As a main theme of the CSO’s 2014/15 programming, Riccardo Muti explores the music of two Russian giants: Tchaikovsky and Scriabin, two composers with a common heritage but distinctive styles. Long a champion of Scriabin’s music, Muti is dedicated to performing not only the composer’s most famous works but also his less familiar scores this season, which marks the centennial of his death.

Piotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), composer of the most enduring orchestral and theatrical scores of the 19th century, broke free from the predominant Russian nationalist movement and forged a musical style that merged native elements with Western compositional techniques. Tchaikovsky’s younger compatriot, Alexander Scriabin (1872-1915), was an inventive figure whose idiosyncratic musical language evolved over time into his own system of chromaticism.

The season-long overview of Tchaikovsky and Scriabin consists of Muti leading nine programs of music by these two composers. A centerpiece is the CSO’s complete traversal of Tchaikovsky’s symphonies, which begins with a free community concert Sept. 19 in Millennium Park featuring Symphony No. 4, along with The Tempest and the Suite from The Sleeping Beauty.