Zoltán Kodály
Háry János Suite
Summer Evening
Symphony in C Major

ARTISTS: JoAnn Falletta, Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
COMPOSER: Zoltán Kodály
LABEL: Naxos American Classics
CAT ID: 8.574556 / 747313455676

GRAMMY® CATEGORY:
Best Orchestral Performance

Zoltán Kodály’s orchestral output is relatively small but brimming with Hungarian spirit. JoAnn Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic (BPO) present one of the composer’s most popular works, the Háry János Suite, alongside Summer Evening and the Symphony in C major. Falletta and the BPO’s acclaimed previous Kodály album is on 8.573838.


Performers

Photo by Heather Bellini

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 orchestra. 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 as conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic for Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua (8.559885-86). Other GRAMMY awards include a 2019 win as conductor of the London Symphony Orchestra for Kenneth Fuchs’ Spiritualist (8.559824), and 2 GRAMMY wins in 2008 for her Naxos recording of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan (8.559331). 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

 

Press

BBC Music Magazine
“Conductor JoAnn Falletta delivers a top-notch recording.”


Fanfare
“Kodály’s Háry János Suite receives a performance as good as any I know. …Falletta’s performance is sensitive, nostalgic, and apt. In sum, this release is a delight from beginning to end.”


Merker (translated from German)
“Her fabulous interpretation shows the versatility of this Hungarian composer and his talent for telling stories through music. The CD is not only a tribute to Kodály, but also a testimony to the impressive artistic performance of Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. “


Ritmo (translated from Spanish)
“JoAnn Falletta, in front of a very polished Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, demonstrates total affinity with this repertoire, offering vivacious, attentive and lyrical versions. Highly recommended.“


American Record Guide
“These performances are extremely well played and recorded. This is a fine conductor [Falletta], clearly fond of Kodaly’s music.“


All About the Arts
“The Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra led by the renowned Kodaly interpreter JoAnn Falletta gives a superbly idiomatic performance of all three of these works.”


Fanfare
“Kodály’s Háry János Suite receives a performance as good as any I know. …Falletta’s performance is sensitive, nostalgic, and apt. In sum, this release is a delight from beginning to end.”


For more reviews, click here.



JoAnn Falletta – Awards & Commercial Success

GRAMMY AWARDS/NOMINATIONS & OTHER RECORDING AWARDS

  • 2021 Grammy Award – Danielpour: Passion of Yeshua, Naxos
    Best Choral Performance (Shares with Adam Luebke and James K. Bass)

  • 2019 Grammy Award - Fuchs: Spiritualist, Naxos (1stFemale Conductor to win)
    Best Classical Compendium

  • 2008 Grammy Award–Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan, Naxos
    Best Classical Vocal Performance (Hila Plitmann) and Best Classical Contemporary Composition

  • 2021 Diapason D'or Award - Schmitt: La Tragédie de Solomé

  • Grammy nominated discs of works by Tyberg, Dohnányi, Fuchs, Schubert, Respighi,Gershwin, Corigliano, Strauss, Hailstork and Holst

MAJOR CONDUCTING AWARDS

  • Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award (2002)

  • Ditson Award (1998)

  • ASCAP John S. Edwards Award for Strongest Commitment to New American Music (1993)

  • Toscanini Conducting Award (1986)

  • Bruno Walter Award (1982-1987)

  • Leopold Stokowski Conducting Competition, First prize (1985)

  • Aspen Music Festival Conducting Fellowship (1980)

OTHER HONORS AND AWARDS

  • 2019 Inaugural Classical Woman of the Year –NPR/Performance Today

  • 2016 Inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences

  • 2008-2012 National Council of the Arts (Presidential Appointment)

  • Fifteen ASCAP Awards

  • 2022 Ovation Award from the Virginia Arts Council

  • 2023 Major Orchestras Librarian Association (MOLA) Eroica Award for Outstanding Service to Music

  • 2023 Inducted into the WNY Business Hall of Fame