Summary: Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO Dec 14-19. Chicago favorite Jaap van Zweden returns to lead the CSO in Tchaikovsky's striking, lyrically poignant Fifth Symphony. Joining him is internationally renowned pianist Denis Kozhukhin, who will take on Rachmaninov's towering Second Concerto. "[Kozhukhin's] dazzling performance must have lifted Orchestra Hall a few feet off its foundation. It was hard, in fact, to imagine any pianist seizing this formidably difficult concerto in a mightier grip than this Russian firebrand. Even in a day when keyboard virtuosos are thick on the ground, Kozhukhin is special" (Chicago Tribune).
