The legendary Pierre Boulez and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra tackle 20th-century masterworks by Ives, Varèse, and Elliott Carter (who turns 100 in 2008), pieces that, in their variety of sounds and massive orchestral forces, reflect the vastness of America itself. From the great American heartland also comes an invigorated Minnesota Orchestra, which under the baton of Osmo Vänskä has been earning raves for its recordings of Beethoven’s symphonies—the New Yorker calls them “some of the most vivid Beethoven playing on the market.” The ever-fascinating David Robertson and ever-inventive Pierre-Laurent Aimard bring New York premieres of music by the Grawemeyer Award–winning finnish composer Kaija Saariaho and George Benjamin, a British composer whose orchestral music is “miraculously crafted” (Guardian).