Stravinsky:soldier's Tale

Description

In 2021 Halle marked the 50th anniversary of Stravinsky's death with a ground-breaking film of The Soldier's Tale, subsequently shown on BBC Four on Remembrance Sunday 2022. This album features specially remastered audio of the highly acclaimed soundtrack, featuring principal players of the Halle under Music Director Sir Mark Elder.
At the height of the First World War, when Stravinsky and collaborators needed to generate funds, they devised this landmark piece of music theatre, which would be suitable for touring due to its small scale. Based on Russian folk songs, the score sees Stravinsky at his unique and evocative best, in music featuring great rhythmic interest, lyrical beauty, humour, jazz and popular dances. Halle principals under Music Director Sir Mark Elder deliver an acclaimed performance of great skill and colour. This modern morality tale feels as relevant today as when it was written, and Jeremy Sams' witty and engaging translation of Ramuz's French text provides the perfect backdrop to an ensemble of actors who brilliantly display the story's characters.

'...Stravinsky's music still does a wonderfully wry and entertaining job of conjuring up that strange, fever-dream moment in European history: tunes that sound like folk dances, set to neon-lit harmonies; fairy-tale figures dancing jerkily to rag times and tangos; empty stomachs firing the creative imagination. And through it all - as the clarinet squeals, the fiddle scrapes, the drums rattle ominously and the narrator unfolds his sinister story - the unsettling feeling that maybe the Devil really does have the best tunes. Sitting comfortably? You won't be ...' - Richard Bratby