Thursday evening’s bravura production was a major event in Muti’s penultimate season as the CSO’s music director. And it was a grand homage to both the composer whose work he has long cherished, and the orchestra he has embraced and nurtured since becoming its music director in 2010.
Much like the CSO conductor’s operatic offerings that have come before, this performance was a thrilling, utterly memorable evening of music-making on every level.
CHICAGO (AP) In the twilight of his music directorship of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Riccardo Muti candidly outlined his legacy and implored musicians to remember his instruction on Giuseppe Verdi’s operas: use the 19th century scores without altered notes.