CD Morton Gould: The Complete Chicago Symphony Orchestra Recordings, Gould/CSO

Between 1965 and 1968 Morton Gould conducted the Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a handful of recordings for RCA Victor. In and out of the catalog for decades — mostly out — they have become the stuff of legend. Now, at last, Sony Classical brings them all together in a new 6-CD box set, The Chicago Symphony Recordings. New York City native Gould was a phenomenon: a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, Grammy®-winning conductor, prolific arranger and prodigious pianist who achieved equal renown in classical and popular music. He was barely out of his teens when his compositions were being conducted by the likes of Stokowski, Toscanini and Mitropoulos. He wrote for the concert hall, movies, radio, TV and the Broadway stage, as well as ballets for Balanchine, Agnes de Mille and Jerome Roberts.

The Chicago Symphony Recordings reflects Morton Gould’s exceptionally wide musical affinities. There is American music, including Gould’s own masterpiece, Spirituals for Orchestra, along with Aaron Copland’s Dance Symphony, which surprisingly had never before been recorded by an American Orchestra. Also included in the 6-CD box set are Charles Ives’ First Symphony, which won the 1966 Grammy Award® for Classical Album of the Year, and Carl Nielsen’s Second Symphony and, joined by Benny Goodman, the Clarinet Concerto. The box set features facsimile LP sleeves and labels and full discographical notes with all of the music remastered from the original analogue tapes.

Contents: 

Disc 1:

Morton Gould, Spirituals for Orchestra

Aaron Copland, Dance Symphony

Disc 2:

Charles Ives, Variations on "America"

Charles Ives, Symphony No. 1 in D minor

Charles Ives, The Unanswered Question

1966 Grammy® Award, Album of the Year - Classical

Disc 3:

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Sleeping Beauty, Op. 66, No. 6: Waltz

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Serenade for Strings in C Major, Op. 48: II. Waltz

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker, Op. 71, No. 13: Waltz of the Flowers

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, The Nutcracker, Op. 71, No. 15: Final Waltz and Apotheosis

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake, Op. 20: Waltz

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake, Op. 20: Valse Bluette

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Swan Lake, Op. 20: Waltz of the Swans

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Symphony No. 5 in E minor, Op. 64: III. Waltz

Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Eugene Onegin, Op. 24, No. 13: Waltz

Disc 4:

Carl Nielsen, Concerto for Clarinet and Orchestra, Op. 57

Benny Goodman (clarinet)

Carl Nielsen, Symphony No. 2, Op. 16 "The Four Temperaments"

Fred Fisher, Chicago (Orchestrated by Morton Gould)

Benny Goodman (clarinet)

Disc 5:

Charles Ives, Orchestral Set No. 2

Charles Ives, Three Places in New England: II. Putnam's Camp

Charles Ives, Robert Browning Overture

Disc 6:

Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov, Symphony No. 2, Op. 9 "Antar"

Nikolai Miaskovsky, Symphony No. 21 in F-sharp minor, Op. 51

Morton Gould (conductor)