Muti Chicago

Riccardo Muti leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, men of the Chicago Symphony Chorus and bass soloist Alexey Tikhomirov in this poignant performance of Shostakovich’s Symphony No. 13, Op. 113 (Babi Yar), recorded live in September 2018.

This is one of Shostakovich's greatest works. It's actually a cantata based on five poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko. Like Mahler's Das Lied von der Erde, the music is linked and the mood of each pieces leads to the next, concluding in a heartbreaking coda. But this work was met with controversy. The poem "Babi Yar," which starts off the symphony, is based on the Nazi massacre of Jews at Babi Yar, Ukraine, during World War II. The work was banned by the politburo, but for the poetry, not the music. This recording is one of the best on the market of this work

n 1970, Riccardo Muti conducted the first Western European performance of Shostakovich’s 13th Symphony, a tape of which the composer kept until his death a few years later. This new live recording poignantly reunites work and conductor, who this time leads the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, bass soloist Alexey Tikhomirov, and male choir—all in electrifying form. Shostakovich’s settings of five poems by Yevgeny Yevtushenko—including the opening lament for the 34,000 Jews murdered in 1941 by the Nazis at Babi Yar—are dark and brutal. The remaining four poems, describing human bravery in the face of unimaginable adversity, encapsulate the fear and dread of living under Soviet oppression, and Muti brings a claustrophobic intensity and defiant dignity to Shostakovich’s alternately sardonic and angry music.

For this 2017 CSO-Resound release, Riccardo Muti and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra present Anton Bruckner's unfinished Symphony No. 9 in D minor in a monumental performance that impresses with its marmoreal weight, poignant lyricism, and brutal volatility. Not widely known for his few Bruckner recordings, Muti nonetheless delivers this symphony with the passion and sensitivity of an experienced Brucknerian, and possibly because he hasn't recorded it before, this live rendition of the Ninth seems like an attempt to make up for lost time. Muti's intensity and the orchestra's ferocious power combine to make a memorable reading that may remind listeners of performances by such greats as Günter Wand, Eugen Jochum, and particularly Carlo Maria Giulini, whose recordings of the Ninth are recognized benchmarks. While Muti only performs the three completed movements, and eschews any attempted reconstructions of the surviving Finale sketches, the performance has a genuine feeling of wholeness, and the Adagio particularly has the grandeur and pathos that make it feel like a convincing ending, albeit one that the composer did not intend.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra has long been renowned for the sound of its brass section. This CD features the symphony's brass in a selection of pieces that span almost 250 years, including some works originally written for brass and some transcriptions of works for keyboard, orchestra, or band. It's a diverse and appealing program that effectively shows off the players' virtuosity and should interest any fans of brass.