Recording Sessions for Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale

THE SOLDIER' S TALE (L'HISTOIRE DU SOLDAT) BY STRAVINSKY - MAESTRO CLASSICS NEW CD

Spent a sweltering day at the University of Maryland Baltimore County campus recording tracks 2 and 4 for Maestro Classics' next CD, The Soldier's Tale (L'Histoire du Soldat) by Stravinsky. L'Histoire du Soldat was the most challenging one we ever put on the Kennedy Center classical music for children series, I always thought. The music is modern; the story is the old Faustian myth about selling your soul to the devil. However, much to my surprise, the audience of both parents and children who came for classical music, loved The Soldier's Tale more than any other work we ever did.

My own son has always said that Stravinsky's L'Histoire du Soldat is his favorite piece of classical music. Now, Basil Simon (The Amazing Baz) is creating a dance mix of it for track 3 on the CD. We thought that we needed something "edgy" for our "fun track," namely the track where we feature a different musical genre based on a theme from the musical story on track one. About the Composer and About the Music are now finished. The artwork by award-winning children's book illustrator Birgitta Sif is now complete and has gone to the graphic designer, Lou Barnicle. Release date for the CD: October 2011. Stay tuned!