{"id":111069,"date":"2025-01-17T13:43:26","date_gmt":"2025-01-17T18:43:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/?p=111069"},"modified":"2025-01-20T07:00:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-20T12:00:03","slug":"scoop-stravinsky-strauss-toronto-symphony-orchestra-national-arts-centre-orchestra-offer-new-recordings-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ludwig-van.com\/toronto\/2025\/01\/17\/scoop-stravinsky-strauss-toronto-symphony-orchestra-national-arts-centre-orchestra-offer-new-recordings-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"THE SCOOP | Stravinsky & Strauss: The Toronto Symphony Orchestra & National Arts Centre Orchestra Offer New Recordings For 2025"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"L:
L: Gustavo Gimeno and the Toronto Symphony Orchestra (Photo courtesy of the TSO); R: Music Director Alexander Shelley and the National Arts Centre Orchestra (Photo: Curtis Perry)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Both the Toronto Symphony Orchestra and National Arts Centre Orchestra have new recordings to offer for the new year. The Toronto Symphony Orchestra\u2019s album on the Harmonia Mundi label focuses on Stravinsky, and includes the composer\u2019s complete Pulcinella ballet and the Divertimento from Le Baiser de la F\u00e9e (The Fairy\u2019s Kiss). It\u2019s available on February 14, 2025<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The National Arts Centre Orchestra\u2019s Poema: Ad Astra is the first in a planned four-part series of recordings delving into the tone poems of Richard Strauss. The album is available now on the Analekta label<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"The
The Toronto Symphony Orchestra rehearses Stravinsky\u2019s Pulcinella (Photo: Allan Cabral\/Courtesy of the TSO)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

TSO: Pulcinella<\/h3>\n

You can check out the first single, Tarantella, here<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

The TSO and Igor Stravinsky have a genuine connection that goes back to 1967. The composer\/conductor made his final public appearance as a conductor with the TSO, leading the orchestra in a performance of the Pulcinella Suite. Music Director Gustavo Gimeno conducts the full ballet to honour that legacy.<\/p>\n

The TSO first performed Stravinsky\u2019s Petrouchky in 1934, with Sir Ernest MacMillan conducting. Stravinsky came to Toronto to conduct the orchestra in The Firebird and Petrouchka a few years later in 1937.<\/p>\n

\u201cPulcinella holds a special place in the TSO\u2019s history: Stravinsky himself conducted the orchestra in a performance of the ballet suite in 1967, marking his final public conducting appearance. It feels extraordinary to return to this work\u2014this time in its full form\u2014while celebrating Stravinsky\u2019s musical ingenuity and the orchestra\u2019s legacy,\u201d says Music Director Gustavo Gimeno<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Ballet impresario Serge Diaghilev commissioned Stravinsky\u2019s Pulcinella in 1919. Using music of the Baroque era attributed to Pergolesi, Stravinsky reinvents and reimagines with a modern sensibility. He uses the same spirit of reinvention in the Divertimento from Le Baiser de la F\u00e9e, using early piano pieces of Tchaikovsky\u2019s as a point of departure in creating his work.<\/p>\n

Along with Strauss, the album features Curiosity, Genius, and the Search for Petula Clark by Kelly-Marie Murphy<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

Curiosity, Genius, and the Search for Petula Clark was commissioned by the TSO from Canadian composer Kelly-Marie Murphy. The track was recorded in February 2024, with soloists Isabel Leonard (mezzo-soprano), Paul Appleby (tenor), and Derek Welton (bass-baritone). The piece was inspired by Glenn Gould\u2019s fascination with the British pop star.<\/p>\n