell bass
Victor Aitay violin
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Medinah Temple in 1977
London
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
Fritz Reiner conductor
Phyllis Curtin soprano
Florence Kopleff contralto
John McCollum tenor
Donald Gramm bass-baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1961
RCA
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 9 in D Minor, Op. 125
Sir Georg Solti conductor
Jessye Norman soprano
Reinhild Runkel mezzo-soprano
Robert Schunk tenor
Hans Sotin bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Medinah Temple in 1986
London
BERLIOZ The Damnation of Faust, Op. 24
Sir Georg Solti conductor
Frederica von Stade mezzo-soprano
Kenneth Riegel tenor
José van Dam baritone
Malcolm King bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus
Doreen Rao director
Recorded in Medinah Temple in 1981
London
BRAHMS A German Requiem, Op. 45
Daniel Barenboim conductor
Janet Williams soprano
Thomas Hampson baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1992
Erato
BRUCKNER Helgoland
Daniel Barenboim conductor
Men of the Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1979
Deutsche Grammophon
BRUCKNER Psalm 150
Daniel Barenboim conductor
Ruth Welting soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1979
Deutsche Grammophon
BRUCKNER Te Deum
Daniel Barenboim conductor
Jessye Norman soprano
Yvonne Minton mezzo-soprano
David Rendall tenor
Samuel Ramey bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1981
Deutsche Grammophon
DOWNS Bear Down, Chicago Bears
Sir Georg Solti conductor
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1986
London
HANDEL Messiah
Sir Georg Solti conductor
Elizabeth Hynes soprano
Anne Gjevang contralto
Keith Lewis tenor
Gwynne Howell bass
David Schrader harpsichord
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1984
London
HAYDN The Seasons
Sir Georg Solti conductor
Ruth Ziesak soprano
Uwe Heilmann tenor
René Pape bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1992
London
HAYDN The Creation
Sir Georg Solti conductor
Norma Burrowes soprano
Sylvia Greenberg soprano
Rüdiger Wohlers tenor
Siegmund Nimsgern bass-baritone
James Morris bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1984
London
IVES Orchestral Set No. 2
Morton Gould conductor
Members of the Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Robert Schweitzer assistant director
Recorded in Medinah Temple in 1967
RCA
MAHLER Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (Resurrection)
Sir Georg Solti conductor
Isobel Buchanan soprano
Mira Zakai mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Medinah Temple in 1980
London
MAHLER Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (Resurrection)
Claudio Abbado conductor
Carol Neblett soprano
Marilyn Horne mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1976
Deutsche Grammophon
PROKOFIEV Alexander Nevsky
Fritz Reiner conductor
Rosalind Elias mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1959
RCA
SMITH/Stock The Star-Spangled Banner
Sir Georg Solti conductor
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1986
London
VERDI Opera Choruses
Sir Georg Solti conductor
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Terry Edwards guest chorus director
Recorded in Orchestra Hall in 1989
London
VERDI Four Sacred Pieces
Sir Georg Solti conductor
Jo Ann Pickens soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Recorded in Medinah Temple in 1977-78
London
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Wishing a very happy seventy-fifth birthday to the wonderful American mezzo-soprano Florence Quivar!
A frequent guest in Orchestra Hall and at the Ravinia Festival, Quivar has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus on numerous occasions, as follows:
Florence Quivar (Kenn Duncan photo)
June 21, 1980, Ravinia Festival
MAHLER Kindertotenlieder
James Levine, conductor
July 3, 1980, Ravinia Festival
SCHUBERT Mass No. 6 in E-flat Major, D. 950
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Vinson Cole, tenor
Philip Creech, tenor
John Cheek, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
James Levine, conductor
July 13, 1980, Ravinia Festival
BACH Saint Matthew Passion, BWV 244
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Vinson Cole, tenor
Philip Creech, tenor
Arthur Thompson, baritone
John Cheek, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
James Levine, conductor
April 8, 9, and 10, 1982, Orchestra Hall
BACH Mass in B Minor, BWV 232
Yvonne Kenny, soprano
Anthony Rolfe Johnson, tenor
Malcolm King, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Sir Georg Solti, conductor
June 24, 1983, Ravinia Festival
VERDI Requiem
Leona Mitchell, soprano
Ermanno Mauro, tenor
John Cheek, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
James Levine, conductor
June 29, 1984, Ravinia Festival
MAHLER Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major
Johanna Meier, soprano
Judith Blegen, soprano
Marvis Martin, soprano
Isola Jones, mezzo-soprano
Giuliano Ciannella, tenor
Ryan Edwards, baritone
John Cheek, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Wisconsin Conservatory Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hawkins, director
Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus
Doreen Rao, director
James Levine, conductor
July 1, 1984, Ravinia Festival
MENDELSSOHN Incidental Music to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61
Judith Blegen, soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
James Levine, conductor
Recorded in Orchestra Hall on July 2 and 3, 1984. For Deutsche Grammophon, Cord Garben was the recording supervisor, and Klaus Scheibe was the recording engineer.
July 13, 1986, Ravinia Festival
MOZART Requiem in D Minor, K. 626
Benita Valente, soprano
Philip Creech, tenor
John Cheek, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
James Levine, conductor
Benita Valenta, Quivar, Philip Creech, and John Cheek onstage with James Levine and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus perform Mozart’s Requiem at the Ravinia Festival on July 13, 1986 (Jim Steere photo)
July 10, 1987, Ravinia Festival
MAHLER Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major
Kaaren Erickson, soprano
Marvis Martin, soprano
Karen Williams, soprano
Hillary Johnsson, mezzo-soprano
Timothy Jenkins, tenor
Thomas Hampson, baritone
John Cheek, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Milwaukee Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hawkins, director
Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus
Doreen Rao, director
Lucy Ding, director
James Levine, conductor
June 22, 1990, Ravinia Festival
MAHLER Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (Resurrection)
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
James Levine, conductor
June 23, 1991, Ravinia Festival
MOZART Mass in C Minor, K. 427
MOZART Requiem in D Minor, K. 626
Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Peter Kazaras, tenor
Terry Cook, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
James Levine, conductor
July 7, 1991, Ravinia Festival
STRAVINSKY Oedipus Rex
Philip Langridge, tenor
Donald Kaasch, tenor
James Morris, bass-baritone
Jan-Hendrik Rootering, bass
F. Murray Abraham, narrator
Men of the Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
James Levine, conductor
Recorded in Medinah Temple on July 9 and 10, 1991. For Deutsche Grammophon, Christopher Adler was the producer, Gregor Zielinsky was the balance engineer, Klaus Behrens and Wolf-Dieter Karwatky were the recording engineers, and Reinhard Lagemann was the editor.
February 26, 27, 28, and 29, 1992, Orchestra Hall
MAHLER Symphony No. 3 in D Minor
Women of the Chicago Symphony Chorus
Richard Garrin, director
Chicago Children’s Choir
Lucy Ding, director
Zubin Mehta, conductor
November 17, 18, 19, and 22, 1994, Orchestra Hall
CHAUSSON Poem of Love and the Sea, Op. 19
Antonio Pappano, conductor
May 30, 31, and June 1, 1996, Medinah Temple
MAHLER Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major
Sharon Sweet, soprano
Marvis Martin, soprano
Ying Huang, soprano
Janis Taylor, mezzo-soprano
Vinson Cole, tenor
Richard Zeller, baritone
Eric Halfvarson, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
Waukegan Concert Chorus
Don Horisberger, director
Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus
Sandra Prodan Murphy, director
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
July 23, 1996, Ravinia Festival
VERDI Requiem
Shinobu Satoh, soprano
Richard Leech, tenor
Roberto Scandiuzzi, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
August 7, 1999, Ravinia Festival
MAHLER Symphony No. 3 in D Minor
Women of the Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus
Emily Ellsworth, director
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
June 30, 2001, Ravinia Festival
VERDI Requiem
Adina Nitescu, soprano
Vinson Cole, tenor
John Relyea, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe, director
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
Happy, happy birthday!
Wishing a very happy seventieth birthday to the remarkable soprano Kathleen Battle! She has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on a number of occasions, in Orchestra Hall, at the Ravinia Festival, and in Carnegie Hall, as follows:
June 27, 1974, Ravinia Festival
MAHLER Symphony No. 8 in E-flat Major
James Levine, conductor
Edda Moser, soprano
Clarice Carson, soprano
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Beverly Wolff, contralto
Gwendolyn Killebrew, contralto
Kenneth Riegel, tenor
Lawrence Shadur, baritone
Justino Díaz, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus
Doreen Rao, director
June 26, 1975, Ravinia Festival
MOZART Mass in C Minor, K. 427
James Levine, conductor
Kathleen Battle
Maria Ewing, soprano
Kenneth Riegel, tenor
Ara Berberian, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
July 17, 1976, Ravinia Festival
MOZART Bella mia fiamma . . . Resta, o cara, K. 528
James Levine, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
July 2, 1977, Ravinia Festival
MAHLER Symphony No. 2 in C Minor (Resurrection)
James Levine, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Beverly Wolff, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
July 23, 1977, Ravinia Festival
MOZART Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio, K. 418
James Levine, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
July 24, 1977, Ravinia Festival
HADYN The Creation
James Levine, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Benita Valente, soprano
Seth McCoy, tenor
Donald Gramm, bass-baritione
Arnold Voketaitis, bass-baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
June 24 1978, Ravinia Festival
MENDELSSOHN Selections from A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Op. 61
James Levine, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Claudine Carlson, mezzo-soprano
Women of the Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
June 30, 1978, Ravinia Festial
BERLIOZ Les Troyens, part 1
James Levine, conductor
A Trojan Soldier, Pantheus John Cheek, bass
Cassandra Nadine Denize, soprano
Chorebus Lenus Carlson, baritone
Aeneas Guy Chauvet, tenor
Helenus David Kuebler, tenor
Ascanius Kathleen Battle, soprano
Hecuba Patricia O’Neill, soprano
Priam, The Ghost of Hector Ara Berberian, bass
A Greek Captain Philip Kraus, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
July 1, 1978, Ravinia Festival
BERLIOZ Les Troyens, part 2
James Levine, conductor
Dido Shirley Verrett, soprano
Anna, Ghost of Cassandra Claudine Carlson, mezzo-soprano
Iopas David Kuebler, tenor
Ascanius Kathleen Battle, soprano
Pantheus, Mercury, Ghost of Priam John Cheek, bass
Narbal, Ghost of Hector Ara Berberian, bass
Aeneas Guy Chauvet, tenor
Hylas Philip Creech, tenor
First Sentry, Ghost of Chorebus James Kalkbrenner, bass
Second Sentry Philip Kraus, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
July 9, 1978, Ravinia Festival
MENDELSSOHN Elijah, Op. 70
James Levine, conductor
Sherrill Milnes, baritone
Jessye Norman, soprano
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Beverly Wolff, mezzo-soprano
Isola Jones, mezzo-soprano
Philip Creech, tenor
Kirk Stuart, tenor
John Cheek, bass-baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
July 16, 1978, Ravinia Festival
BACH Saint Matthew Passion, BWV 244
James Levine, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Beverly Wolff, mezzo-soprano
Philip Creech, tenor
David Kuebler, tenor
John Cheek, bass-baritone
Arthur Thompson, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Glen Ellyn Children’s Theatre Chorus
Doreen Rao, director
July 3, 1980, Ravinia Festival
SCHUBERT Mass No. 6 in E-flat Major, D. 950
James Levine, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Florence Quivar, mezzo-soprano
Vinson Cole, tenor
Philip Creech, tenor
John Cheek, bass-baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
July 13, 1980, Ravinia Festival
BACH Saint Matthew Passion, BWV 244
James Levine, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Florence Quivar, mezzo-soprano
Vinson Cole, tenor
Philip Creech, tenor
John Cheek, bass-baritone
Arthur Thompson, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
June 30, 1983, Ravinia Festival
BRAHMS A German Requiem, Op. 45
James Levine, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Håkan Hagegård, baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Brahms’s Requiem was recorded in Orchestra Hall on July 5 and 6, 1983, for RCA. Thomas Z. Shepard was the producer, Paul Goodman the recording engineer, and John Newton and Thomas MacCluskey were engineers. The recording won the 1984 Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.
July 3, 1983, Ravinia Festival
HANDEL L’Allegro ed il Penseroso from L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato
James Levine, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Philip Creech, tenor
John Cheek, bass-baritone
Mary Sauer, harpsichord
Chicago Symphony Chorus
James Winfield, associate director
April 25, 26, and 27, 1985, Orchestra Hall
April 29, 1985, Carnegie Hall
VERDI Falstaff
Sir Georg Solti, conductor
Sir John Falstaff Guillermo Sarabia, baritone
Ford Wolfgang Brendel, baritone
Fenton Yordi Ramiro, tenor
Dr. Caius Heinz Zednik, tenor
Bardolph Francis Egerton, tenor
Pistol Aage Haugland, bass
Mistress Alice Ford Katia Ricciarelli, soprano
Nannetta Kathleen Battle, soprano
Mistress Quickly Christa Ludwig, mezzo-soprano
Mistress Meg Page Ann Murray, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
June 29, 1986, Ravinia Festival
BACH Jauchzet Gott in allen Landen, BWV 51
VILLA-LOBOS Bachiana Brasileira No. 5
MAHLER Symphony No. 4
James Levine, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Adolph Herseth, trumpet
Lynn Harrell, cello
July 3, 1987, Ravinia Festival
STRAUSS Ariadne auf Naxos, Op. 60
James Levine, conductor
A Music Master Hermann Prey, baritone
The Major-Domo Nico Castel, tenor
The Composer Susanne Mentzer, mezzo-soprano
The Tenor, Bacchus Gary Lakes, tenor
An Officer Edward Ozaki, tenor
A Dancing Master Andrea Velis, tenor
A Wig Maker David Huneryager, bass
A Lackey Richard Cohn, baritone
Zerbinetta Kathleen Battle, soprano
Prima Donna, Ariadne Margaret Price, soprano
Harlequin Christopher Trakas, baritone
Scaramuccio Allan Glassman, tenor
Truffaldino James Courtney, bass
Brighella Philip Creech, tenor
Naiad Gail Dobish, soprano
Dryad Hillary Johnsson, mezzo-soprano
Echo Dawn Upshaw, soprano
February 4, 5, and 6, 1988, Orchestra Hall
BRAHMS A German Requiem, Op. 45
Sir Georg Solti, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Alfred Muff, baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, chorus director
July 8, 1988, Ravinia Festival
MOZART Don Giovanni, K. 527
James Levine, conductor
Leporello Renato Capecchi, baritone
Donna Anna Karen Huffstodt, soprano
Don Giovanni Thomas Hampson, baritone
Commendatore Jeffrey Wells, bass-baritone
Don Ottavio Vinson Cole, tenor
Donna Elvira Patricia Schuman, soprano
Zerlina Kathleen Battle, soprano
Masetto Julien Robbins, baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
June 21, 1991, Ravinia Festival
DONIZETTI The Elixir of Love
James Levine, conductor
Giannetta Dawn Upshaw, soprano
Nemorino Luciano Pavarotti, tenor
Adina Kathleen Battle, soprano
Belcore Mark Oswald, baritone
Dulcamara Paul Plishka, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
July 24, 1993, Ravinia Festival
PREVIN Honey and Rue
DONIZETTI C’en est donc fait . . . Par le rang et par l’opulence from The Daughter of the Regiment
John Nelson, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
July 29, 1994, Ravinia Festival
GOUNOD Je veux vivre from Romeo and Juliet
BERLIOZ Je vais le voir from Beatrice and Benedict
VILLA-LOBOS Bachiana Brasileira No. 5
Hugh Wolff, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
September 16, 1994
September 16, 1994, Orchestra Hall
MOZART Exsultate, jubilate, K. 165
STRAUSS Ständchen, Op. 17, No. 2
STRAUSS Morgen!, Op. 27, No. 4
STRAUSS Ich schwebe, Op. 48, No. 2
GERSHWIN Summertime from Porgy and Bess
BERNSTEIN Somewhere from West Side Story
PREVIN Take My Mother Home from Honey and Rue
ELLINGTON/Sadin Come Sunday
Daniel Barenboim, harpsichord, piano, and conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
August 5, 1995, Ravinia Festival
MOZART Deh vieni non tardar from The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492
MOZART Misera! dove son . . . Ah! non son io che parlo, K. 369
MOZART Un moto di gioia mi sento, K. 579
STRAVINSKY No word from Tom from The Rake’s Progress
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
July 11, 1998, Ravinia Festival
July 11, 1998, Ravinia Festival
VERDI Sul fil d’un soffio estesio from Falstaff
ROSSINI Una voce poco fa from The Barber of Seville
ROSSINI Dunque io son from The Barber of Seville
MOZART Crudel! perchè finora from The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492
GOUNOD Je veux vivre from Romeo and Juliet
KORNGOLD Glück, das mir verblieb from Die tote Stadt
Christoph Eschenbach, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Dmitri Hvorostovsky, baritone
July 12, 2003, Ravinia Festival
MOZART Deh vieni non tardar from The Marriage of Figaro, K. 492
GOUNOD Amour ranime mon courage from Romeo and Juliet
GABRIEL/Sadin His Eye is on the Sparrow
TRADITIONAL/Smith Witness
TRADITIONAL/Bonds He’s Got the Whole World in His Hands
Bobby McFerrin, conductor
Kathleen Battle, soprano
Denyce Graves, mezzo-soprano
Chicago Children’s Choir
Josephine Lee, director
Between 1993 and 1996, James Levine led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in recording sessions at Medinah Temple for Fantasia 2000, the long-awaited sequel to Disney’s classic 1940 Fantasia. One of the works recorded was excerpts from Elgar’s Pomp and Circumstance marches featuring Battle and the Chicago Symphony Chorus.
Under the auspices of Allied Arts, CSO Presents, and Symphony Center Presents, Battle also gave recitals in Orchestra Hall on the following dates:
- April 20, 1986
- December 13, 1991
- April 24, 1996
- April 18, 1999
- April 11, 2001
Happy, happy birthday!
Wishing a very happy eightieth birthday to John Corigliano!
The recipient of numerous honors—including a Pulitzer Prize, an Academy Award, the Grawemeyer Award, and multiple Grammy awards—Corigliano served as the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first composer-in-residence from 1987 until 1990.
The Orchestra first performed Corigliano’s Concerto for Piano in February 1969, with Sheldon Shkolnik as soloist and acting music director Irwin Hoffman on the podium. Under the baton of Sir Georg Solti, the Orchestra performed the Concerto for Clarinet with Larry Combs, as well as the Tournaments Overture on concerts in Orchestra Hall and during the 1985 tour to Europe, performing the work in Hamburg, Madrid, Paris, and London.
On March 15, 1990, music director designate Daniel Barenboim led the world premiere of Corigliano’s Symphony No. 1, jointly commissioned for the Orchestra’s centennial by the Chicago Symphony and the Meet-the-Composer Orchestra Residencies Program.
“During the past decade I have lost many friends and colleagues to the AIDS epidemic, and the cumulative effect of those losses has, naturally, deeply affected me. My First Symphony was generated by feelings of loss, anger, and frustration,” wrote Corigliano in the program note for the premiere. “A few years ago, I was extremely moved when I first saw ‘The Quilt,’ an ambitious interweaving of several thousand fabric panels, each memorializing a person who had died of AIDS, and, most importantly, each designed and constructed by his or her loved ones. This made me want to memorialize in music those I have lost, and reflect on those I am losing.”
The live recording—Barenboim and the Orchestra’s first on the Erato label—featured principal cello John Sharp and, offstage, pianist Stephen Hough. The recording was recognized with two 1991 Grammy awards for Best Orchestral Performance and Best Contemporary Composition. Barenboim programmed the symphony again in 1992, also taking it on tour to Carnegie Hall, Madrid, and London.
Corigliano’s First Symphony also has been performed at the Ravinia Festival under the batons of Christoph Eschenbach in 1996 and Marin Alsop in 2003; Eschenbach also led performances in Orchestra Hall in 1998.
With the Orchestra, Neeme Järvi conducted the Pied Piper Fantasy with Sir James Galway; Eschenbach led The Red Violin: Chaconne for Violin and Orchestra with Joshua Bell; William Eddins conducted Phantasmagoria on The Ghosts of Versailles; and Leonard Slatkin has led Three Hallucinations, Fantasia on an Ostinato, and The Mannheim Rocket.
To celebrate Sir Georg Solti’s seventy-fifth birthday in 1987, associate conductor Kenneth Jean led the Orchestra in the world premiere of Corigliano’s Campane di Ravello. Written while on vacation in Ravello, Italy, the composer remarked, “On Sundays, the multitude of churches in Ravello and the surrounding towns play their bells, each in a different key and rhythm. The cacophony is gorgeous, and uniquely festive. My tribute to Sir Georg attempts to make the sections of the symphony orchestra sound like pealing bells: that tolling, filigreed with birdcalls in the woodwinds, provides the backdrop for a theme that grows more and more familiar as it is clarified. At the end, it is clear and joyous—a tribute to a great man.”
Jean also led the work on the Centennial Gala concert on October 6, 1990, and current music director Riccardo Muti conducted it on September 19, 2015, on the Symphony Ball concert launching the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s 125th season.
Corigliano and Stephanie Jeong at the Harris Theater on October 2, 2017 (Todd Rosenberg photo)
MusicNOW, the Orchestra’s contemporary music series, kicked off its twentieth season on October 2, 2017, at the Harris Theater with a concert celebrating past composers-in-residence. Samuel Adams and Elizabeth Ogonek honored their predecessors by programming works by Anna Clyne, Osvaldo Golijov, and Mark-Anthony Turnage, along with—in attendance—Mason Bates, Shulamit Ran, Augusta Read Thomas, and Corigliano.
CSO violins Yuan-Qing Yu and Hermine Gagné, viola Danny Lai, and cello Kenneth Olsen performed Corigliano’s A Black November Turkey (in the composer’s string quartet arrangement), and violin Stephenie Jeong soloed in the Red Violin Caprices. The Chicago Classical Review’s Lawrence A. Johnson observed, “Jeong delivered a powerful tour de force performance, sensitively serving the pages of introspective melancholy and throwing off Corigliano’s artful retake on nineteenth-century Paganini-esque fiddle fireworks with blazing virtuosity and panache. It was wonderful to see the veteran composer join the CSO’s young associate concertmaster for a double curtain call.”
And next season, in January 2019, Thomas Hampson will perform the song “One Sweet Morning” from Corigliano’s song cycle One Sweet Morning, commissioned to commemorate the tenth anniversary of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Bramwell Tovey will conduct.
Happy, happy birthday!
Daniel Barenboim led the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s first South American tour—the fortieth international tour—in October 2000, with stops in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, and Barenboim’s hometown of Buenos Aires.
Barenboim and the Orchestra onstage at the Sala São Paulo on October 5, 2000 (Greg Morton photo)
October 4, 2000 – Teatro Municipal, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
October 5, 2000 – Sala São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503
MAHLER Symphony No. 1 in D Major
Daniel Barenboim, piano and conductor
October 6, 2000 – Sala São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
October 12, 2000 – Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, Argentina
MAHLER Symphony No. 7
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Program book for the three concerts at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires in October 2000
October 7, 2000 – Sala São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil
October 11, 2000 – Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, Argentina
DEBUSSY Prelude to The Afternoon of a Faun
DEBUSSY La mer
FALLA The Three-Cornered Hat
Alejandra Malvino, mezzo-soprano
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
October 10, 2000 – Teatro Colon, Buenos Aires, Argentina
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 25 in C Major, K. 503
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major
Daniel Barenboim, piano and conductor
The Orchestra’s nineteenth European tour included concerts in London, Berlin, and Vienna, and one of the concerts in Lucerne featured the world premiere of Noesis, a new work by Swiss composer Hanspeter Kyburz.
September 7, 2001 – Royal Albert Hall, London, England
WAGNER Overture to Tannhäuser
CARTER Partita
MAHLER Symphony No. 1 in D Major
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Barenboim and the Orchestra onstage at the Philharmonie in Berlin on September 9, 2001
September 8, 2001 – Royal Albert Hall, London, England
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
THOMAS Aurora
Micaela Haslam, soprano
MAHLER Symphony No. 7
Daniel Barenboim, piano and conductor
September 9, 2001 – Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
September 15, 2001 – Musikverein, Vienna, Austria
September 16, 2001 – Musikverein, Vienna, Austria
MAHLER Symphony No. 7
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
September 11, 2001 – Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
SMITH/Stock The Star-Spangled Banner
MAHLER Symphony No. 7
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
September 12, 2001 – Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
CARTER Partita
MAHLER Symphony No. 5
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
September 13, 2001 – Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
KYBURZ Noesis for Large Orchestra
MAHLER Symphony No. 1 in D Major
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
During the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s twentieth European tour, Barenboim conducted Bruckner’s Fourth, Seventh, and Ninth symphonies on three concerts at the Lucerne Festival.
Luggage sticker for the 2002 tour to Lucerne
September 13, 2002 – Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
BOULEZ Notations for Orchestra I-IV and VII
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
September 14, 2002 – Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 24 in C Minor, K. 491
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 7 in E Major
Daniel Barenboim, piano and conductor
September 15, 2002 – Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048
BOULEZ Originel from . . . explosante-fixe . . .
Mathieu Dufour, flute
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 9 in D Minor
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
The Orchestra’s twenty-first European tour, to the annual Festtage in Berlin, featured Barenboim leading Mahler song cycles and Bruckner symphonies.
Program page for the April 17, 2003, concert in Berlin
April 17, 2003 – Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
MAHLER Kindertotenlieder
Thomas Quasthoff, bass-baritone
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 4 in E-flat Major
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
April 18, 2003 – Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
MAHLER Songs of a Wayfarer
Thomas Hampson, baritone
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 7 in E Major
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
April 19, 2003 – Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
MAHLER Rückert Lieder
Violeta Urmana, mezzo-soprano
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 9 in D Minor
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Returning again to the Lucerne Festival for the twenty-second European tour, the Orchestra performed several Strauss tone poems under Barenboim’s baton.
Program book for the three concerts in Lucerne in September 2003
September 13, 2003 – Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
STRAUSS Don Juan, Op. 20
MOZART Piano Concerto No. 23 in A Major, K. 488
MUNDRY Panorama ciego
STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28
Daniel Barenboim, piano and conductor
September 14, 2003 – Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
SCHOENBERG Transfigured Night, Op. 4
STRAUSS Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24
WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
September 15, 2003 – Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
WAGNER Overture to Tannhäuser
SCHOENBERG Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31
STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
Robert Chen, violin
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
The following month, Barenboim and the Orchestra traveled to Japan for the fifth Asian tour. The final concerts of the tour in Tokyo included works by Stravinsky and Ravel in a collaboration with the Tokyo Ballet, featuring Sylvie Guillem in Ravel’s Boléro.
Program book for the October 29, 2003, concert in Fukuoka
October 24, 2003 – Bunka Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan
October 27, 2003 – Festival Hall, Osaka, Japan
MAHLER Symphony No. 9 in D Major
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
October 26, 2003 – Bunka Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan
WAGNER Overture to Tannhäuser
SCHOENBERG Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
October 26, 2003 – Bunka Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan
October 29, 2003 – Fukuoka Symphony Hall, Fukuoka, Japan
WAGNER Prelude and Liebestod from Tristan and Isolde
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 7 in E Major
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
November 1, 2003 – Bunka Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan
RAVEL Pavane pour une infante défunte
STRAUSS Death and Transfiguration, Op. 24
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 (Pathétique)
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Tokyo
November 2, 2003 – Bunka Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan
November 3, 2003 – Bunka Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan
STRAVINSKY The Rite of Spring
STRAVINSKY The Firebird Suite
RAVEL Boléro
Tokyo Ballet
Sylvie Guillem, dancer
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
At the 2004 Festtage in Berlin, Barenboim led the Orchestra in works by Schoenberg—the Piano Concerto, Violin Concerto, and Variations for Orchestra—paired with Tchaikovsky’s final three symphonies.
April 7, 2004 – Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
BACH Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major, BWV 1048
SCHOENBERG Piano Concerto, Op. 42
Peter Serkin, piano
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 5 in E Minor, Op. 64
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
April 8, 2004 – Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
BACH Orchestral Suite No. 2 in B Minor, BWV 1067
SCHOENBERG Violin Concerto, Op. 36
Nikolaj Znaider, violin
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 4 in F Minor, Op. 36
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
April 9, 2004 – Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
BACH Concerto for Two Pianos in C Major, BWV 1061
Peter Serkin, piano
SCHOENBERG Variations for Orchestra, Op. 31
TCHAIKOVSKY Symphony No. 6 in B Minor, Op. 74 (Pathétique)
Daniel Barenboim, piano and conductor
Pierre Boulez joined Barenboim for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s twenty-fourth European tour that included performances in Germany, Austria, Hungary, and England. Concerts at the Berlin Festtage—entitled Hommage à Pierre Boulez—celebrated Boulez’s eightieth birthday.
Catalog for the Budapest Spring Festival in 2005
March 24, 2005 – Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
RAVEL Rapsodie espagnole
BARTÓK Piano Concerto No. 2
Lang Lang, piano
BOULEZ Originel from . . . explosante-fixe . . .
Mathieu Dufour, flute
RAVEL Mother Goose Suite
RAVEL Daphnis and Chloe Suite No. 2
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
March 25, 2005 – Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
March 31, 2005 – National Philharmonic Hall, Budapest, Hungary
April 4, 2005 – Royal Festival Hall, London, England
BARTÓK Four Pieces for Orchestra
BARTÓK Piano Concerto No. 1
Daniel Barenboim, piano
BARTÓK Concerto for Orchestra
Pierre Boulez, conductor
Catalog for the 2005 Festtage in Berlin—Hommage à Pierre Boulez
March 26, 2005 – Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
BARTÓK Piano Concerto No. 3
Mitsuko Uchida, piano
MAHLER Symphony No. 9
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
March 30, 2005 – Musikverein, Vienna, Austria
April 1, 2005 – National Philharmonic Hall, Budapest, Hungary
April 3, 2005 – Royal Festival Hall, London, England
April 5, 2005 – Bridgewater Hall, Manchester, England
April 6, 2005 – Symphony Hall, Birmingham, England
MAHLER Symphony No. 9
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Daniel Barenboim’s final tour—the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s twenty-fifth European and forty-eighth international tour—as ninth music director was a return to the Lucerne Festival.
Program book cover for the September 2005 concerts in Lucerne
September 16, 2005 – Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
MAHLER Symphony No. 9 in D Major
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
September 17, 2005 – Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
WAGNER Prelude to Parsifal
SCHOENBERG Five Pieces for Orchestra, Op. 16
BRUCKNER Symphony No. 9 in D Minor
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
September 18, 2005 – Kultur- & Kongresszentrum, Lucerne, Switzerland
FALLA Nights in the Gardens of Spain
ALBÉNIZ Evocación from Iberia
RAVEL Rapsodie espagnole
RAVEL Pavane pour une infante défunte
RAVEL Alborada del gracioso
RAVEL Boléro
Daniel Barenboim, piano and conductor
Daniel Barenboim in 1990 (Jim Steere photo for Erato)
On March 15, 1990—at the beginning of an open rehearsal for donors and patrons—the Orchestral Association announced that the Chicago Symphony Orchestra under its music director designate Daniel Barenboim would record exclusively for Erato Records. This would be the label’s first exclusive association with a major American orchestra, and it would begin with the world premiere of the Symphony no. 1 by John Corigliano, the Orchestra’s first composer-in-residence.
A complete list of Barenboim’s catalog with the CSO on Erato is below (all recordings were made in Orchestra Hall).
BEETHOVEN Missa solemnis in D Major, Op. 123
Tina Kiberg, soprano
Waltraud Meier, mezzo-soprano
John Aler, tenor
Robert Holl, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded April 29, 30, May 1, and 4, 1993
BRAHMS Academic Festival Overture, Op. 80
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 19, 22, 24, and 28, 1993
BRAHMS A German Requiem, Op. 45
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Janet Williams, soprano*
Thomas Hampson, baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Recorded September 17, 18, 19, and 22, 1992
*The fifth movement was re-recorded in a studio session with Williams as soloist on January 16, 1993.
BRAHMS Symphony No. 1 in C Minor, Op. 68
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded May 13, 14, and 18, 1993
BRAHMS Symphony No. 2 in D Major, Op. 73
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded October 7, 8, and 9, 1993
BRAHMS Symphony No. 3 in F Major, Op. 90
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded May 15 and 18, 1993
BRAHMS Symphony No. 4 in E Minor, Op. 98
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 19, 22, 24, and 28, 1993
BRAHMS Tragic Overture, Op. 81
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 17, 18, 19, and 22, 1992
BRAHMS Variations on a Theme by Joseph Haydn, Op. 56a
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 19, 22, 24, and 28, 1993
CORIGLIANO Symphony No. 1
Stephen Hough, piano
John Sharp, cello
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded March 15, 16, and 17, 1990
1991 Grammy Awards: Best Orchestral Performance, Best Contemporary Composition
LUTOSŁAWSKI Concerto for Orchestra
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded October 1, 2, and 3, 1992
LUTOSŁAWSKI Symphony No. 3
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded 1, 2, and 3, 1992
MAHLER Das Lied von der Erde
Waltraud Meier, mezzo-soprano
Siegfried Jerusalem, tenor
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded April 25, 26, 28, May 2, and 7, 1991
MENDELSSOHN Concerto for Violin in E Minor, Op. 64
Itzhak Perlman, violin
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded May 13, 14, 15, and 18, 1993
PROKOFIEV Concerto for Violin No. 2 in G Minor, Op. 63
Itzhak Perlman, violin
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded May 13, 14, 15, and 18, 1993
Barenboim and Perlman recording with the Orchestra in May 1993 (Jim Steere photo)
RAVEL Alborada del gracioso
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded October 2 and 3, 1991
RAVEL Boléro
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded October 2 and 3, 1991, and March 16, 1992
RAVEL Daphnis and Chloe Orchestral Fragments (Second Series)
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded October 2 and 3, 1991
RAVEL Pavane pour une infant défunte
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded October 2 and 3, 1991
RAVEL Rapsodie espagnole
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded October 2 and 3, 1991
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV Sheherazade, Op. 35
Samuel Magad, violin
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded February 4, 5, and 6, 1993
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV The Tale of Tsar Saltan Suite
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded January 21, 22, 23, and 24, 1993
J. STRAUSS, Jr. Annen Polka, Op. 117
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 16, 19, and 26, 1992
J. STRAUSS, Jr. Egyptian March, Op. 335
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 16, 19, and 26, 1992
J. STRAUSS, Jr. Emperor Waltz, Op. 437
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded March 16, September 16, 19, and 26, 1992
J. STRAUSS, Jr. On the Beautiful Blue Danube, Op. 314
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 16, 19, and 26, 1992
J. STRAUSS, Jr. Overture to Die Fledermaus
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 16, 19, and 26, 1992
J. STRAUSS, Jr. and J. STRAUSS Pizzicato Polka
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 16, 19, and 26, 1992
J. STRAUSS, Sr. Radetsky March, Op. 228
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 16, 19, and 26, 1992
J. STRAUSS, Jr. Tales from the Vienna Woods, Op, 325
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 16, 19, and 26, 1992
J. STRAUSS, Jr. Thunder and Lightning Polka, Op. 324
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded March 16, September 19, and 26, 1992
J. STRAUSS, Jr. Tritsch-Tratsch Polka, Op. 214
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded March 16, September 19, and 26, 1992
R. STRAUSS An Alpine Symphony, Op. 64
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 24, 25, 26, and 29, 1992
R. STRAUSS Don Juan, Op. 20
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded May 28, 1990
R. STRAUSS Don Quixote, Op. 35
John Sharp, cello
Charles Pickler, viola
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded May 28, 1991
R. STRAUSS Symphonic Fantasy on Die Frau ohne Schatten
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 24, 25, 26, and 28, 1992
R. STRAUSS Ein Heldenleben, Op. 40
Samuel Magad, violin
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 24 and 25, 1990
R. STRAUSS Till Eulenspiegel’s Merry Pranks, Op. 28
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 24 and 25, 1990
VERDI Messa da Requiem
Alessandra Marc, soprano
Waltraud Meier, mezzo-soprano
Plácido Domingo, tenor
Ferruccio Furlanetto, bass
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis, director
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded September 20 and 21, 1993
WAGNER Dawn and Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, Siegfried’s Death and Funeral Procession, and Brünnhilde’s Immolation from Götterdämmerung
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Deborah Polaski, soprano
Recorded October 7 and 8, 1991
WAGNER Forest Murmurs from Siegfried
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded October 8, 1991
WAGNER The Ride of the Valkryies from Die Walküre
Daniel Barenboim, conductor
Recorded October 7 and 8, 1991
Orchestra Hall, January 19, 1958
On January 19, 1958, fifteen-year-old Daniel Barenboim made his piano recital debut at Orchestra Hall, with the following program:
BACH/Liszt Prelude and Fugue in A Minor, BWV 543
BEETHOVEN Sonata No. 23 in F Minor, Op. 57 (Appassionata)
BRAHMS Sonata No. 1 in C Major, Op. 1
BEN-HAIM Intermezzo and Toccata, Op. 34
The next day in the American, Roger Dettmer wrote, “Only very occasionally some youngster will happen along who seems to have been born adult . . . The prodigy turned out yesterday afternoon to be Daniel Barenboim, born fifteen years ago in Argentina. The talent is huge, the technique already formidable and he applied both to a virtuoso program [with] secure musical training and uncommon sensitivity of touch.”
He returned in November of that year and again every couple of years after that for more solo piano recitals, including—over the course of a month between February 26 and March 27, 1986—a series of eight concerts, traversing Beethoven’s complete cycle of piano sonatas.
After becoming the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s ninth music director in September 1991, Barenboim made regular appearances as piano recitalist and chamber musician, collaborating with an extraordinary roster of instrumentalists and singers. He performed a dizzying array of repertoire, including Albéniz’s Iberia; Bach’s Goldberg Variations; Bartók’s Sonata for Two Pianos and Percussion; Beethoven’s Diabelli Variations; Berg’s Chamber Concerto for Piano, Violin, and Thirteen Wind Instruments (with Pierre Boulez conducting); Brahms’s cello sonatas; Mahler’s Des Knaben Wunderhorn, Songs of a Wayfarer, and Rückert Lieder; Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time; Mozart’s complete violin sonatas; Schubert’s Winterreise; Schumann’s Frauenliebe und -leben; Wagner’s Siegfried Idyll and Wesendonk Lieder; and Wolf’s Italian Songbook; along with other piano works by Chopin, Debussy, Liszt, Schoenberg, and Schubert, among others.
Barenboim’s collaborators included instrumentalists Héctor Console, Lang Lang, Radu Lupu, Yo-Yo Ma, Rodolfo Mederos, Itzhak Perlman, András Schiff, Deborah Sobol, Maxim Vengerov, and Pinchas Zukerman, along with singers Kathleen Battle, Cecilia Bartoli, Angela Denoke, Plácido Domingo, Thomas Hampson, Robert Holl, Waltraud Meier, Thomas Quasthoff, Peter Schreier, and Bo Skovhus. He also invited countless members of the Orchestra to join him, including Stephen Balderston, Li-Kuo Chang, Robert Chen, Dale Clevenger, Larry Combs, Louise Dixon, Edward Druzinsky, Jay Friedman, Rubén González, Richard Graef, Joseph Guastafeste, John Hagstrom, Adolph Herseth, Richard Hirschl, Alex Klein, Donald Koss, Burl Lane, Samuel Magad, David McGill, Michael Mulcahy, Lawrence Neuman, Bradley Opland, Nancy Park, Donald Peck, Gene Pokorny, Mark Ridenour, James Ross, Norman Schweikert, John Sharp, Gregory Smith, Charles Vernon, Gail Williams, and members of the Chicago Symphony Chorus (prepared by Duain Wolfe), among many others.
June 4 and 11, 2006
During the final residency of his tenure as music director, Barenboim presented Bach’s The Well-Tempered Clavier in two piano recitals: the first book on June 4, 2006; and the second book a week later, on June 11.
Reviewing the June 4 concert, John von Rhein in the Chicago Tribune wrote that Barenboim, “brought the full color resources of a modern concert grand to bear on Bach’s pristinely ordered sound-world . . . Bach never intended for musicians to perform all the preludes and fugues in one gulp, but when they are executed at so exalted a level of thought, feeling, and spirituality, who’s to say they shouldn’t?”
Following the second installment, Wynne Delacoma in the Chicago Sun-Times added, “One of Barenboim’s gifts as a pianist is his ability to etch clear, long-lined, richly colored phrases with seemingly no effort [and in Bach’s music] we heard the foundation on which the rest of his music-making has been built. . . . The applause that brought Barenboim back for extra bows was fervent and heartfelt. Barenboim’s annual piano recitals have been high points of Chicago’s musical life for the past fifteen years. They are appreciated and will be deeply missed.”
from the archives 