From the CSO’s Archives: The First 130 Years

Opera Without Words

February 23, 2021 — 1 hr 45 min listen

Score cover (detail) to the overture to Glinka's Russlan and Ludmilla

Fritz Reiner collection, Rosenthal Archives of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association

Five CSO music directors—Daniel Barenboim, Riccardo Muti, Fritz Reiner, Artur Rodzinski, and Sir Georg Solti—lead orchestral excerpts from operas by Beethoven, Copland, Mascagni, Rossini, and Strauss. The program closes with several selections from Wagner’s Ring cycle.

Glinka Overture to Russlan and Ludmilla
Fritz Reiner conductor
March 1959 (RCA)

Beethoven Leonore Overture No. 3, Op. 72b
Sir Georg Solti conductor
May 1972 (London)

Strauss Waltzes from Der Rosenkavalier
Fritz Reiner conductor
April 1957 (RCA)

Copland Suite from The Tender Land
Fritz Reiner conductor
April 1958 (CSO: The First 100 Years)

Mascagni Intermezzo from Cavalleria rusticana
Riccardo Muti conductor
June 2017 (CSO Resound)

Rossini Overture to William Tell
Fritz Reiner conductor
November 1958 (RCA)

Wagner The Ride of the Valkyries from Die Walküre
Artur Rodzinski conductor
April 1948 (CSO: The First 100 Years)

Wagner Forest Murmurs from Siegfried
Daniel Barenboim conductor
October 1991 (Erato)

Wagner Dawn, Siegfried’s Rhine Journey, and Siegfried’s Death and Funeral March from Götterdämmerung
Daniel Barenboim conductor
October 1991 (Erato)

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.

FTA130-23