Foreword
Preface
Introduction
I Daniel Barenboim (1991–2006)
Early Weaknesses and Emerging Strengths
Celebrating a Great Trumpeter
Taking on Signature Pieces
Lightning Strikes with Radu Lupu in Berlin
Returning Home to Argentina
Reaching New Heights at Home and Abroad
A Conversation among Geniuses
Going Out on Top
Looking Back at His Chicago Years
II Pierre Boulez (1991–2010)
A Visitor Enchants the City
Revelatory Analyses from the Podium
Ligeti, Ravel, Berio, and Berlioz
Tackling New Music
A Musician’s Evolution
Modernism from Mahler to Janáček
III Bernard Haitink (2006–2010)
Taking the Stage in a New Role
Impressing with a Wide Repertoire
Chicago’s Greatest Ambassador
Bruckner Beyond Words
A Profound Beethoven Cycle
Mahler by a Master Interpreter
A New “Creation”
Beethoven’s Greatest Mass
IV Riccardo Muti (2010–)
A Musical Romance
Triumph in the Verdi Requiem
Austria v. Germany
Celebrating His Arrival
Verdi’s Otello
Open Hands, Open Heart
New Music in Chicago and California
Cherubini: A Forgotten Classical Master
An Emotional Return to Italy with “His Orchestra”
Embracing Eclecticism
The Challenge of a “Universal” Mass Setting
Finding the Sacred in Verdi, Vivaldi, and Mozart
Verdi’s Macbeth
What Makes a Composer Italian?
A Musician’s Retirement and a Conductor’s Teacher
Three Russians
Afterword: Riccardo Muti Remembers Andrew Patner
Acknowledgments
Notes
Select Bibliography
Index of Composers and Works