Summary: Welcome to this digital edition of Phillip Huscher's Program Notes for upcoming concerts by the CSO May 24-26. Esa-Pekka Salonen leads a program that pairs Brahms' captivating Variations on a Theme by Haydn with Schoenberg's hauntingly beautiful Transfigured Night and Bartok's serene and expressive Third Piano Concerto, featuring Mitsuko Uchida. "It was in the otherworldly slow movement that Uchida's profound poetic sensibility rose to the fore, building to an eloquent emotional climax from the simple, hushed chords of the opening bars-atmospheric yet as clear as ice water" (Chicago Tribune).
