© 2026 WXXI Public Broadcasting, 280 State St. Rochester, NY 14614, (585) 325-7500
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

CSO - August Highlights

8/6: Ozawa Conducts Beethoven and Bartók
Seiji Ozawa served as the first music director of the Ravinia Festival from 1964 until 1968 and as principal conductor for the 1969 season. During his tenure, he recorded a number of works for RCA and Angel, including works by Beethoven, Borodin, Schoenberg and Bartók.

Conductor: Seiji Ozawa

Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 5 in C Minor, Op. 67

Alexander Borodin       Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor

Arnold Schoenberg       Piano Concerto
Peter Serkin, piano

Béla Bartók                  Concerto for Orchestra

8/13: Mäkelä Conducts Rite of Spring
On this week’s broadcast, Zell Music Director Designate Klaus Mäkelä leads the CSO in Stravinsky’s The Rite of Spring, Gershwin’s An American in Paris, and Milhaud’s Le Boeuf sur le toit. Opening the broadcast is Seventh music director Jean Martinon conducting Roussel’s Bacchus and Ariadne and Ravel’s Pavane for a Dead Princess.

Albert Roussel              Bacchus and Ariadne Suite No. 2
BONUS                       Jean Martinon, conductor

Maurice Ravel              Pavane for a Dead Princess
BONUS                       Jean Martinon, conductor

Darius Milhaud            Le Boeuf sur le toit, Op. 58
                                    Klaus Mäkelä, conductor

George Gershwin         An American in Paris
                                    Klaus Mäkelä, conductor

Igor Stravinsky             The Rite of Spring
                                    Klaus Mäkelä, conductor

8/20: Composers' Early Successes
Most of the music on this program was written by teenagers: Mendelssohn was seventeen years old when he composed his Overture to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Rachmaninov completed his First Piano Concerto, Strauss his First Horn Concerto at age eighteen, and nineteen-year-old Shostakovich submitted his First Symphony as a graduation exercise from the Petrograd Conservatory. The overture to Rienzi, an early triumph for Wagner, completes the program.

Richard Wagner           Overture to Rienzi
Daniel Barenboim, conductor

Richard Strauss            Horn Concerto No. 1 in E-flat Major, Op. 11
Dale Clevenger, horn
Daniel Barenboim, conductor

Igor Stravinsky             Fireworks, Op. 4
Pierre Boulez, conductor

Sergei Rachmaninov     Piano Concerto No. 1 in F-sharp Minor, Op. 1
Byron Janis, piano
Fritz Reiner, conductor

Felix Mendelssohn       Overture to A Midsummer Night's Dream, Op. 21
Jean Martinon, conductor

Dmitri Shostakovich     Symphony No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 10
Leonard Bernstein, conductor

8/27: Benny Goodman in Nielsen and Weber
American jazz clarinetist and bandleader Benny Goodman—known as the “King of Swing”—appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra on several occasions in the 1960s. He also recorded concertos by Weber and Nielsen with the ensemble under Jean Martinon and Morton Gould for RCA along with a very special Windy City–themed encore.

Carl Maria von Weber   Overture to Oberon
Sir Georg Solti, conductor

Carl Maria von Weber  Clarinet Concerto No. 1 in F Minor, Op. 73
Benny Goodman, clarinet
Jean Martinon, conductor;

Carl Nielsen                 Helios Overture, Op. 17
Jean Martinon, conductor

Carl Nielsen                 Clarinet Concerto, Op. 57
Benny Goodman, clarinet
Morton Gould, conductor;

Carl Maria von Weber  Invitation to the Dance, Op. 65
(arr. Hector Berlioz)     Fritz Reiner, conductor

Carl Maria von Weber  Clarinet Concerto No. 2 in E-flat Major, Op. 74
Benny Goodman, clarinet
Jean Martinon, conductor

Fred Fisher                   Chicago
(arr. Morton Gould)      Benny Goodman, clarinet
                                    Morton Gould, conductor