Scriabin: The Poem of Ecstasy · Symphony No. 2
ARTISTS: JoAnn Falletta (Conductor); Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra
COMPOSER: Alexander Scriabin
LABEL: Naxos
CAT ID: 8.574139 (UPC: 747313413973)
GRAMMY® CATEGORY:
Best Orchestral Performance
Scriabin composed most of his single-movement fourth symphony The Poem of Ecstasy between 1905 and 1908 in Italy and France. He originally intended it to be called Poème orgiaque (‘Orgiastic Poem’) with its unprecedented raw sensuality and overpowering aesthetic, taking chromaticism beyond even Wagnerian voluptuousness. His earlier Symphony No. 2 in C minor adopts César Franck’s cyclical ideas to which Scriabin layered sweeping climaxes, majestic intensity and rich orchestral colour that enliven its five movements with ceaseless invention.
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 Award in 2021 as conductor of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus in the Best Choral Performance category. She won her first individual Grammy Award as conductor of the London Symphony in the Best Classical Compendium category for Spiritualist by Kenneth Fuchs. Her Naxos recording of John Corigliano’s Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan with the BPO received two Grammys 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 https://www.joannfalletta.com/
Photo by Benjamin Ealovega
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
Dr. Bernd Gottinger
Dr. Bernd Gottinger has been producing and engineering classical music records for various international and national recording labels for over thirty-five years. In 2020 he was nominated by the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences for “Best Producer/Classical.” His recording of Richard Danielpour’s “The Passion of Yeshua” won a GRAMMY award in the category of “Best Choral Performance” the same year. He holds degrees from The Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and The Juilliard School and received his Ph.D. from New York University in 2007. A committed educator in the field of audio engineering, Dr. Gottinger is currently a tenured professor at the State University of New York at Fredonia where he has been Director of the Sound Recording Technology degree program since 1999.
Press
BBC Music Magazine, May 2023
“The Poem of Ecstasy is a genuine phenomenon. JoAnn Falletta's interpretation brilliantly showcases the music's strengths. The Buffalo Philharmonic players respond with a virtuoso panache. “
MusicWeb International, April 2023
“The recorded sound is full, but natural, and the orchestral performance is superb. The Buffalo Philharmonic has nothing to fear from the more famous orchestras that have recorded this music. Falletta always holds my interest, and the playing of her orchestra and the recorded sound are first-rate. I would urge you to snap this up.“
The Buffalo News, March 2023
“A marvelous rendition of two pieces by the Russian late-Romantic visionary composer Alexander Scriabin. Among the finer achievements of Naxos records is its wildly unexpected apprehension of the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra as an ideal ensemble to record pieces of significantly big, lush, even virtuosic sound.“
The Arts Fuse March 2023
“Not only do conductor and orchestra have this fare under their fingers: their recording of Scriabin’s Second and Fourth Symphonies holds its own with the best out there. The Philharmonic’s performance of Scriabin's Symphony No. 2 is about as sumptuous a late-Romantic effort as they come. As a result, it demands a high degree of both interpretive vision and technique. Falletta’s got both in spades. Truly, the Buffalo brasses here are in the same league as the Chicago Symphony’s were for Neeme Järvi decades ago. Naxos’ engineering offers naturally resonant orchestral sound and terrific balances.“
Online Merker, February 2023 (Translated from German)
“Conductor JoAnn Falletta is a fabulous conductor. She designs interpretations that are extremely flexible and superior in both works. Under [her] long standing direction, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra has developed into a top orchestra that has nothing to fear from any international comparison. Full bodied, colorful and self-confident, the highly committed orchestra throws itself into the enormous demands without difficulty.“
Fanfare, February 2023
“A sleek, graceful performance, well balanced for transparency and texture. The Buffalo Philharmonic paints in lovely light colors. The Poem of Ecstasy emerges gleaming and appealing. The recorded sound is utterly natural and true to the hall. Falletta deserves kudos for daring to be brisk and for knowing how to build satisfying climaxes. This is the best version of the Second Symphony I have heard.“
Classical Music Sentinel, February 2023
“Conductor JoAnn Falletta well captures, nuances and stresses the myriad number of ascending motivic cells throughout each movement that lend the whole symphony a probing reach for its elysian pursuit. The orchestra is in top form. The generous acoustics of the Kleinhans Music Hall in Buffalo do the opulence of the orchestral score full justice.”
Pizzicato, February 2023
“Scriabin’s Second Symphony is a mixture of fantasy, ecstasy and fantasies of every kind. JoAnn Falletta has a very sure sense of this. She renders this very special world of the Russian composer in an enchanting way. In this interpretation, the balance and clarity of the orchestral sound are captivating.” (translated from German)
The Flip Side, March 2023
“[Scriabin’s] music has a voluptuousness all its own, and the two orchestral works on this disc show off how his rapturous style evolved. JoAnn Falletta conducts the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra in rousing performances that catch all the nuances of these towering works.”
Infodad.com, May 2023
“Falletta and the Buffalo Philharmonic prove yet again that they can tackle music of any level of complexity with understanding and provide strong and convincing performances.”
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 Compendium2008 Grammy Award–Corigliano: Mr. Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan, Naxos
Best Classical Vocal Performance (Hila Plitmann) and Best Classical Contemporary Composition2021 Diapason D'or Award - Schmitt: La Tragédie de Solomé
2006 Grammy Nomination - Fuchs: An American Place (for Orchestra), Naxos
Best Instrumental Soloist(s) Performance (with orchestra) (Shares with Thomas Stacy, English horn for Eventide)
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