Verdi: Otello

“Muti’s has all elements held in balance. This orchestra is certainly capable of the pile-driver brass. ... In Muti’s hands Otello remains and opera, not a concerto for orchestra. ... Muti’s treatment of the Act 3 prelude has such a sureness of dramatic purpose, it’s genius at a Toscaninian level. ... The orchestra plays like a participatory character in the drama.” — Gramophone

Coinciding with the 200th anniversary of Giuseppe Verdi’s birthday, CSO Resound released its second recording with Riccardo Muti featuring Verdi’s second-to-last opera, Otello. The recording joins remarkable fidelity to the instrumental and choral score with a spellbinding collection of vocal soloists and will be treasured by opera lovers and anyone who enjoys thrilling music. Recorded live in concert at Symphony Center in 2011, this album will stand for years to come as a unique benchmark in Verdi performance and interpretation by one of today’s finest conductors.

Verdi Otello
Chicago Symphony Orchestra
Riccardo Muti conductor
Aleksandrs Antonenko Otello
Krassimira Stoyanova Desdemona
Carlo Guelfi Iago
Barbara di Castri Emilia
Juan Francisco Gatell Cassio
Michael Spyres Roderigo
Paolo Battaglia Montano
Eric Owens Lodovico
David Govertsen A Herald
Chicago Symphony Chorus
Duain Wolfe director
Chicago Children’s Choir
Josephine Lee president & artistic director

Recorded: 2011, Orchestra Hall, Chicago
Released: Sept. 30, 2013