BaL 10.02.24 - Stravinsky: The Soldier’s Tale

[Pulcinella]

Recommended version:
Jeremy Irons (speaker)
Columbia Chamber Ensemble
Igor Stravinsky (conductor)
SONY G010003473050V

The documentation in the big Columbia Stravinsky box attributes the 1967 additions to Craft as conductor, in contrast to what was said in the programme.

[RobP]

The Stravinsky recording (just played ) with Jeremy Irons ( dubbed on in 2005 ) proves your point. I haven’t heard the Glenda J version but I can imagine that edge her voice had , the way she hits the consonants really blends with Stravinsky’s sparky , dry writing . I’ve seen this performed live a few times with some stage movement - . It works very well.

Oh they are just playing Glenda - actually quite soft voiced. And they’ve faded out Rudi …both literally and as a potential winner. Reviewer thinks Rudi is wooden but just not a long enough clip to judge really.

It really is an incredible work, but yes it is difficult to find a group of actors and instrumentalists who gel. I love the Markevitch (Speakers Corner LP and HDTT hi-res downloads), with:
Narrator: Jean Cocteau
Soldier: Jean-Marie Fertey
Devil: Peter Ustinov
Princess: Anne Tonietti
Ulysse Delécluse (clarinet), Henri Helaerte (bassoon), Manoug Parikian (violin), Joachim Gut (double-bass), Maurice André (trumpet), Roland Schnorkh (trombone), Charles Peschier (percussion)

But you sometimes feel that Cocteau needs to be more aware of the rhythmic backdrop and some of Ustinov's French vowel sounds might horrify some. Nevertheless the playing and conducting are tremendous and as a whole it works. And one of the things about the work that is so refreshing is that the Devil wins!!!

[Pulcinella]

I remain unpersuaded by the narration and relatively small amount of additional music, and continue to prefer the suite, perhaps supported by the fact that it was effectively Stravinsky's own recording of the suite that won the palm today.

[Quarky]

There is an Italian version available on YouTube, which gives full vent to the acting / dancing dimension, which dimension Gillian didn't spend much time on ::

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cFBUWcTLMZU

[CallMePaul]

10.30am
Building a Library

Gillian Moore chooses her favourite version of Stravinsky's Soldier's Tale

Soldier's Tale from 1918 is a theatrical work to be "read, played and danced by three actors, one or more dancers, and a septet of instruments." Stravinsky chose a libretto, in French, by Swiss writer Charles Ferdinand Ramuz; the two men worked on the piece together, basing it on the Russian tale The Runaway Soldier and the Devil.

Though this suggests that the version under consideration will be that with narration, I have also added a section of available recordings of the suite (though not of any of the other instrumental arrangements: usually clarinet, violin, and piano, but also some extracts just violin/piano) as I suspect that they may well also be covered.
Information on the Presto site (as with the recent The fairy’s kiss and The miraculous mandarin, to say nothing of Pulcinella!) is often incorrect, so where there is possible confusion I have used the length of the work as the deciding factor. Sometimes there is a single narrator; in other recordings the other roles have also been assigned. Also, in some listings there is no designated conductor, so those have been listed at the top in alphabetical ensemble order. In other cases, the violinist might (inadvertently?) have been thought of as the ‘conductor’.

DVD versions have not been included.

Full version (with narration)

Boston Symphony Chamber Players (D)
Bridgehampton Chamber Music Festival Musicians (CD, D)
Edinburgh International Festival (D) [Thomas Allen as narrator]
LSO Chamber Ensemble (SACD, D)

SRO/Ansermet (D)
Soloists of the Berlin Philharmonic/Blacher [violin] (D)
Orchestre de Paris/Charlier (CD, D)
Ensemble Instrumental/Dutoit (CD)
Hallé Orchestra/Elder (CD, D)
Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Players/Falletta (CD, D)
Scottish CO/Friend (CD, D)
RSNO/N Järvi (CD, D)
Royal Academy of Music/Knussen (CD, D)
Various instrumentalists/Markevich (PCD, D) [Cocteau as narrator]
Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center/Marsalis (D)
Various instrumentalists/Mintz [violin and conductor] [Depardieu as narrator] (D)
New Music Studium/Plotino (D)
London Festival O/Pople (D)
Eastman Virtuosi/Scatterday (CD, D)
Columbia Chamber Ensemble/Stravinsky (D) [This version, with Jeremy Irons as narrator, has Irons added in 2005 to Stravinsky’s own 1961 recording, with some additional material recorded in 1967, attributed to Craft as conductor in the documentation accompanying the release in the big Columbia Stravinsky Collection]
Recommended version:
Jeremy Irons (speaker)
Columbia Chamber Ensemble
Igor Stravinsky (conductor)
SONY G010003473050VNorthern Chamber O/Ward (CD, D)
Argo Chamber Ensemble/Zalkowitsch (CD, D)


Suite

Various instrumentalists (D) [Maazel on violin]

SRO/Ansermet (CD, D)
Members of the Boston SO/Bernstein (D)
Cleveland O/Boulez (D)
LSO Chamber Group/Carewe (D)
London Sinfonietta/Chailly (D)
Twentieth Century Classics Ensemble/Craft (CD, D)
Virginia Arts Festival Chamber Players/Falletta (CD, D)
RSNO/N Järvi (D)
Deutsche Kammerphilharmonie Bremen/P Järvi
Budapest Chamber Ensemble/Mihaly (D)
Zurich CO/Norrington (D)
Chamber Harmonia O/Pešek (CD, D)
Harmonie Ensemble New York/Richman (D)
Finnish Radio SO Chamber Ensemble/Sakari (CD, D)
Los Angeles CO/Schwarz (CD, D)
Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia/Solzhenitsyn (D)
Cleveland Orchestra/Stravinsky (D)
Various instrumentalists (New York, 1954)/Stravinsky (D)
Various instrumentalists, subsequently called the Columbia Chamber Ensemble (Hollywood, 1961)/Stravinsky (D)

D: Download
CD: CD (possibly in set)
PCD: Presto CD
SACD: SACD

[I spotted the subject for this BaL when looking at the R3 schedule today, and I had some spare time to compile a list of available recordings; I messaged Alpie, and though I haven't heard back yet I'm sure he won't mind that I've started the thread and saved him some work.]

As always, happy to make corrections/additions.

Neuther this list nor the programme mentioned the version with an ensemble featuring Isabelle Faust, with Dominique Horwwitz taking all the spoken parts (also issued with French and German narration): https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...nglish-version. I've not heard it, just a few excerpts on the Presto website, but for mr anything with Isabelle is worth a listen - she is currently my favourite violinist in most works she has recorded.

[Pulcinella]

Neuther this list nor the programme mentioned the version with an ensemble featuring Isabelle Faust, with Dominique Horwwitz taking all the spoken parts (also issued with French and German narration): https://www.prestomusic.com/classica...nglish-version. I've not heard it, just a few excerpts on the Presto website, but for mr anything with Isabelle is worth a listen - she is currently my favourite violinist in most works she has recorded.

Apologies.
If you hit the Presto Explore link it doesn't mention The Soldier's Tale (or L'histoire....) as I'm sure other recordings do, so I fear it has not been indexed correctly in Presto's listings and hence didn't appear when I did my original search.

Thanks for pointing it out. It does indeed seem worth investigating.

[Retune]

Recommended version:
Jeremy Irons (speaker)
Columbia Chamber Ensemble
Igor Stravinsky (conductor)
SONY G010003473050V

The documentation in the big Columbia Stravinsky box attributes the 1967 additions to Craft as conductor, in contrast to what was said in the programme.

I wonder if this is something that has been reassessed since the release of the single disc? A news report at the time of the original release attributes it to Stravinsky:

https://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN01361707/

But Robert Craft clearly worked very closely with the composer, so his involvement would be plausible:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Craft

[Pulcinella]

In Lillian Libman's 1972 memoir, And Music at the Close: Stravinsky's Last Years, she writes (p223) about the Columbia recordings in general:

By the time Stravinsky stood up for the final run-through and the official take, the orchestra was thoroughly indoctrinated with Robert's tempo (which was generally more rapid than the composer's) and his interpretation (which might also differ), and would therefore have great difficulty adjusting. Stravinsky's beat, usually very clear, suffered under the pressures of this situation. Add these circumstances to just enough time for a maximum of two takes and it is easy to understand the pointed question raised in musical circles in the last five or six years about the authenticity of certain Stravinsky recordings made in the final decade. How much is Stravinsky and how much is Craft?

I haven't yet listened to the Irons release, but more intriguing to me than who conducted which bits is how they were able to get the same instrumentalists together in presumably the same acoustic and arrangement such that the edits aren't noticeable (perhaps they are!).

[Pulcinella]

I've just streamed the Faust (sic) version of this Faustian legend, and, while the playing is quite impressive, it reinforced my preference for the suite (no narration).

I very much liked the Duo concertant though.

https://www.prestomusic.com/classical/products/8932966--stravinsky-the-soldiers-tale-english-version