Chicago Symphony Orchestra

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra ranks among America’s three most distinguished ensembles and stands as one of the few ensembles that has consistently challenged the New York Philharmonic’s longstanding dominance. Interestingly, the trajectories of these two institutions have repeatedly intersected.

During the 1870s and 1880s, Theodore Thomas built and directed ensembles in New York that vied directly with the Philharmonic Society of New York for listeners, guest artists, and the first American hearings of new scores. His group emerged as a formidable competitor to what later became the New York Philharmonic. On several occasions the orchestra traveled to Chicago, and plans called for Thomas to assume leadership of music at the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition there. In 1891, however, he left New York permanently for Chicago, taking up the post of founding conductor of the newly formed Chicago Orchestra. He remained in that role until his death in 1905. The following year the ensemble honored him by adopting the name Theodore Thomas Orchestra; six years after that it became the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Thomas’s associate Frederick Stock guided the orchestra from 1905 until his own death in 1942, shaping the ensemble’s modern identity through programs that balanced the standard repertory with American premieres of numerous post-romantic compositions. Stock also elevated performance standards, improved musicians’ salaries, and positioned the orchestra as a central training ground for local talent. Because the long-playing record had not yet appeared, relatively few documents survive from this era, yet contemporary accounts placed some of those recordings among the finest then available. Among the surviving examples on major labels are the Beethoven Piano Concertos Nos. 4 and 5 issued by BMG, with Arthur Schnabel as soloist under Stock.

Stock’s passing in 1942 ushered in a turbulent decade. Beyond the disruptions of World War II, the orchestra struggled to secure stable direction. Désiré Defauw’s tenure lasted only from 1943 to 1947, while Artur Rodzinski, previously associated with the New York Philharmonic, remained for a single season (1947–1948). Rafael Kubelik served as music director from 1950 to 1953; although his refined, European-oriented programming found limited favor with players, reviewers, and administration, it was during his leadership that the orchestra produced its first commercially successful modern recordings for Mercury, many of which Mercury reissued in the mid-1990s.

Fritz Reiner assumed the music directorship in 1953 and initiated the orchestra’s modern ascent. Under Reiner the ensemble developed a taut, transparent, and opulent sonority that established it as one of the nation’s leading orchestras, fully comparable to the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the Boston Symphony. Reiner’s arrival coincided with the orchestra’s move to RCA Victor just as the label began exploring stereo techniques in 1954. The resulting “Living Stereo” releases, notable for their vivid detail, pronounced channel separation, and concert-like immediacy, ranked among the era’s most successful classical albums and have been repeatedly reissued on compact disc to continued critical and public acclaim.

Reiner’s death in 1963 opened another transitional period during which Jean Martinon led the orchestra from 1963 to 1968. In 1969 Sir Georg Solti became music director. Under Solti the ensemble’s domestic and international stature rose sharply, as did its recording sales. While Reiner had begun to champion late-Romantic composers such as Mahler, it was Solti who made works by Mahler and Bruckner regular features alongside those of Beethoven and Mozart. Performance standards reached their highest level in the orchestra’s history both on stage and in the studio. Solti also inaugurated a twenty-five-year association with London Records that yielded some of the period’s most distinguished-sounding recordings. His interpretations combined theatrical flair with meticulous attention to detail, even in lighter opera and concert overtures, earning him recognition as perhaps the most widely admired conductor of a major American orchestra—though Leonard Bernstein commanded greater media attention during the 1960s. Solti accumulated more Grammy Awards than any other musician in history, a distinction that encompassed his work with ensembles in London and Vienna as well. Daniel Barenboim succeeded him as music director from 1991 to 2006, after which Solti assumed the title of music director emeritus. Bernard Haitink served as the orchestra’s first principal conductor from 2006 through 2010, and Riccardo Muti was appointed tenth music director in 2010.

Like other leading American orchestras, the Chicago Symphony must continually measure itself against its own distinguished recorded legacy. Reissues of performances under Reiner and Solti remain strong sellers and often match or surpass contemporary releases in sonic and interpretive quality. Mercury returned the early-1950s Kubelik sessions to circulation in the late 1990s, while RCA-BMG and specialist reissue labels have restored the Stock-era recordings. Virtually all of the Solti and Reiner Chicago recordings are considered outstanding and remain recommendable. The orchestra continues its composer-in-residence and artist-in-residence programs; Jessie Montgomery held the former position and Hilary Hahn the latter in 2023.