Tag: orchestra
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Classical Music Trends to Watch in 2023
The year 2023 brings a Rachmaninoff anniversary, a changing of the string quartet guard, and, for better or worse, a return to more familiar programming.
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Chicago Symphony Orchestra: Muti Conducts Shostakovich 6
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On this Chicago Symphony Orchestra radio broadcast, Riccardo Muti leads Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 6 in B Minor and Liszt’s Mazeppa. The program, recorded in September 2019, also includes the world premiere of Rands’ DREAM for Orchestra, Mendelssohn’s Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage Overture and Schoenberg’s Transfigured Night recorded for CSO Sessions. Listen here: Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony After his triumphant Fifth Symphony, Dmitri Shostakovich…
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Chicago Symphony Brass: A History – Part 3
Back in 1991, the Chicago Bulls had clinched their first of six NBA Championships, a Daley was returning to the mayor’s office, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra was ushering in the Daniel Barenboim era. The successor to Sir Georg Solti arrived at an orchestra with the most celebrated brass section in the world, and one…
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Chicago Symphony Brass: A History – Part 2
Jay Friedman knew early on what kind of sound Georg Solti was after when the Hungarian maestro became the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s music director in the fall of 1969. “When he first came — and this is regarding the brass section — you couldn’t play loud enough for him,” the orchestra’s principal trombone recalls. “It…
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Chicago Symphony Brass: A History – Part I
Every devotee of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra brass section can point to a goosebump-worthy moment in a past performance or recording. Maybe it’s the ping of Principal Trumpet Adolph “Bud” Herseth’s solos in Richard Strauss’ Don Juan, recorded in 1954. Or the riotous blaze of horns that conclude Mahler’s Seventh Symphony, from 1971. Or the low brass delivering…
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Before Arena Rock, There was Lewisohn Stadium
Outdoor concerts are a perennial summer pastime for New York City residents, and perhaps none is more beloved than the New York Philharmonic’s traveling summer series to the parks throughout the boroughs. Before the series began in 1965 (and which for a time included visits to Long Island and elsewhere), the Philharmonic held a longstanding…
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Chicago Symphony Orchestra: Kirill Karabits and Sunwook Kim
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On this Chicago Symphony Orchestra broadcast, Kirill Karabits leads Mendelssohn’s Piano Concerto No. 1 and Capriccio brillant for Piano and Orchestra, both featuring pianist Sunwook Kim. The program also includes Prokofiev’s Overture on Hebrew Themes, Lutosławski’s Concerto for Orchestra, and concludes with a 1978 Deutsche Grammophon recording of Schubert’s Unfinished Symphony led by CSO principal guest conductor Carlo Maria…
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Louis Langrée on Beethoven’s Mega-Concert
Concerts were longer in the time of Beethoven, as were attention spans. But even by those standards, the storied program he organized for Vienna’s Theater an der Wien on Dec. 22, 1808 was over the top. Called the Akademie, it ran from 6:30 to 10:30 pm in two parts and included the premieres of the…
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Philip Glass Finds Orchestral Converts
The New York Philharmonic recently opened its fall season with the King Lear Overture, its first commissioned score by Philip Glass. Music director Jaap van Zweden was a driving force behind the premiere. “I felt strongly that this was a symphonic composer that needed more attention from our orchestra,” the Dutch conductor told me in…
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Bernard Haitink Retires, Leaving a Massive Mahler Legacy
During a fascinating backstage tour of the Concertgebouw in Amsterdam last month, a knowledgeable and droll tour guide paused before a wall of photos of past music directors.