Stravinsky: Pulcinella

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

‘The music of Picasso’ takes us on a wonderful journey illustrating the influence of music upon Picasso’s life and career.

From Flamenco to Satie, from Stravinsky to Granados, the music of Picasso are those he liked to hear and sing, those for which he conceived sets and texts, and finally those which directly evoke an aspect of his imaginative universe. They are gathered in this set, to give a new light on the work of this immense artist.