The Jalisco Philharmonic Orchestra

Dublin Philharmonic Orchestra

An orchestra is a large instrumental ensemble that contains sections of string, brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments. The term orchestra derives from the Greek ορχήστρα, the name for the area in front of an ancient Greek stage reserved for the Greek chorus.^[1] The orchestra grew by accretion throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, but changed very little in composition during the course of the 20th century.

A smaller-sized orchestra for this time period (of about fifty players or fewer) is called a chamber orchestra. A full-size orchestra (about 100 players) may sometimes be called a "symphony orchestra" or "philharmonic orchestra"; these modifiers do not necessarily indicate any strict difference in either the instrumental constitution or role of the orchestra, but can be useful to distinguish different ensembles based in the same city (for instance, the London Symphony Orchestra and the London Philharmonic Orchestra). A symphony orchestra will usually have over eighty musicians on its roster, in some cases over a hundred, but the actual number of musicians employed in a particular performance may vary according to the work being played and the size of the venue. A leading chamber orchestra might employ as many as fifty musicians; some are much smaller than that. Orchestras can also be found in schools. The term concert orchestra may sometimes be used (e.g., BBC Concert Orchestra; RTÉ Concert Orchestra)—no distinction is made on size of orchestra by use of this term, although their use is generally distinguished as for live concert. As such they are commonly chamber orchestras.

Instrumentation[link]

Viotti Chamber Orchestra performing the 3rd movement of Mozart's Divertimento in D Major (K136)

The typical symphony orchestra consists of four proportionate groups of similar musical instruments called the woodwinds, brass, percussion, and strings, and also the fifth proportionate group of similar musical instruments like the rhythm section in modern times. The orchestra, depending on the size, contains almost all of the standard instruments in each group. In the history of the orchestra, its instrumentation has been expanded over time, often agreed to have been standardized by the classical period^[2] and Beethoven's influence on the classical model.^[3]

Beethoven's influence[link]

The so-called "standard complement" of double winds and brass in the orchestra from the first half of the 19th century is generally attributed to the forces called for by Ludwig van Beethoven. The exceptions to this are his Symphony No. 4, Violin Concerto, and Piano Concerto No. 4, which each specify a single flute. The composer's instrumentation almost always included paired flutes, oboes, clarinets, bassoons, horns and trumpets. Beethoven carefully calculated the expansion of this particular timbral "palette" in Symphonies 3, 5, 6, and 9 for an innovative effect. The third horn in the "Eroica" Symphony arrives to provide not only some harmonic flexibility, but also the effect of "choral" brass in the Trio. Piccolo, contrabassoon, and trombones add to the triumphal finale of his Symphony No. 5. A piccolo and a pair of trombones help deliver storm and sunshine in the Sixth. The Ninth asks for a second pair of horns, for reasons similar to the "Eroica" (four horns has since become standard); Beethoven's use of piccolo, contrabassoon, trombones, and untuned percussion—plus chorus and vocal soloists—in his finale, are his earliest suggestion that the timbral boundaries of "symphony" might be expanded for good. But for several decades after his departure, symphonic instrumentation was faithful to Beethoven's well-established model, with few exceptions.

Expanded instrumentation[link]

Apart from the core orchestral complement, various other instruments are called for occasionally.^[4] These include the classical guitar, heckelphone, flugelhorn, cornet, harpsichord, and organ. Saxophones, for example, appear in a limited range of 19th and 20th century scores. While appearing only as featured solo instruments in some works, for example Maurice Ravel's orchestration of Modest Mussorgsky's Pictures at an Exhibition and Sergei Rachmaninoff's Symphonic Dances, the saxophone is included in other works, such as Ravel's Boléro, Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet Suites 1 and 2, Vaughan Williams Symphony No.6 and Symphony No.9 and William Walton's Belshazzar's Feast, and many other works as a member of the orchestral ensemble. The euphonium is featured in a few late Romantic and 20th century works, usually playing parts marked "tenor tuba", including Gustav Holst's The Planets, and Richard Strauss's Ein Heldenleben. The Wagner tuba, a modified member of the horn family, appears in Richard Wagner's cycle Der Ring des Nibelungen and several other works by Richard Strauss, Béla Bartók, and others; it has a prominent role in Anton Bruckner's Symphony No. 7 in E Major.^[5] Cornets appear in Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky's ballet Swan Lake, Claude Debussy's La Mer, and several orchestral works by Hector Berlioz. Unless these instruments are played by members doubling on another instrument (for example, a trombone player changing to euphonium for a certain passage), orchestras will use freelance musicians to augment their regular rosters.

The 20th century orchestra was far more flexible than its predecessors.^[6] During composers Beethoven and Felix Mendelssohn's time, the orchestra was composed of a fairly standard core of instruments which was very rarely modified. As time progressed, and as the Romantic period saw changes in accepted modification with composers such as Berlioz, followed by Johannes Brahms and eventually Gustav Mahler, the 20th century saw that instrumentation could practically be hand-picked by the composer. Today, however, the modern orchestra has generally been considered standardized with the modern instrumentation listed below.

With this history in mind, the orchestra can be seen to have a general evolution as outlined below. The first is a typical classical orchestra (i.e. Beethoven/Haydn), the second is typical of an early/mid-romantic (i.e. Brahms/Dvořák/Tchaikovsky), late romantic/early 20th century (i.e. Wagner/Mahler/Stravinsky), to the common complement of a present day modern orchestras (i.e. Adams/Barber/Copland/Glass).

Organization[link]

Conducting an orchestra

Among the instrument groups and within each group of instruments, there is a generally accepted hierarchy. Every instrumental group (or section) has a principal who is generally responsible for leading the group and playing orchestral solos. The violins are divided into two groups, first violin and second violin, each with its principal. The principal first violin is called the concertmaster (or "leader" in the UK) and is considered the leader of not only the string section, but of the entire orchestra, subordinate only to the conductor.

The principal trombone is considered the leader of the low brass section, while the principal trumpet is generally considered the leader of the entire brass section. Similarly, the principal oboe is considered the leader of the woodwind section, and is the player to whom all others tune. The horn, while technically a brass instrument, often acts in the role of both woodwind and brass. Most sections also have an assistant principal (or co-principal or associate principal), or in the case of the first violins, an assistant concertmaster, who often plays a tutti part in addition to replacing the principal in his or her absence.

A section string player plays unison with the rest of the section, except in the case of divided (divisi) parts, where upper and lower parts in the music are often assigned to "outside" (nearer the audience) and "inside" seated players. Where a solo part is called for in a string section, the section leader invariably plays that part. Tutti wind and brass players generally play a unique but non-solo part. Section percussionists play parts assigned to them by the principal percussionist.

In modern times, the musicians are usually directed by a conductor, although early orchestras did not have one, giving this role instead to the concertmaster or the harpsichordist playing the continuo. Some modern orchestras also do without conductors, particularly smaller orchestras and those specializing in historically accurate (so-called "period") performances of baroque and earlier music.

The most frequently performed repertoire for a symphony orchestra is Western classical music or opera. However, orchestras are used sometimes in popular music, extensively in film music, and more and more often in video game music. The term "orchestra" can also be applied to a jazz ensemble, for example in performance of big band music.

History of the orchestra[link]

Early history[link]

Image of an Assyrian Orchestra, from a slab in the British Museum, dating from 7th century BC. There are 7 portable harps, a dulcimer, two double reed-pipes (aulos), and a drum.

The modern orchestra has its historical roots in Ancient Egypt. The first orchestras were made up of small groups of musicians that gathered for festivals, holidays or funerals. During the time of the Roman Empire, the government suppressed the musicians and informal ensembles were banned^[why?], but they reappeared after the collapse of the Empire. It was not until the 11th century that families of instruments started to appear with differences in tones and octaves. True modern orchestras started in the late 16th century when composers started writing music for instrumental groups. In the 15th and 16th centuries in Italy the households of nobles had musicians to provide music for dancing and the court, however with the emergence of the theatre, particularly opera, in the early 17th century, music was increasingly written for groups of players in combination, which is the origin of orchestral playing. Opera originated in Italy, and Germany eagerly followed. Dresden, Munich and Hamburg successively built opera houses. At the end of the 17th century opera flourished in England under Henry Purcell, and in France under Lully, who with the collaboration of Molière also greatly raised the status of the entertainments known as ballets, interspersed with instrumental and vocal music.

In the 17th century and early 18th century, instrumental groups were taken from all of the available talent. A composer such as Johann Sebastian Bach had control over almost all of the musical resources of a town, whereas Handel would hire the best musicians available. This placed a premium on being able to rewrite music for whichever singers or musicians were best suited for a performance—Handel produced different versions of the Messiah oratorio almost every year.

As nobility began to build retreats away from towns, they began to hire musicians to form permanent ensembles. Composers such as the young Joseph Haydn would then have a fixed body of instrumentalists to work with. At the same time, travelling virtuoso performers such as the young Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart would write concerti that showed off their skills, and they would travel from town to town, arranging concerts along the way. The aristocratic orchestras worked together over long periods, making it possible for ensemble playing to improve with practice.

Mannheim school[link]

This change, from civic music making where the composer had some degree of time or control, to smaller court music making and one-off performance, placed a premium on music that was easy to learn, often with little or no rehearsal. The results were changes in musical style and emphasis on new techniques. Mannheim had one of the most famous orchestras of that time, where notated dynamics and phrasing, previously quite rare, became standard (see Mannheim school). It also attended a change in musical style from the complex counterpoint of the baroque period, to an emphasis on clear melody, homophonic textures, short phrases, and frequent cadences: a style that would later be defined as classical.

Throughout the late 18th century composers would continue to have to assemble musicians for a performance, often called an "Academy", which would, naturally, feature their own compositions. In 1781, however, the Leipzig Gewandhaus Orchestra was organized from the merchants concert society, and it began a trend towards the formation of civic orchestras that would accelerate into the 19th century. In 1815, Boston's Handel and Haydn Society was founded, in 1842 the New York Philharmonic and the Vienna Philharmonic were formed, and in 1858, the Hallé Orchestra was formed in Manchester. There had long been standing bodies of musicians around operas, but not for concert music: this situation changed in the early 19th century as part of the increasing emphasis in the composition of symphonies and other purely instrumental forms. This was encouraged by composer critics such as E. T. A. Hoffmann who declared that instrumental music was the "purest form" of music. The creation of standing orchestras also resulted in a professional framework where musicians could rehearse and perform the same works repeatedly, leading to the concept of a repertoire in instrumental music.

Performance standards[link]

In the 1830s, conductor François Antoine Habeneck, began rehearsing a selected group of musicians in order to perform the symphonies of Beethoven, which had not been heard of in their entirety in Paris. He developed techniques of rehearsing the strings separately, notating specifics of performance, and other techniques of cuing entrances that were spread across Europe. His rival and friend Hector Berlioz would adopt many of these innovations in his touring of Europe.

Instrumental craftsmanship[link]

The invention of the piston and rotary valve by Heinrich Stölzel and Friedrich Blühmel, both Silesians, in 1815, was the first in a series of innovations, including the development of modern keywork for the flute by Theobald Boehm and the innovations of Adolphe Sax in the woodwinds. These advances would lead Hector Berlioz to write a landmark book on instrumentation, which was the first systematic treatise on the use of instrumental sound as an expressive element of music.^[7]

The effect of the invention of valves for the brass was felt almost immediately: instrument-makers throughout Europe strove together to foster the use of these newly refined instruments and continuing their perfection; and the orchestra was before long enriched by a new family of valved instruments, variously known as tubas, or euphoniums and bombardons, having a chromatic scale and a full sonorous tone of great beauty and immense volume, forming a magnificent bass. This also made possible a more uniform playing of notes or intonation, which would lead to a more and more "smooth" orchestral sound that would peak in the 1950s with Eugene Ormandy and the Philadelphia Orchestra and the conducting of Herbert von Karajan with the Berlin Philharmonic.

During this transition period, which gradually eased the performance of more demanding "natural" brass writing, many composers (notably Wagner and Berlioz) still notated brass parts for the older "natural" instruments. This practice made it possible for players still using natural horns, for instance, to perform from the same parts as those now playing valved instruments. However, over time, use of the valved instruments became standard, indeed universal, until the revival of older instruments in the contemporary movement towards authentic performance (sometimes known as "historically informed performance").

At the time of the invention of the valved brass, the pit orchestra of most operetta composers seems to have been modest. An example is Sullivan's use of two flutes, one oboe, two clarinets, one bassoon, two horns, two cornets (a piston), two trombones, drums and strings.

During this time of invention, winds and brass were expanded, and had an increasingly easy time playing in tune with each other: particularly the ability for composers to score for large masses of wind and brass that previously had been impractical. Works such as the Requiem of Hector Berlioz would have been impossible to perform just a few decades earlier, with its demanding writing for twenty woodwinds, as well as four gigantic brass ensembles each including around four trumpets, four trombones, and two tubas.

Wagner's influence[link]

The next major expansion of symphonic practice came from Richard Wagner's Bayreuth orchestra, founded to accompany his musical dramas. Wagner's works for the stage were scored with unprecedented scope and complexity: indeed, his score to Das Rheingold calls for six harps. Thus, Wagner envisioned an ever-more-demanding role for the conductor of the theater orchestra, as he elaborated in his influential work "On Conducting".^[8] This brought about a revolution in orchestral composition, and set the style for orchestral performance for the next eighty years. Wagner's theories re-examined the importance of tempo, dynamics, bowing of string instruments and the role of principals in the orchestra. Conductors who studied his methods would go on to be influential themselves.

20th-century orchestra[link]

As the early 20th century dawned, symphony orchestras were larger, better funded, and better trained than ever before; consequently, composers could compose larger and more ambitious works. The influence of Gustav Mahler was particularly innovational; in his later symphonies, such as the mammoth Symphony No. 8, Mahler pushes the furthest boundaries of orchestral size, employing huge forces. By the peak years of Shostakovich, orchestras could support the most enormous forms of symphonic expression. With the recording era beginning, the standard of performance reached a pinnacle. In recordings, small errors in a performance could be "fixed", but many older conductors and composers could remember a time when simply "getting through" the music as best as possible was the standard. Combined with the wider audience made possible by recording, this led to a renewed focus on particular conductors and on a high standard of orchestral execution.^[9] As sound was added to silent film, the virtuoso orchestra became a key component of the establishment of motion pictures as mass-market entertainment.

Counter-revolution[link]

In the 1920s and 1930s, economic as well as artistic considerations led to the formation of smaller concert societies, particularly those dedicated to the performance of music of the avant-garde, including Igor Stravinsky and Arnold Schoenberg. This tendency to start festival orchestras or dedicated groups would also be pursued in the creation of summer musical festivals, and orchestras for the performance of smaller works. Among the most influential of these was the Academy of St Martin in the Fields under the baton of Sir Neville Marriner.

With the advent of the early music movement, smaller orchestras where players worked on execution of works in styles derived from the study of older treatises on playing became common. These include the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment, the London Classical Players under the direction of Sir Roger Norrington and the Academy of Ancient Music under Christopher Hogwood, among others.

Recent trends in the United States[link]

In the United States, the late 20th century saw a crisis of funding and support for orchestras.cite needed The size and cost of a symphony orchestra, compared to the size of the base of supporters, became an issue that struck at the core of the institution. Few orchestras could fill auditoriums, and the time-honored season-subscription system became increasingly anachronistic, as more and more listeners would buy tickets on an ad hoc basis for individual events. Orchestral endowments and—more centrally to the daily operation of American orchestras—orchestral donors have seen investment portfolios shrink or produce lower yields, reducing the ability of donors to contribute; further, there has been a trend toward donors finding other social causes more compelling. Also, while government funding is less central to American than European orchestras, cuts in such funding are still significant for American ensembles. Finally, the drastic falling-off of revenues from recording, tied to no small extent to changes in the recording industry itself, began a period of change that has yet to reach its conclusion.

U.S. orchestras that have gone into Chapter 11 bankruptcy includes the Philadelphia Orchestra (in April 2011), and the Louisville Orchestra, in December 2010; orchestras that have gone into Chapter 7 bankruptcy and have ceased operations include the Northwest Chamber Orchestra in 2006, the Honolulu Orchestra in March 2011, the New Mexico Symphony in April 2011, and the Syracuse Symphony in June 2011. The Festival of Orchestras in Orlando, Florida ceased operations at the end of March, 2011.

Critics such as Norman Lebrecht were vocal in their diagnosis of the problem as the "jet set conductor" (whose salaries were presumably bleeding the orchestras dry); and several high-profile conductors have taken pay cuts in recent years; but the amounts of revenue involved are too small to account for the crisis. Music administrators such as Michael Tilson Thomas and Esa-Pekka Salonen argued that new music, new means of presenting it, and a renewed relationship with the community could revitalize the symphony orchestra. The influential critic Greg Sandow has argued in detail that orchestras must revise their approach to music, performance, the concert experience, marketing, public relations, community involvement, and presentation to bring them in line with the expectations of 21st century audiences immersed in popular culture.^[10]

It is not uncommon for contemporary composers to use unconventional instruments, including various synthesizers, to achieve desired effects. Many, however, find more conventional orchestral configuration to provide better possibilities for color and depth. Composers like John Adams often employ Romantic-size orchestras, as in Adams' opera Nixon in China; Philip Glass and others may be more free, yet still identify size-boundaries. Glass in particular has recently turned to conventional orchestras in works like the Concerto for Cello and Orchestra and the Violin Concerto No. 2.

Conductorless orchestras[link]

The post-revolutionary symphony orchestra Persimfans was formed in the Soviet Union in 1922. The unusual aspect of the orchestra was that, believing that in the ideal Marxist state all people are equal, its members felt that there was no need to be led by the dictatorial baton of a conductor; instead they were led by a committee. Although it was a partial success, the principal difficulty with the concept was in changing tempo. The orchestra survived for ten years before Stalin's cultural politics effectively forced it into disbandment by draining away its funding.^[11]

Some ensembles, such as the Orpheus Chamber Orchestra, based in New York City, have had more success, although decisions are likely to be deferred to some sense of leadership within the ensemble (for example, the principal wind and string players).

Others have returned to the tradition of a principal player, usually a violinist, being the artistic director and running rehearsals (such as the Australian Chamber Orchestra and the New Century Chamber Orchestra).

Multiple conductors[link]

The techniques of polystylism and polytempo^[12] music have recently led a few composers to write music where multiple orchestras perform simultaneously. These trends have brought about the phenomenon of polyconductor music, wherein separate sub-conductors conduct each group of musicians. Usually, one principal conductor conducts the sub-conductors, thereby shaping the overall performance. Some pieces are enormously complex in this regard, such as Evgeni Kostitsyn's Third Symphony, which calls for nine conductors.

Charles Ives often used two conductors, one for example to simulate a marching band coming through his piece. Realizations for Symphonic Band includes one example from Ives.

One of the best examples in the late century orchestral music is Karlheinz Stockhausen's Gruppen, for three orchestras placed around the audience. This way, the sound masses could be spacialized, as in an electroacoustic work. Gruppen was premiered in Cologne, in 1958, conducted by Stockhausen, Bruno Maderna and Pierre Boulez. Recently, it was performed by Simon Rattle, John Carewe and Daniel Harding.

[edit] Other meanings of orchestra

In Ancient Greece, the orchestra was the space between the auditorium and the proscenium (or stage), in which were stationed the chorus and the instrumentalists. The word orchestra literally means "a dancing place".

In some theaters, the orchestra is the area of seats directly in front of the stage (called primafila or platea); the term more properly applies to the place in a theatre, or concert hall reserved for the musicians.

See also[link]

• Classical music
• List of symphony orchestra concert halls
• List of symphony orchestras
  • List of symphony orchestras in Europe
  • List of symphony orchestras in the United States
• List of youth orchestras in the United States
• Orchestral enhancement
• Orchestration
• Radio orchestra
• Shorthand for orchestra instrumentation
• Conductorless orchestra
• String orchestra
• Jazz ensemble
• Rhythm section
• World music
• Film score

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Raynor, Henry (1978). The Orchestra: a history. Scribner. ISBN 0-684-15535-4. 
• Sptizer, John, and Neil Zaslaw (2004). The Birth of the Orchestra: History of an Institution, 1650-1815. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-816434-3. 

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Orchestras

• The Orchestra: A User's Manual—A fairly concise overview, including detailed video interviews with players of each instrument and various resources
•  Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Orchestra". Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) is an American orchestra based in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the five American orchestras commonly referred to as the "Big Five".^[1] Founded in 1891, the Symphony makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure in 2010.

History[link]

In 1891 Charles Norman Fay, a Chicago businessman, invited Theodore Thomas to establish an orchestra in Chicago. Conducted by Theodore Thomas under the name "Chicago Orchestra", the Orchestra played its first concert on October 16, 1891 at the Auditorium Theatre. It is one of the oldest orchestras in the United States, along with the New York Philharmonic, the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Saint Louis Symphony Orchestra.

Orchestra Hall, now a component of the Symphony Center complex, was designed by Chicago architect Daniel H. Burnham and completed in 1904. Maestro Thomas served as music director for thirteen years until his death shortly after the orchestra's newly built residence was dedicated on December 14, 1904. The orchestra was renamed "Theodore Thomas Orchestra" in 1905 and today, Orchestra Hall still has "Theodore Thomas Orchestra Hall" inscribed in its façade.

In 1905, Frederick Stock became music director, a post he held until his death in 1942. The Orchestra was renamed "Chicago Symphony Orchestra" in 1913.

Other music directors have included Désiré Defauw, Artur Rodziński, Rafael Kubelík, Fritz Reiner, Jean Martinon, Sir Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim and Riccardo Muti.

Maestro Barenboim resigned from his post in 2006 in order to focus on his career in Europe with the Staatskapelle Berlin orchestra and the Staatsoper Unter den Linden opera company, La Scala in Milan, and also with the West-Eastern Divan Orchestra, which he co-founded. Barenboim's final concerts leading the Chicago Symphony Orchestra took place on June 15–17, 2006. On 27 April 2006, the orchestra named Bernard Haitink to the role of principal conductor and Pierre Boulez to the role of conductor emeritus "while [the] music director search continues."^[2] These appointments began in the 2006–2007 season.

On May 5, 2008, Chicago Symphony Orchestra Association President Deborah Rutter announced that the orchestra had named Riccardo Muti as its 10th music director, starting with the 2010–2011 season, for an initial contract of 5 years.^[3]

The Orchestra has also had many distinguished guest conductors, including Leonard Bernstein, Aaron Copland, Edward Elgar, Morton Gould, Walter Hendl, Erich Kunzel, Erich Leinsdorf, Charles Munch, Eugene Ormandy, André Previn, Sergei Prokofiev, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Maurice Ravel, Arnold Schoenberg, Leonard Slatkin, Leopold Stokowski, Richard Strauss, George Szell, Michael Tilson Thomas, Bruno Walter, and John Williams. Many of these guests have also recorded with the orchestra.

The three principal guest conductors of the Orchestra have been Carlo Maria Giulini, Claudio Abbado, and Pierre Boulez.

Music performed by the Orchestra has been heard in movies, including Casino conducted by Sir Georg Solti and Fantasia 2000 conducted by James Levine.

The Chicago Symphony holds an annual fundraiser, originally known as the Chicago Symphony Marathon, more recently as "Radiothon" and "Symphonython", in conjunction with Chicago radio station WFMT. As part of the event, from 1986 through 2008, the Orchestra released tracks from their broadcast archives on double LP/CD collections, as well as two larger sets of broadcasts and rarities (CSO: The First 100 Years, 12 CDs, 1991; CSO in the 20th Century: Collector's Choice, 10 CDs, 2000).

Ravinia Festival[link]

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra maintains a summer home at Ravinia in Highland Park, Illinois. The Orchestra first performed there during Ravinia Park's second season in November 1905 and continued to appear there on and off through August 1931, after which the Park fell dark due to the Great Depression. The Orchestra helped to inaugurate the first season of the Ravinia Festival in August 1936 and has been in residence at the Festival every summer since.

Many conductors have made their debut with the Chicago Symphony at Ravinia, and several have gone on to become the artistic director, or primary summertime guest conductor at Ravinia, including Seiji Ozawa (1964–1968), James Levine (1973–1993), and Christoph Eschenbach (1995–2003). As of 2005, James Conlon holds the title of Ravinia music director.

Orchestra Hall Chicago

Recordings[link]

The Chicago Symphony has amassed an extensive discography. Recordings by the CSO have earned 62 Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. These include several Classical Album of the Year awards, awards in Best Classical Performance in vocal soloist, choral, instrumental, engineering and orchestral categories.

On May 1, 1916, Frederick Stock and the orchestra recorded the Wedding March from Felix Mendelssohn's music to A Midsummer Night's Dream for what was then known as the Columbia Graphophone Company. Stock and the CSO made numerous recordings for Columbia Records and the Victor Talking Machine Company, renamed RCA Victor in 1929. The Chicago Symphony's first non-acoustic electrical recordings were made for Victor in December 1925, including a performance of Karl Goldmark's In Springtime overture. These early electrical recordings were made in Victor's Chicago studios; within a couple of years Victor began recording the CSO in Orchestra Hall. Stock continued recording until 1942, the year he died.

In 1951, Rafael Kubelík made the first modern high fidelity recordings with the orchestra, in Orchestra Hall, for Mercury. Like the very first electrical recordings, these performances were made with a single microphone. Philips has reissued these performances on compact disc with the original Mercury label and liner notes.

In March 1954, Fritz Reiner made the first stereophonic recordings with the CSO, again in Orchestra Hall, for RCA Victor, including performances of two symphonic poems by Richard Strauss: Ein Heldenleben and Also sprach Zarathustra. Reiner and the orchestra continued to record for RCA through 1962. These were mostly recorded in RCA's triple-channel "Living Stereo" process. RCA has digitally remastered the recordings and released them on CD and SACD. Jean Martinon also recorded with the CSO for RCA Victor during the 1960s, producing performances that have been reissued on CD.

Sir Georg Solti recorded with the CSO primarily for Decca Records. These recordings were issued in the U.S. on the London label and include a highly acclaimed Mahler series, recorded, in part, in the historic Medinah Temple -- some installments were recorded in the Krannert Center in the University of Illinois (Urbana, IL), as well as in the Sofiensaal in Vienna, Austria. Many of the recordings with Daniel Barenboim have been released on Teldec.

In 2007, the Chicago Symphony formed its own recording label, CSO Resound. After an agreement was reached with the Orchestra's musicians, arrangements were made for new recordings to be released digitally at online outlets and on compact disc.^[4] The first CSO Resound CD, recording Bernard Haitink's rendition of Mahler's Third Symphony, was released in the spring of 2007. The following releases were Bruckner's Seventh symphony conducted by Haitink, Shostakovich's Fifth by Chung, Mahler's Sixth and Shostakovich's Fourth by Haitink.

Broadcasts[link]

The Chicago Symphony first broadcast on the radio in 1925. Though often sporadic, there have been broadcasts ever since. With the 1965-1966 season, Chicago radio station WFMT began regular tape-delayed stereo broadcasts of CSO concerts, running through the 1968-1969 season. They resumed from 1976 through the 2000-2001 season before ceasing due to lack of sponsorship. In 2007, the broadcasts once again resumed with a 52-week series. The broadcasts are sponsored by BP and air on 98.7 WFMT in Chicago and the WFMT Radio Network. They consist of 39 weeks of recordings of live concerts, as well as highlights from the CSO's vast discography.^[4]

The CSO appeared in a series of telecasts on WGN-TV, beginning in 1953. The early 1960s saw the videotaped telecast series Music from Chicago, conducted by Fritz Reiner and guest conductors including Arthur Fiedler, George Szell, Pierre Monteux, and Charles Münch. Many of these televised concerts, from 1953 to 1963, have since been released to DVD by VAI Distribution.

Georg Solti also conducted a series of concerts with the Chicago Symphony that were broadcast in the 1970s on PBS.

Civic Orchestra of Chicago[link]

Frederick Stock founded the Civic Orchestra of Chicago, the first training orchestra in the United States affiliated with a major symphony orchestra, in 1919. Its goal is to recruit pre-professional musicians and train them as high-level orchestra players. Many alumni have gone on to play for the CSO or other major orchestras.

The Civic Orchestra performs half a dozen orchestral concerts and a chamber music series annually in Symphony Center and in other venues throughout the Chicago area free of charge to the public.

Music directors, conductors[link]

Honors and awards[link]

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra was voted the best orchestra in the United States and the fifth best orchestra in the world by editors of the British classical music magazine Gramophone in November, 2008.^[5]

Grammy Awards[link]

Recordings by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra have earned sixty-two Grammy Awards from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

Riccardo Muti, music director, has won two Grammy Awards, both with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, for the recording of Verdi's Messa da Requiem on the CSO Resound label. Duain Wolfe, chorus director, has won one Grammy Award for his collaboration with the Chorus, also for Verdi's Messa da Requiem on the CSO Resound label.

Bernard Haitink, former principal conductor, has won two Grammy Awards, including one with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra for the recording of Shostakovich’s Fourth Symphony on the CSO Resound label.

Pierre Boulez, conductor emeritus and former principal guest conductor, has won twenty-six Grammy Awards including eight with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Boulez is tied with Alison Krauss as the third all-time Grammy winner, behind Sir Georg Solti (thirty-one) and Quincy Jones (twenty-seven).

The late Sir Georg Solti, former music director and music director laureate, won thirty-one Grammy Awards—more than any other recording artist. He received seven awards in addition to his twenty-four awards with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. In addition, Sir Georg Solti and producer John Culshaw received the first NARAS Trustees’ Award in 1967 for their "efforts, ingenuity, and artistic contributions" in connection with the first complete recording of Richard Wagner's Der Ring des Nibelungen with the Vienna Philharmonic. Sir Georg Solti also received the Academy's 1995 Lifetime Achievement Award.

The late Margaret Hillis, founder and longtime director of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, won nine Grammy Awards for her collaborations with the Orchestra and Chorus.

Grammy Award for Best Classical Album

• 1966 Charles Ives: Symphony No. 1 in D minor – Morton Gould, conductor; Howard Scott, producer (RCA)
• 1972 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major – Sir Georg Solti, conductor; David Harvey, producer (London)
• 1974 Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 – Sir Georg Solti, conductor; David Harvey, producer (London)
• 1975 Ludwig van Beethoven: The Nine Symphonies – Sir Georg Solti, conductor; Ray Minshull, producer (London)
• 1978 Johannes Brahms: Violin Concerto in D major, Op. 77 – Itzhak Perlman, violin; Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor; Christopher Bishop, producer (Angel)
• 1979 Johannes Brahms: The Four Symphonies – Sir Georg Solti, conductor; James Mallinson, producer (London)
• 1981 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C minor (Resurrection) – Sir Georg Solti, conductor; James Mallinson, producer (London)
• 1983 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D major – Sir Georg Solti, conductor; James Mallinson, producer (London)
• 1993 Béla Bartók: The Wooden Prince & Cantata profana – Pierre Boulez, conductor; John Aler & John Tomlinson, soloists; Karl-August Naegler, producer (Deutsche Grammophon)
• 1994 Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra & Four Orchestral Pieces, Op. 12 – Pierre Boulez, conductor; Karl-August Naegler, producer (Deutsche Grammophon)
• 2010 Giuseppe Verdi: Messa da Requiem – Riccardo Muti, conductor; Christopher Alder, producer (CSO Resound)

Grammy Award for Best Orchestral Performance

• 1960 Béla Bartók: Music for Strings, Percussion and Celesta – Fritz Reiner, conductor (RCA)
• 1971 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 1 in D major – Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor (Angel)
• 1972 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 7 in E minor – Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1974 Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 – Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1976 Richard Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 – Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1977 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D major – Carlo Maria Giulini, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)
• 1979 Johannes Brahms: The Four Symphonies – Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1980 Anton Bruckner: Symphony No. 6 in A major – Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1981 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 2 in C minor (Resurrection) – Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1982 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 7 in E minor – James Levine, conductor (RCA)
• 1983 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D major – Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1986 Franz Liszt: A Faust Symphony – Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1987 Ludwig van Beethoven: Symphony No. 9 in D minor, Op. 125 – Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1990 Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphonies Nos. 1 & 7 (Leningrad) – Leonard Bernstein, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)
• 1991 John Corigliano: Symphony No. 1 – Daniel Barenboim, conductor (Erato)
• 1993 Béla Bartók: The Wooden Prince – Pierre Boulez, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)
• 1994 Béla Bartók: Concerto for Orchestra & Four Orchestral Pieces, Op. 12 – Pierre Boulez, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)
• 1998 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D major – Pierre Boulez, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)
• 2001 Edgard Varèse: Amériques, Arcana, Déserts, & Ionisation – Pierre Boulez, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)
• 2008 Dmitri Shostakovich: Symphony No. 4 - Bernard Haitink, conductor (CSO Resound)

Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance

• 1972 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major – Chorus of the Vienna State Opera, Singverein Chorus, & Vienna Boys’ Choir; Norbert Balatsch & Helmut Froschauer, chorus masters; Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1977 Giuseppe Verdi: Requiem Mass – Chicago Symphony Chorus; Margaret Hillis, director; Sir Georg Solti, conductor (RCA)
• 1978 Ludwig van Beethoven: Missa solemnis, in D major, Op. 123 – Chicago Symphony Chorus; Margaret Hillis, director; Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1979 Johannes Brahms: A German Requiem, Op. 45 – Chicago Symphony Chorus; Margaret Hillis, director; Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1982 Hector Berlioz: The Damnation of Faust, Op. 24 – Chicago Symphony Chorus; Margaret Hillis, director; Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1983 Joseph Haydn: The Creation – Chicago Symphony Chorus; Margaret Hillis, director; Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1984 Johannes Brahms: A German Requiem, Op. 45 – Chicago Symphony Chorus; Margaret Hillis, director; James Levine, conductor (RCA)
• 1986 Carl Orff: Carmina burana – Chicago Symphony Chorus; Margaret Hillis, director; James Levine, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)
• 1991 Johann Sebastian Bach: Mass in B minor – Chicago Symphony Chorus; Margaret Hillis, director; Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1993 Béla Bartók: Cantata profana – Chicago Symphony Chorus; Margaret Hillis, director; Pierre Boulez, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)
• 2010 Giuseppe Verdi: Messa da Requiem – Chicago Symphony Chorus; Duain Wolfe, director; Riccardo Muti, conductor; (CSO Resound)

Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Soloist with Orchestra

• 1960 Johannes Brahms: Piano Concerto No. 2 in B-flat major, Op. 83 – Sviatoslav Richter, piano; Erich Leinsdorf, conductor (RCA)
• 1973 Ludwig van Beethoven: The Five Piano Concertos – Vladimir Ashkenazy, piano; Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1979 Béla Bartók: Concertos for Piano nos. 1 and 2 – Maurizio Pollini, piano; Claudio Abbado, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)
• 1982 Edward Elgar: Violin Concerto in B minor, Op. 61 – Sviatoslav Richter, piano; Erich Leinsdorf, conductor (RCA)
• 1993 Alban Berg: Violin Concerto & Wolfgang Rihm: Time Chant – Anne-Sophie Mutter, violin; James Levine, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon)
• 2001 Richard Strauss: Horn Concerto No. 1, Duett-Concertino for Clarinet and Bassoon in F major, & Oboe Concerto in D major – Dale Clevenger, horn; Larry Combs, clarinet; David McGill, bassoon; Alex Klein, oboe; Daniel Barenboim, conductor (Teldec)

Grammy Award for Best Classical Vocal Performance

• 1964 Hector Berlioz: Les nuits d'été & Manuel de Falla El amor brujo – Leontyne Price, soprano; Fritz Reiner, conductor (RCA)

Grammy Award for Best Opera Recording

• 1985 Arnold Schoenberg: Moses und Aron – Franz Mazura & Philip Langridge, principal soloists; Sir Georg Solti, conductor; James Mallinson, producer (London)
• 1997 Richard Wagner: Die Meistersinger von Nürnberg – Karita Mattila, Iris Vermillion, Ben Heppner, Herbert Lippert, Alan Opie, René Pape, & José van Dam, principal soloists; Sir Georg Solti, conductor; Michael Woolcock, producer (London)
• 1998 Béla Bartók: Bluebeard's Castle – Jessye Norman & László Polgár, principal soloists; Pierre Boulez, conductor; Roger Wright, producer (Deutsche Grammophon)

Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition

• 1991 John Corigliano: Symphony No. 1 – John Corigliano, composer (Erato)
• 1992 Samuel Barber: The Lovers – Samuel Barber, composer (Koch)

Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Classical

• 1962 Richard Strauss: Also sprach Zarathustra, Op. 30 – Lewis W. Layton, engineer; Fritz Reiner, conductor (RCA)
• 1972 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 8 in E-flat major – Gordon Parry & Kenneth Wilkinson, engineers; Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1974 Hector Berlioz: Symphonie fantastique, Op. 14 – Kenneth Wilkinson, engineer; Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1977 Maurice Ravel: Boléro – Kenneth Wilkinson, engineer; Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1982 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 7 in E minor – Jay Saks, engineer; James Levine, conductor (RCA)
• 1983 Gustav Mahler: Symphony No. 9 in D major – James Lock, engineer; Sir Georg Solti, conductor (London)
• 1993 Béla Bartók: The Wooden Prince & Cantata profana – Pierre Boulez, conductor; Rainer Maillard, engineer (Deutsche Grammophon)
• 2008 Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago – Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Alan Gilbert, conductors; Silk Road Ensemble, Yo-Yo Ma and Wu Man, soloists; David Frost, Tom Lazarus, and Christopher Willis, engineers (CSO Resound)

See also[link]

• List of museums and cultural institutions in Chicago

References[link]

External links[link]

• official website Chicago Symphony Orchestra
• Chicago Symphony Chorus official website
• Civic Orchestra of Chicago official website
• Silk Road Project official website
• Interviews with Sir Georg Solti by Bruce Duffie, May & October, 1988
• Interview with Margaret Hillis, founder of the Chicago Symphony Chorus, by Bruce Duffie, July, 1986
• Chicago Symphony "From The Archives" Marathon/Radiothon/Symphonython index

Sir Colin Davis (2007)

Sir Colin Rex Davis, CH, CBE (born 25 September 1927) is an English conductor. His repertoire is broad, but among the composers with whom he is particularly associated are Mozart, Berlioz, Elgar, Sibelius, Stravinsky and Tippett.

He studied as a clarinettist, but was intent on becoming a conductor. After struggles as a freelance conductor from 1949 to 1957, he gained a series of appointments with orchestras including the BBC Scottish Orchestra, the BBC Symphony Orchestra and the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra. He has been associated with the London Symphony Orchestra for over 50 years, including over ten years as its principal conductor. He has also held the musical directorships of Sadler's Wells Opera and the Royal Opera House, where he was principal conductor for over fifteen years. His guest conductorships include the Boston Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra, and the Dresden Staatskapelle, among many others.

As a teacher, Davis holds posts at the Royal Academy of Music, London, and the Carl Maria von Weber High School of Music in Dresden. He made his first gramophone recordings in 1958, and his discography built up in the succeeding five decades is extensive, with a large number of studio recordings for Philips Records and a growing catalogue of live recordings for the London Symphony Orchestra's own label.

Biography[link]

Early years[link]

Davis was born in Weybridge, Surrey, the youngest of three sons among seven siblings, to Reginald George and Lillian Davis.^[1][2] The family was musical, and Davis was exposed to music from his early years. He recalled, "I can still see Sargent conducting the first concert I ever attended. I can still hear Melchior in the final scene of Siegfried – an old 78 playing on my father's gramophone. … I can also remember the moment I decided to make music my life. I was 13 or 14 at the time and the performance was of Beethoven's Eighth. Doors were suddenly opened. I became totally involved, even obsessed by music, although I was frightfully enclosed by my likes and dislikes. Today I'm game for anything."^[3]

The Royal College of Music, where Davis studied

Davis was educated at Christ's Hospital and then won a scholarship to the Royal College of Music in London, where he studied the clarinet with Frederick Thurston.^[4] As a clarinettist he was overshadowed by his fellow-student Gervase de Peyer, but he had in any case already set his mind to conducting. He was, however, not eligible for the conducting class at the college, because he could not play the piano.^[5]

His ambitions to conduct were further disrupted by compulsory military service, which was in force in Britain at that time. After leaving the college, Davis served as a clarinettist in the band of the Household Cavalry. Stationed at Windsor he had continual opportunities to attend concerts in London under conductors including Sir Thomas Beecham and Bruno Walter. After completing his military service, he launched himself in 1949 into what he later described as the "freelance wilderness", where he remained until 1957.^[2] His first conducting work was with the Kalmar Orchestra, which he co-founded with other former students of the Royal College. He made a good impression and was invited to conduct the recently founded Chelsea Opera Group in Don Giovanni. In the early years of his career he also took some engagements as an orchestral clarinettist.^[6] What seemed at first to be a full-time conducting appointment, for the Original Ballet Russe in 1952, came to an abrupt end after three months, when the company collapsed. In between sparse conducting engagements, Davis worked as a coach and lecturer, including spells at the Cambridge University Musical Society and the Bryanston Summer School, where a performance of L'enfance du Christ awakened his love of Berlioz's music.^[7]

BBC and Sadler's Wells[link]

His first breakthrough came in 1957, when at his third attempt he secured the post of assistant conductor of the BBC Scottish Orchestra (now the BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra). The chief conductor of the orchestra generally chose to conduct the standard repertoire pieces himself, leaving Davis with modern works and non-standard repertoire works including those of Berlioz.^[8] By 1959 he had developed to the extent that, after a concert of Stravinsky and Mozart with the London Mozart Players, the chief music critic of The Observer, Peter Heyworth, wrote, "Mr Davis conducted two works in a manner that showed that he is not only outstanding among our younger conductors, but probably the best we have produced since Sir Thomas Beecham, his senior by forty-eight years."^[9]

Glyndebourne, scene of one of Davis's early breakthroughs

Davis first found wide acclaim when he stood in for an ill Otto Klemperer in a performance of Don Giovanni, at the Royal Festival Hall in 1959. A year later, Beecham invited him to collaborate with him in preparing The Magic Flute at Glyndebourne. Beecham was taken ill, and Davis conducted the opera. After the Don Giovanni, The Times wrote, "A superb conductor of Mozart declared himself last night at the Festival Hall…. Mr Davis emerged as a conductor ripe for greatness."^[10] Neville Cardus in The Guardian was less enthusiastic but nevertheless considered that Davis "had his triumphs" in the performance.^[11] After The Magic Flute, The Times called Davis "master of Mozart's idiom, style and significance",^[12] although Heyworth in The Observer was disappointed by his tempi, judging them to be too slow.^[13]

In 1960 Davis made his début at the Proms in a programme of Britten, Schumann, Mozart and Berlioz.^[14] In the same year, he was appointed chief conductor of Sadler's Wells Opera, and in 1961 he was made musical director of the company, with whom he built up a large repertoire of operas, conducting in London and on tour.^[15] Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians wrote of this period, "He excelled in Idomeneo, The Rake's Progress and Oedipus rex, and Fidelio; his Wagner, Verdi and Puccini were less successful. He introduced Weill's Mahagonny, and Pizzetti's Assassinio nella cattedrale to the British public and conducted the première of Bennett's The Mines of Sulphur (1965)."^[16] Together with the stage director Glen Byam Shaw, he worked to present operas in a way that gave due weight to the drama as well as the music.^[17] In his early years, Davis was known as something of a firebrand with a short fuse in rehearsals, and his departure from Sadler's Wells in 1965 was not without acrimony.^[18]

After he left Sadler's Wells it was widely expected that he would be offered the chief conductorship of the London Symphony Orchestra, but the post went to István Kertész. Soon afterwards Davis was offered the post of chief conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra, though the appointment was not effective until September 1967.^[19] At first, so far as the public was concerned, his tenure was overshadowed, at least during the orchestra's most conspicuous concert seasons, the Proms, by the memory of Sir Malcolm Sargent, who had been an immensely popular figure as chief conductor of the Proms until 1966. Sargent had been "a suave father figure"^[20] to the promenaders, and it took some time for the much younger Davis to be accepted.^[19] The BBC's official historian of the Proms later wrote, "Davis never really identified himself with the Proms in the way that Sargent had done.^[20] Davis was uncomfortable with the traditional hullabaloo of the Last Night of the Proms and attempted, unsuccessfully, to modernise it.^[21] The BBC's Controller of Music, William Glock, was a long-standing admirer of Davis, and encouraged him to put on adventurous programmes, with a new emphasis on modern music, both at the Proms and throughout the rest of the orchestra's annual schedule.^[22]

Covent Garden[link]

In 1970, Sir David Webster, who ran the Royal Opera and the Royal Ballet companies at Covent Garden, invited Davis to succeed Georg Solti as principal conductor of the opera.^[23] At about the same time, the Boston Symphony Orchestra invited him to become its musical director, but Davis felt that if Covent Garden needed him, it was his duty to take on the post.^[17] Webster's vision was that Davis and the stage director Peter Hall, formerly of the Royal Shakespeare Company, would work in equal partnership as musical director and director of productions. After early successes together, including the première of Michael Tippett's The Knot Garden in December 1970, Hall left to succeed Laurence Olivier as director of the National Theatre. Webster had retired by that time, leaving Davis, together with Webster's successor as General Administrator, John Tooley, to run the Royal Opera.^[23]

The Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, where Davis was musical director, 1970–86

Davis's early months in charge at Covent Garden were marked by dissatisfaction among some of the audience, and booing was heard at a "disastrous" Nabucco in 1971, and his conducting of Wagner's Ring was at first compared unfavourably with that of his predecessor.^[24] Among his successes were Berlioz's massive Les Troyens and Benvenuto Cellini, Verdi's Falstaff, the major Mozart operas, and, as one critic put it, he "confirmed his preeminence as a Britten and Stravinsky interpreter" with productions of Peter Grimes and The Rake's Progress.^[24] Davis conducted more than 30 operas during his fifteen-year tenure,^[16] but "since people like Maazel, Abbado and Muti would only come for new productions", Davis yielded the baton to these foreign conductors, giving up the chance to conduct several major operas, including Der Rosenkavalier, Rigoletto and Aida.^[24]

In addition to the standard operatic repertoire, Davis conducted a number of atonal and other modern operas, including Alban Berg's Lulu and Wozzeck, Tippett's The Knot Garden and The Ice Break (of which he is the dedicatee),^[16] and Alexander Zemlinsky's The Dwarf and Eine Florentinische Tragödie.^[25] With later stage directors at Covent Garden, Davis preferred to work with those who respected the libretto: "I have a hankering for producers who don't feel jealous of composers for being better than they are, and want to impose their, often admittedly clever, ideas on the work in hand."^[26] Davis hoped that Goetz Friedrich, with whom he worked on Wagner's Ring cycle, would take on the role of principal producer vacated by Hall, "but it seemed that nobody wanted to commit themselves."^[24]

During his Covent Garden tenure, Davis was also principal guest conductor of the BBC Symphony Orchestra from 1971 to 1975 and of the Boston Symphony Orchestra from 1972 to 1984.^[2] Another guest conducting engagement was in 1977, when he became the first English conductor to appear at Bayreuth, where he conducted the opening opera of the festival, Tannhäuser. Despite the Bayreuth habitués' suspicion of newcomers,^[27] Davis's Tannhäuser was "highly successful".^[28] He debuted at the Metropolitan Opera, New York City, in 1969, the Vienna State Opera in 1986 and the Bavarian State Opera in 1994.^[2]

Bavarian Radio Symphony and London Symphony Orchestras[link]

From 1983 to 1993, Davis was chief conductor of the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, with whom he developed his concert hall repertoire, including symphonies by Bruckner and Mahler.^[18] He was offered but declined the chief conductorships of the Cleveland Orchestra in succession to Maazel and the New York Philharmonic in succession to Zubin Mehta.^[29] As a principal guest conductor he was associated with the Dresden Staatskapelle, which appointed him honorary conductor (Ehrendirigent) in 1990, the first in the orchestra's 460-year-history.^[30] From 1998–2003, he was principal guest conductor of the New York Philharmonic.^[2]

In 1995, Davis was appointed principal conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra. It was the culmination of a long association with the orchestra. He had first conducted the LSO in 1959, and in 1964 he headed the orchestra's first world tour. He became principal guest conductor in 1975 and was at the helm in the LSO's first major series at its new home, the Barbican Centre, in a Berlioz/Tippett festival in 1983.^[30] In 1997 he conducted the LSO's first residency at Lincoln Center in New York City.^[30] Davis was the longest-serving principal conductor in the history of the LSO holding the post from 1995 until 2006, after which the orchestra appointed him President of the LSO, an honour previously held only by Arthur Bliss, William Walton, Karl Böhm and Leonard Bernstein.^[31] On 21 June 2009, 50 years to the day after his first LSO performance, a special concert was given at the Barbican, at which present-day players were joined by many past members of the orchestra.^[30] Davis's programme for the concert was Mozart's Symphony No 40 in G minor, and Brahms's Piano Concerto No 2, with Nelson Freire as soloist.^[32]

During his time with the LSO, both as principal conductor and later as president, Davis has conducted series and cycles of the music of Sibelius, Berlioz, Bruckner, Mozart, Elgar, Beethoven, and Brahms,^[30] and in 2009 began presenting a cycle of the symphonies of Carl Nielsen.^[33] Grove's Dictionary of Music and Musicians wrote, "He conducted a Sibelius cycle in 1992 and a concert performance of Les Troyens the following year, both of which have become the stuff of legend. More recently he has added grand performances of Bruckner, Richard Strauss and Elgar, the première of Tippett's last major work, The Rose Lake (1995), and a Berlioz cycle begun with Benvenuto Cellini in 1999 and crowned by an incandescent Les Troyens in December 2000, all confirming his partnership with the LSO as one of the most important of its time."^[16]

Teacher[link]

Davis is president of the Landesgymnasium für Musik "Carl Maria von Weber" in Dresden,^[34] and holds the International Chair of Orchestral Studies at the Royal Academy of Music, London.^[35] Jonathan Freeman-Attwood, principal of the academy, wrote of Davis, "As the Academy's International Chair of Conducting over 25 years, Sir Colin has helmed six opera productions and over sixty concerts, classes and chamber music projects. Such extraordinary generosity from a major international conductor is surely unique. He has inspired a whole generation here, as did Henry Wood and John Barbirolli before him."^[30]

Recordings[link]

Davis's discography is extensive. He made his first records in 1958 for the World Record Club: three Mozart symphonies and the Oboe Concerto with Leon Goossens. He made several records for the small independent label L'Oiseau Lyre, including a 1960 L'enfance du Christ and a 1962 Béatrice et Bénédict which, at January 2010, were both still available on CD. For EMI he made both operatic and orchestral recordings, the former with Sadler's Wells forces, including excerpts from Carmen and a complete Oedipus Rex, and the latter including Harold in Italy with Yehudi Menuhin, and what remains one of his best-known recordings, a 1961 Beethoven Seventh Symphony.^[36][37]

Philips and RCA[link]

In the 1960s, Davis signed as an exclusive artist for Philips Records, with whom he made an extensive range of recordings in the symphonic repertoire and a large number of operatic recordings, including the major Mozart operas; operas by Tippett, Britten, Verdi and Puccini; and a comprehensive survey of the operas of Berlioz, culminating in an award-winning first recording of the complete Les Troyens issued in May 1970.^[18][38]

Davis's 1966 Philips recording of Handel's Messiah was regarded as revelatory at the time of its issue for its departure from the large-scale Victorian-style performances that had been customary before then.^[39] Other Philips recordings included a 1982 set of Haydn's twelve London Symphonies with the Concertgebouw Orchestra "distinguished by performances of tremendous style and authority, and a sense of rhythmic impetus that is most exhilarating";^[40] and a 1995 Beethoven symphony cycle with the Dresden Staatskapelle, of which The Gramophone wrote, "There has not been a Beethoven cycle like this since Klemperer's heyday."^[41]

Davis made a number of records with the Boston Symphony Orchestra for Philips, including the first of his three Sibelius cycles, which remains in the CD catalogues. They also recorded works by Debussy, Grieg, Schubert, Schumann, and Tchaikovsky.

For RCA, Davis recorded complete symphony cycles of Sibelius (with the LSO), Brahms (Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra, 1989–98), and Schubert (Dresden Staatskapelle, 1996).

LSO Live[link]

Davis's terms as chief conductor, and latterly president, of the LSO have coincided with the orchestra's decision to launch its own record label, issuing live recordings (patched where necessary with takes from rehearsals) at budget prices. Davis's recordings on the LSO Live label include Beethoven's opera Fidelio (2006), a wide range of Berlioz works, including a second recording of Les Troyens (2000), La Damnation de Faust (2000), Roméo et Juliette (2000), Béatrice et Bénédict (2000), Harold en Italie (2003), and the Symphonie Fantastique (2000); Britten's Peter Grimes (2004); Dvořák's Symphonies Nos. 6–9 (1999–2004); five Elgar sets: the Enigma Variations (2007) and the Introduction and Allegro for Strings (2005), the three symphonies (2001), and The Dream of Gerontius (2005); Handel's Messiah (2006); Haydn's Die Schöpfung (2007); Holst's The Planets (2002); James MacMillan's St John Passion, (2008) The World's Ransoming and The Confession of Isobel Gowdie (2007); Mozart's Requiem (2007); Nielsen's Symphonies Nos. 4-5 (2011); a third Sibelius symphony cycle (2002–2008); Smetana's Má vlast (2005); Tippett's A Child of our Time (2007), Verdi's Falstaff (2004), Requiem (2009), and Otello (2010); and Walton's First Symphony (2005).^[42]

Awards[link]

Davis was appointed CBE in 1965,^[43] knighted in 1980^[44] and appointed Companion of Honour in 2001.^[45] He was awarded the Royal Philharmonic Society's gold medal in 1995,^[2] the Queen's Medal for Music, 2009,^[46] and has numerous international awards, including Commendatore of the Republic of Italy, 1976; Commander's Cross, Order of Merit (Germany), 1987; Commandeur, l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres (France), 1990; Commander, Order of the Lion (Finland), 1992; Order of Merit (Bavaria), 1993; Officier, Légion d'Honneur (France), 1999 (Chevalier, 1982); Order of Maximilian (Bavaria), 2000.^[2]

Other awards include Pipe Smoker of the Year in 1996,^[47] Male Artist of the Year in the Classical Brit Awards 2008,^[47] and the Grammy Award in 2006 for Best Opera for his LSO Live recording of Verdi's Falstaff.^[30]

Personal life[link]

In 1949, Davis married the soprano April Cantelo. They had two children, Suzanne and Christopher. Their marriage ended in 1964, and in that same year, Davis married Ashraf Naini, known as Shamsi. To satisfy both the Iranian and British authorities, the couple were married three times, once in Iran and twice in the UK, in the Iranian Embassy as well as in a regular UK civil ceremony; they had five children.^[48] One of their children is the conductor Joseph Wolfe, who chose a different surname, because he wanted to "create some space to grow and develop my own identity as a musician."^[49] Lady Davis died in June 2010.^[50]

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Blyth, Alan (1972). Colin Davis. London: Ian Allan. OCLC 675416. 
• Cox, David (1980). The Henry Wood Proms. London: BBC. ISBN 0-563-17697-0. 
• Haltrecht, Montague (1975). The Quiet Showman: Sir David Webster and the Royal Opera House. London. ISBN 0-00-211163-2. 
• Morrison, Richard (2004). Orchestra – The LSO: A Century of Triumph and Turbulence. London: Faber and Faber. ISBN -571-21584-X. 
• Orga, Ateş (1974). The Proms. Newton Abbot: David and Charles. OCLC 1121308. 

External links[link]

• Morrison, Richard. "Monarch of all he's survived", Profile of Davis at 80 – The Times, 21 September 2007
• Colin Davis at Allmusic