TRADITIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS:
SOUNDS OF SILK ROAD CHICAGO

“The Chicago Symphony Orchestra…comes closer to perfection than most orchestras...”
—The New York Times

“Everything the Chicago Symphony performs has a vivid, larger-than-life quality.”
—The Guardian (London)

“Chicago has a long history of being at the crossroads of the world,” Yo-Yo Ma said as he described the landmark yearlong collaboration known as Silk Road Chicago. This unique celebration—partnering Ma’s Silk Road Project with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra and dozens of cultural institutions throughout the city from June 2006 through June 2007—was an unprecedented adventure in discovery that moved a city to learn and explore musical traditions and cross-cultural connections, inspired by both the legendary Silk Road trade route and an unending spirit of curiosity.

Traditions and Transformations: Sounds of Silk Road Chicago on CSO Resound is an aural record of this remarkable journey, featuring a rich tapestry of musical works and passionate, virtuosic performances by cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the Silk Road Ensemble, pipa soloist Wu Man, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Miguel Harth-Bedoya and Alan Gilbert.

A musical force in Chicago and around the world, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra is consistently hailed as one of the fi nest international orchestras. Its expansive catalog of more than 900 recordings has earned 58 Grammy® awards—more than any other orchestra in the world. In 2007, the CSO launched its in-house record label, CSO Resound. Featuring recorded concert performances by the CSO with world-renowned conductors and guest artists, CSO Resound showcases the power and versatility of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra today. CSO Resound has previously released Mahler’s Third Symphony and Bruckner’s Seventh Symphony, both conducted by Principal Conductor Bernard Haitink.

REVIEWS

"There's so much to love about the Silk Road Ensemble's newest recording, released on the Chicago Symphony Orchestra's in-house record label. Maybe it's the Chicago Symphony's powerful outpouring of sound and crisp perfection in complicated, unfamiliar scores. Maybe it's Yo-Yo Ma's (Silk Road's founder and artistic director) ever-graceful and profound statements as soloist, or when he is equally impressive on the foreign morin khuur, a Mongolian two-stringed instrument. Perhaps it's the exoticism and standout, supreme talent exhibited by Mongolian singer Khongorzul Ganbaatar in a recent work by Byambasuren Sharav. Or maybe it's just the chance to hear conductor Alan Gilbert, the newest youthful appointee to the New York Philharmonic, conduct a lesser-known work by Prokofiev. The Silk Road Ensemble does it again: It performs exciting, beautiful music that can't help but bridge cultures in all its worldly appeal."
— Rochester Democrat and Chronicle

"These recordings come from the Chicago leg of Yo-Yo Ma's Silk Road Project. Prokofiev's Scythian Suite of 1915 is alluring as well as aggressive in Alan Gilbert's svelte performance, and Bloch's 1916 Hebraic rhapsody, Schelomo, has Ma himself offering soft-spoken, seductive advocacy as the cello soloist. The late Lou Harrison's 1997 Pipa Concerto (which, like Schelomo is conducted by Miguel Harth-Bedoya) treats the pear- shaped Chinese lute to travelogue- like transformations. Mongolian composer Byambasuren Sharav's Legend of Herlen (2000) has a fearless mix of western and eastern sounds, dominated by the striking singing of Khongorzul Ganbaatar."
— The Irish Times