Viva l’Italia!

Riccardo Muti—the Chicago Symphony Orchestra’s tenth music director—opens this homage to Italy with the overture to Verdi’s I vespri siciliani. Daniel Barenboim leads Tchaikovsky’s Capriccio italien, Sir Georg Solti conducts Mendelssohn’s Italian Symphony plus choruses from Verdi’s operas, and Fritz Reiner concludes the tribute with Respighi’s Pines of Rome.

Verdi Overture to I vespri siciliani
Riccardo Muti conductor
June 2017 (CSO Resound)

Tchaikovsky Capriccio italien, Op. 45
Daniel Barenboim conductor
March 1981 (Deutsche Grammophon)

Mendelssohn Symphony No. 4 in A Major, Op. 90 (Italian)
Sir Georg Solti conductor
April 1985 (London)

Strauss On the Shores of Sorrento from Aus Italien, Op. 16
Frederick Stock conductor
December 1941 (RCA)

Verdi Fuoco di gioia! from Otello
Verdi Va, pensiero, sull’ali dorate from Nabucco
Verdi Gloria all’Egitto from Aida
Sir Georg Solti conductor
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Margaret Hillis director
Terry Edwards guest chorus master
November 1989 (London)

Respighi Pines of Rome
Fritz Reiner conductor
October 1959 (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.

FTA130-22