Summary: Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Nov 16-21. Riccardo Muti and pianist Kirill Gerstein, recognized for his masterful technique and "boundlessly charismatic performances" (New York Classical Review), team up for Brahms' titanic First Piano Concerto. Completed when Brahms was only 25, the concerto, with its ferocious opening, is an early demonstration of the young composer's symphonic vigor. Puccini's stirring Preludio sinfonico and Strauss' charming orchestral showpiece Le bourgeois gentilhomme round out the program.
