Program Highlight

Learn the story behind Elgar's Enigma Variations; hear them on the CSO, 8/10 @ 8pm

Classical 91.5 WXXO-FM

Published July 26, 2023 at 2:39 PM EDT

Elgar's Enigma Variations began as a doodling on the piano, and developed into a series of sketches of the composer's friends.

8/3 Weber: Overture to Der Freischütz Beethoven: Symphony No. 7 Webern: Passacaglia for Orchestra Brahms: Symphony No. 2 (Bernard Haitink, cond)

8/10 Barber: Symphony No. 1 Rachmaninoff: Piano Concerto No. 2 Elgar: Variations on an Original Theme, Enigma Bernstein: Prologue, Tonight, Rumble, and Somewhere from West Side Story (Lukáš Vondráček, p; Marin Alsop and Daniel Barenboim, cond)

8/17 Buxtehude/Chávez: Chaconne Piazzolla: Aconcagua Concerto for Bandoneón and Orchestra Piazzolla/Binelli: Oblivion for Bandoneón and Strings Beethoven: Symphony No. 1 (Daniel Binelli, bandoneon; Giancarlo Guerrero, cond)

8/24 Britten: The Young Person’s Guide to the Orchestra Montgomery: Banner Rautavaara: Cantus Arcticus Orff: Carmina Burana (Joélle Harvey, s; Reginald Mobley, ct; Hugh Russel, bar; Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus; Jenny Wong, dir; Seiji Ozawa and Osmo Vänskä, cond)

8/31 Haydn: Symphony No. 95 Schoenberg: Pelleas and Melisande Schubert: Symphony No. 9, Great (Daniel Barenboim, cond)

David Owen Norris explores one of Elgar's greatest works – the Enigma Variations