Stravinsky: Pulcinella

After The Firebird, Petrushka and The Rite of Spring, Igor Stravinsky took an eclectic approach in his ballet scores: reinventing Baroque pieces by Pergolesi for the commedia dell’arte antics of Pulcinella; concocting Le Baiser de la fée, based on Hans Christian Andersen, from piano and vocal music by Tchaikovsky, and adopting a rigorous, neo-Classical voice for Perséphone. The Symphony in Three movements was choreographed by George Balanchine in 1972m the year after the composer’s death.

Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971) caused a sensation early on in the 20th century with the first performance in 1913 of his ballet Le sacre du printemps (The rite of Spring). This event marked the composer as a musician of the new century and throughout his life Stravinsky remained at the forefront of the musical avant-garde, keeping abreast of musical developments right up to he time of his death. All of the works in this set of orchestral pieces were written during Stravinsky's neo-classical period, which lasted from around 1920 until about 1953, after which he adopted the serial technique first developed by Arnold Schoenberg.

The penultimate release in the Naxos Seattle Collection, featuring internationally renowned mezzo Susan Graham.

This is the 6th release in the acclaimed Ballet Russes series featuring all of the music composed for Diaghilev and his company to perform between 1909 and 1929. Included are Stravinsky’s Pulcinella (Complete) and Feu d’artifice, Richard Strauss’ Till Eulenspiegel and Ravel’s La Valse.

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra gets a head start on the March 2009 celebration of Pierre Boulez’s 85th birthday with a true rarity: a recording of Igor Stravinsky’s complete ballet Pulcinella. Showcasing a stripped-down CSO and three endearing young vocal soloists, Boulez’s clean aesthetic brings this neo-Classical masterpiece to life. Also included are Stravinsky’s brash Symphony in Three Movements and jaunty Four Études, which demonstrate the orchestra’s astonishing variety of colours. Boulez is currently the CSO’s Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus, having held the Principal Guest Conductor title since 1995. His concerts in Chicago have featured numerous performances of 20th-century masterpieces and contemporary works, as well as collaborations with several notable soloists. The tightly knit scores on this album are united by the intense focus of Boulez and the CSO, and stand as documents of his fruitful years in Chicago.

“The French maestro [’s] impeccably clean conducting and wholesale influence over the CSO always leave us craving more.” Chicago Sun-Times

"The three soloists were excellent and game: mezzo-soprano Roxana Constantinescu, tenor Nicholas Phan, and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen. The agile orchestra was able to capture all of the composer's engrossing colors (a duet for soprano and tenor nods to Scheherazade), and the singers got high marks for diction, especially tenor Phan in the rapid-moving "Una te fa la 'nzemprece" (There are those who feign innocence)." Musicweb

The Chicago Symphony Orchestra gets a head start on the March 2009 celebration of Pierre Boulez’s 85th birthday with a true rarity: a recording of Igor Stravinsky’s complete ballet Pulcinella. Showcasing a stripped-down CSO and three endearing young vocal soloists, Boulez’s clean aesthetic brings this neo-Classical masterpiece to life. Also included are Stravinsky’s brash Symphony in Three Movements and jaunty Four Études, which demonstrate the orchestra’s astonishing variety of colours. Boulez is currently the CSO’s Helen Regenstein Conductor Emeritus, having held the Principal Guest Conductor title since 1995. His concerts in Chicago have featured numerous performances of 20th-century masterpieces and contemporary works, as well as collaborations with several notable soloists. The tightly knit scores on this album are united by the intense focus of Boulez and the CSO, and stand as documents of his fruitful years in Chicago.

“The French maestro [’s] impeccably clean conducting and wholesale influence over the CSO always leave us craving more.” Chicago Sun-Times

"The three soloists were excellent and game: mezzo-soprano Roxana Constantinescu, tenor Nicholas Phan, and bass-baritone Kyle Ketelsen. The agile orchestra was able to capture all of the composer's engrossing colors (a duet for soprano and tenor nods to Scheherazade), and the singers got high marks for diction, especially tenor Phan in the rapid-moving "Una te fa la 'nzemprece" (There are those who feign innocence)." Musicweb