Product Review

'I prefer not to say I conducted them, rather that I made music with these marvelous musicians and human beings.' So Carlo Maria Giulini described his legendary partnership with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra - a relationship marked by mutual respect and affection and that resulted in some of the greatest performances in the orchestra's history. The recordings included in this four disc set are released in anticipation of the 100th anniversary of the conductor's birth and mainly date from Giulini's years as principal guest conductor of the CSO and include magisterial and intensely expressive readings of Berlioz, Brahms, Bruckner and Mahler, as well as accounts of Stravinsky's fiendishly difficult ballet suites that showcase the orchestra s virtuoso musicians at their very best.