Igor Stravinsky - Fairy Tales (JoAnn Falletta)

Information

Composer: Igor Stravinsky

• Le chant du rossignol, K026
• The Faun and the Shepherdess, Op. 2, K002
• Divertimento
• Pulcinella Suite, K034b

Susan Platts, mezzo-soprano

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

JoAnn Falletta, conductor

Date: 2026

Label: Naxos

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Igor Stravinsky is celebrated for his transformative contributions to 20th-century music, particularly through works that blend vivid storytelling with innovative orchestration. This programme highlights his ballet Pulcinella, a neoclassical work that reinterprets Baroque musical styles in a concert suite format. It also features lesser-known works such as The Song of the Nightingale and The Fairy’s Kiss, both inspired by tales associated with Hans Christian Andersen and linked to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Another rarity, The Faun and the Shepherdess, draws on an ancient Greek myth and reflects a more intimate, lyrical side of Stravinsky’s output. Together, these works showcase his range from fairy-tale fantasy to neoclassical refinement and expressive romanticism.

JoAnn Falletta (b. 1954) is a multiple GRAMMY-winning conductor, acclaimed as music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) and music director laureate of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. The first woman to lead a major American orchestra, she has guest-conducted leading ensembles across the globe. A prolific recording artist with more than 135 titles, she is closely associated with Naxos, earning GRAMMY Awards for works by Danielpour, Corigliano, and Fuchs, alongside recent nominations for Kodály, Foss, and Scriabin. Falletta is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, a former National Council on the Arts member, and has been honored as Classical Woman of the Year and among Gramophone’s “50 great conductors.”