Fratta: Orchestral Music by Stravinsky, Britten & Scriabin

Featuring

Gianna Fratta
Orchestra Sinfonica Siciliana
Igor Stravinsky
Benjamin Britten
Alexander Scriabin

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Composer's Artistic Vision

Alexander Scriabin believed the artist's task was to create a total work of art that could lead to ecstasy, spiritually transforming both musicians and audience during a performance.

Composer Biography

Peter Pears, the tenor who interpreted the role of Peter Grimes at its premiere, was the composer Benjamin Britten's artistic and life partner.

Composition History

Alexander Scriabin's 'Poem of Ecstasy' is inspired by theosophical doctrine, which posits that all religions originate from a single divine truth, and by the Neoplatonic idea that humans can access divine wisdom through mystical experience.

Critical Reception

The 1913 premiere of Igor Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring' at the Théatre des Champ-Elysées was accompanied by a scandal, as the public did not understand its revolutionary polytonal writing and violent sounds.

Performer Biography

Gianna Fratta, the conductor on this album, decided to become a conductor at the age of nine and holds degrees in law and musical disciplines.

Composition History

Benjamin Britten's opera 'Peter Grimes' premiered in 1945 and marked the beginning of a new era for English musical theatre, freeing it from the dominance of European opera.

Composition History

Igor Stravinsky's 'The Rite of Spring' was inspired by a vision of a great pagan sacred rite, where wise old men observe a young girl dancing to her death as a sacrifice to the god of spring.