From the CSO’s Archives: The First 130 Years

Celebrating Valentine’s Day

February 09, 2021 — 1 hr 45 min listen

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus recorded Barber’s The Lovers and Prayers of Kierkegaard live in Orchestra Hall in October 1991 for the Koch label. Andrew Schenk conducted.

Tenth music director Riccardo Muti opens this Valentine’s Day–themed program with selections from the CSO Resound release of Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. The world-premiere recording of Barber’s The Lovers—settings of poems by Pablo Neruda—featuring the Chicago Symphony Chorus follows, along with Kiri Te Kanawa and Luciano Pavarotti in the love duet from Verdi’s Otello. Richard Strauss’s portrait of domestic life, his Domestic Symphony, concludes the program.

Prokofiev Selections from Romeo and Juliet (Romeo and Juliet, Romeo and Juliet before Parting, Romeo at Juliet’s Tomb)
Riccardo Muti conductor
October 2013 (CSO Resound)

Barber The Lovers
Andrew Schenk conductor
Dale Duesing baritone
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
October 1991 (Koch)

Verdi Già nella notte densa from Otello
Sir Georg Solti conductor
Kiri Te Kanawa soprano
Luciano Pavarotti tenor
April 1991 (London)

Strauss Domestic Symphony, Op. 53
Fritz Reiner conductor
November 1956 (RCA)

From the CSO’s Archives: The First 130 Years—featuring recordings from the CSO’s vast discography, including releases on CSO Resound—is a cultural and community partnership between the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association and WFMT, Chicago’s Classical Music Station.

FTA130-21