Stravinsky: Fairy Tales

Stravinsky: Fairy Tales

ARTISTS: JoAnn Falletta; Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra; Susan Platts
COMPOSER: Igor Stravinsky
LABEL: Naxos
CAT ID: 8.574735 (747313473571)

GRAMMY® CATEGORIES SUBMITTED INTO:
Orchestral Performance
Engineered Album, Classical
Producer of the Year, Classical (Bernd Gottinger)

Igor Stravinsky is renowned for his legacy of glittering fairy tales in treasured favourites such as Petrushka and The Firebird. Another favourite is the ballet Pulcinella, a lovable melange of Baroque theatricality, heard here in its concert suite form. The other works in this programme are surprisingly less known: the luminous and symphonic Song of the Nightingale, and The Fairy’s Kiss based on Tchaikovsky’s music, are both derived from stories by Hans Christian Andersen. An astonishing rarity, The Faun and the Shepherdess is an ancient Greek tale that was Stravinsky’s romantically sensual gift to his young bride.

JoAnn Falletta

GRAMMY Award-winning conductor JoAnn Falletta serves as music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and music director laureate of the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. She has guest conducted many of the most prominent orchestras in America, Canada and throughout Europe, Asia and South America. As music director of the Buffalo Philharmonic, Falletta became the first woman to lead a major American ensemble. Credited with bringing the Philharmonic to an unprecedented level of national and international prominence, she is a leading recording artist for Naxos, and won her most recent GRAMMY Award in 2019 as conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra for Kenneth Fuchs’ Spiritualist (8.559824). Her Naxos recording of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (8.559331) received two GRAMMY Awards in 2008. From 2011 to 2014 she served as principal conductor of the Ulster Orchestra, with whom she made her BBC Proms debut and recorded six highly acclaimed Naxos albums. She was the first woman and the first American to fill this post. Falletta is a member of the esteemed American Academy of Arts and Sciences, has served as a member of the National Council on the Arts, is the recipient of many of the most prestigious conducting awards and was named Performance Today’s Classical Woman of the Year 2019.

For more information, visit www.joannfalletta.com.

Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra

Founded in 1935, the GRAMMY Award-winning Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (BPO) is Buffalo’s leading cultural ambassador, presenting more than 120 classics, pops and youth concerts each year. Since 1940, the orchestra’s permanent home has been Kleinhans Music Hall. In March 2018, the BPO became the first American orchestra to perform at the Beethoven Easter Festival in Warsaw, Poland. In 2022, they made their 24th appearance at Carnegie Hall celebrating the life and works of Lukas Foss, former BPO music director. Over the decades, the BPO has matured in stature under leading conductors William Steinberg, Josef Krips, Lukas Foss, Michael Tilson Thomas, Julius Rudel, Semyon Bychkov and Maximiano Valdés. During the tenure of JoAnn Falletta, the BPO has rekindled its distinguished history of radio broadcasts and recordings, including the release of around 50 albums of diverse repertoire on the

Naxos and Beau Fleuve Records labels. The Philharmonic’s recording of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (Naxos 8.559331), featuring soprano Hila Plitmann, received GRAMMY Awards for Best Classical Vocal Performance and Best Classical Contemporary Composition, and its recording of Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua (Naxos 8.559885-86) received a GRAMMY Award for Best Choral Performance.

For more information, please visit: www.bpo.org

Susan Platts

Mezzo-soprano Susan Platts is internationally recognised for her richly expressive voice and commanding musical presence. A former protégé of Jessye Norman, she worked closely with the legendary soprano for over a decade, which profoundly shaped her artistry. Platts is particularly acclaimed for her interpretations of Gustav Mahler’s works, including more than 90 performances of his second symphony as well as numerous performances of his third and eighth symphonies, Das Lied von der Erde, Lieder eines fahrenden Gesellen, Rückert-Lieder and Kinder-totenlieder, with major orchestras across Europe, North America and Asia. Her concert repertoire also includes Verdi’s Requiem, Elgar’s The Dream of Gerontius, Ravel’s Shéhérazade, Beethoven’s Missa solemnis, Mozart’s Mass in C minor, and Brahms’ Alto Rhapsody. Opera appearances include Die Zauberflöte, Das Rheingold, Die Walküre, Nixon in China, Albert Herring, Peter Grimes, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Her recordings are released on the Naxos and ATMA Classique labels. In 2021, Platts combined her passion for music and baking and published a cookbook, Aria Ready for Dessert? – A Musician Takes Center Stage in the Kitchen.

For more information, please visit: www.susanplatts.com

Bernd Gottinger (Producer & Engineer)

Over a forty-year career, Dr. Bernd Gottinger has produced and engineered classical music recordings for numerous prominent national and international labels. Recognized by the Recording Academy as a nominee for Best Producer of the Year, Classical in 2020, his portfolio includes a GRAMMY® Award for engineering Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua (Best Choral Performance) and a 2024 nomination for Lukas Foss’s orchestral works with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra (Best Classical Compendium).

Stravinsky: Fairy Tales represents his latest engineering and production work, reflecting the technical and musical standards built across his career. An alumnus of The Peabody Institute and The Juilliard School, Dr. Gottinger earned a Ph.D. in Musicology from New York University in 2007. He continues to balance studio production with education, serving as a tenured Full Professor and Director of the Sound Recording Technology program at the State University of New York at Fredonia, a position he has held since 1999.