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.

Conductor JoAnn Falletta was named Performance Today’s Classical Woman of the Year 2019 and one of the 50 great conductors of all time by Gramophone magazine. Her Grammy-winning Naxos recordings include Richard Danielpour’s The Passion of Yeshua with the Buffalo Philharmonic (8559885-86), Kenneth Fuchs’s Spiritualist with the London Symphony Orchestra (8559824) and John Corigliano’s Mr Tambourine Man: Seven Poems of Bob Dylan, also with with the Buffalo Philharmonic (8559331).

Her recording of Florent Schmitt’s La Tragédie de Salomé which can be heard on 8574138 received acclaim: ‘The soloists, choral and instrumental forces are magnificent under the impressive leadership of JoAnn Falletta’ (Crescendo).

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.