Contemporary American Composer, Glass / Montgomer / Chicago Symphony Orchestra, CD

Chicago has long been a welcoming home to the working composer, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the heart of the musical life they found in the city. The three American composers whose music is performed on this recording all have important ties to the CSO, from Philip Glass' formative years as a student listener in Orchestra Hall in the 1950s, to Jessie Montgomery, who is the Orchestra's Mead Composer-in-Residence today, and Max Raimi, who is both a prolific composer and a longtime member of the Orchestra's viola section. Glass' Eleventh Symphony is part of the symphonic tradition that captivated him as a student. Each movement has it's own unique character - the first bold and driving, the second crowned by a slowly unfolding melody and the third a barrage of cascading energy and racing percussion. For Glass in the 50s, it was Fritz Reiner. Now Riccardo Muti champions the compositional voices of the age with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. "It takes courage," says Glass of the Orchestra's legacy of performing contemporary music, "and that courage becomes a tradition.