8.573538
Igor STRAVINSKY (1882–1971)
The Soldier’s Tale – Suite1
Octet2 • Les Noces3
Tianwa Yang, Violin1
Rebecca Nash, Soprano3 • Robynne Redmon, Mezzo-Soprano3
Robert Breault, Tenor3 • Denis Sedov, Bass3
André-Michel Schub, Lydia Artymiw,
Josu de Solaun, Anna Petrova, Pianos3
Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus2 • Robert Shoup, Chorusmaster3
Les Noces Percussion Ensemble3
Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Players1, 2
JoAnn Falletta
Listen to an excerpt from
The Soldier’s Tale – Suite
Listen to an excerpt from
Les Noces
The three works on this recording were composed at a crucial juncture in Stravinsky’s musical life. The Soldier’s Tale, a small-scale theatrical work for instrumental septet, narrator and two speakers completed in 1918 [Naxos 8.573537]. It is performed here in the suite premièred in 1920. The Octet marked a new element in Stravinsky’s writing, inaugurating a turn to neo-classicism, whilst Les noces (The Wedding) is a ballet cantata impelled by dramatic motor rhythms, and once again saturated in his Russian background. Scored for pitched and unpitched percussion, vocal soloists, and mixed chorus, it is a pivotal work in Stravinsky’s development.
Tianwa Yang   |    Vocal Soloists   |    Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus   |    Virginia Arts Festival   |    JoAnn Falletta
© Friedrun Reinhold
About Tianwa Yang
Winner of the prestigious ECHO Klassik Instrumentalist of the Year 2015 Award for her Naxos recording Ysaÿe’s 6 Sonatas for Solo Violin, the Best Up-and-Coming Artist 2014 Award and the Annual Prize of the German Record Critics 2014 for her Naxos recordings of the Mendelssohn Violin Concertos and Complete Music for Violin by Sarasate, Tianwa Yang is referred to as “an unquestioned master of the violin” by American Record Guide who “rises above her competition” (Fanfare), while quickly establishing herself as a leading international performer and recording artist. Of her previously released recordings of Pablo de Sarasate's complete works for violin, David Hurwitz of ClassicsToday.com calls Ms. Yang a “sensationally talented violinist,” while All Things Strings speaks of her “stunning effortless virtuosity” and “uncanny affinity for Spanish music.”
Rebecca Nash, Soprano
Australian soprano Rebecca Nash has also joined the Virginia Arts Festival for Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 and Bartók’s Bluebeard’s Castle. Concert performances include Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (Orquesta Sinfónica Simón Bolívar, Ulster Orchestra, Orchestra of the Eighteenth Century), Mendelssohn’s Elijah (London Philharmonic), Fauré’s Requiem (Orchestre National de Lyon), Mozart’s Mass in C minor (Royal Liverpool Philharmonic), Dvořák’s Requiem (Danish Radio Orchestra), and Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis (West Australian Symphony Orchestra).
Robynne Redmon, Mezzo-Soprano
American mezzo-soprano Robynne Redmon has the unusual distinction of having achieved operatic success in the Bel Canto, French Grand Opera and Italian Dramatic Repertoire, as well as having premiered numerous 20th century works. She has appeared in leading roles at The Metropolitan Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, San Francisco Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Staatsoper Berlin, Bayerische Staatsoper, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of Saint Louis and New York City Opera among others.
Robert Breault, Tenor
Tenor Robert Breault enjoys an international career that features an extraordinary breadth of repertoire. His warm, flexible voice and superb artistic sensibilities combine to make him a consummate singing actor. He has performed as a soloist with major American orchestras in works ranging from Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, to Orff’s Carmina Burana, Rossini’s Stabat Mater, Haydn’s Creation, and Bach’s St. John Passion, among many others.
© Pavel Antonov
Denis Sedov, Bass
Denis Sedov’s concert performances include Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 (Orchestre de Paris, Quebec and Vancouver symphonies) and Le rossignol (Atlanta Symphony Orchestra), Verdi’s Requiem (Los Angeles Philharmonic), Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 (San Francisco Symphony), and Berlioz’s Roméo et Juliette (Cleveland Orchestra). Operatic performances encompass Le nozze di Figaro (Royal Opera House), Don Giovanni (Teatro alla Scala), La bohème (Opéra de Paris, Metropolitan Opera, Atlanta Opera), Ariodante (Gran Teatre del Liceu), and Lucia di Lammermoor (Pittsburgh Opera) among others.
Robert Shoup, Chorusmaster
Robert Shoup is serving his nineteenth season as Chorusmaster and Staff Conductor for the Virginia Symphony Orchestra. Shoup served as Assistant Music Director for the Virginia Symphony and Virginia Arts Festival’s acclaimed production of Leonard Bernstein’s Mass. He was the architect of American Voices, a collaborative two-week festival of American choral music which earned a prestigious NEA “American Masterpieces: Choral Music” grant.
© Dave Norman
About the Virginia Symphony Chorus
The Virginia Symphony Orchestra Chorus, established in 1990, is comprised of ninety volunteer and professional core singers. The chorus regularly appears in concert with the Virginia Symphony Orchestra, is featured annually with the Virginia International Tattoo, and as a key participant with other major arts events in the Hampton Roads, Virginia region. Recent performances include Leonard Bernstein’s Mass in 2010, Mahler’s 8th Symphony in 2012, Stravinsky’s Les Noces in 2013, and 2014 performances of Berlioz’s Damnation of Faust (with the Richmond Symphony) and Carmina Burana (with the Virginia Ballet).
© David Beloff
About The Virginia Arts Festival
Since 1997, the Virginia Arts Festival has transformed the cultural scene in southeastern Virginia, presenting great performers from across the globe, to local audiences and visitors from across the United States and around the world.  Renowned artists who have performed at Virginia Arts Festival include Itzhak Perlman, Renée Fleming, Yo-Yo Ma, Joshua Bell, Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Miami String Quartet, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Garrison Keillor, Stewart Copeland, Audra McDonald, Kelli O’Hara, Patti LuPone, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, and Mark Morris Dance Group. The Festival has presented numerous world premieres and new productions of classical music, dance, and theater from some of today’s most influential composers, choreographers and playwrights. Virginia Arts Festival celebrates its twentieth season in Spring 2016.
© Guerin Blask
About JoAnn Falletta
JoAnn Falletta serves as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic and Virginia Symphony and is the Principal Guest Conductor of the Brevard Music Center of North Carolina. She has guest conducted over a hundred orchestras in North America, and many of the most prominent orchestras in Europe, Asia, South America and Africa. Recipient of the Seaver/National Endowment for the Arts Conductors Award, winner of the Stokowski Competition, and the Toscanini, Ditson and Bruno Walter conducting awards, Falletta has also received twelve ASCAP awards and served on the U.S. National Council on the Arts. A champion of American music, she has presented over five hundred works by American composers including 110 world premières.
8.573537
“The musical performance under JoAnn Falletta, with Tianwa Yang as the violinist, is outstanding, clear and crispy, beautifully balanced, and rhythmically sharp.”
– Pizzicato

8.557499
“Robert Craft leads a thrilling performance of Oedipus Rex – incisive, swift, and as mercilessly inevitable as fate itself.”
– ClassicsToday.com

8.553181
“Fiona James, Ian Bostridge and Henry Herford are outstandingly good”
– Classic CD ★★★★★

8.557506
“No other musician was closer to Stravinsky than Robert Craft and he must be considered the doyen of today’s Stravinsky conductors.”
– Limelight Magazine