Customer Reviews

Les Noces / L'Histoire Du Soldat Suite

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

As rightly noted by the other reviewers, the highlight of this program is the much sought after re-release of the Boston Symphony Chamber Players' reading of the L'histoire du soldat suite. It's chamber playing of the first order, and of breathtaking virtuosity. The score comes off with that sense of a natural, inevitable progression of ideas that characterizes all great interpretations.

The rest of the album is devoted to vocal works. The performances (all of them by Czech musicians) are not of the same class as that of the Boston L'Histoire, but they are well-crafted and never less than adequeate.

Les Noces is a choral work accompanied by four pianos and percussion. It's at times acerbic, at times dark and gorgeous, at times dance-like and exuberant, and very Russian through and through with its emphasis on folk melody. The other pieces are short song cycles, each of them accompanied by small chamber ensembles rather than piano (which I like very much). In Memoriam Dylan Thomas is for a tenor with string quartet, with a quartet of trombones playing "dirge canons" separately, as prelude and postlude. Three Songs from William Shakespeare, sung in Shakespeare's original English, is of interest in that it was Stravinsky's first fully serial composition, dating from 1953; it's accompanied by viola, flute, and clarinet.

My favorite of the song cycles is the Pribaoutki, or "Joke Songs," for mezzo-soprano, string quartet, and winds. What a gem -- an unknown little masterpiece! But I couldn't tell you why it's called Joke Songs: it's my one major complaint about this album, that there is no libretto or translation included in the liner notes. All of these vocal works would certainly be worth much more if I knew what the words say.

Having not heard the present compilation, I can only comment on the long-overdue rerelease of the BCP's 1975 performance of "L'histoire du Soldat," an instrumental suite of which is included on this disc. Many have tried, and failed, to equal the performance on this disc (which originally included the voices of Sir John Gielguyd, Tom Courtenay, and Ron Moody) and its reapperance on the stacks should not be missed. Performances here are unparalleled: The legendary cornet playing of Armando Ghitalla particularly captures the lively spirit and virtuosic demands of Stravinsky's skeletal yet remarkably colorful score, based on an old Russian folk tale. Like I said, I can't speak for the other performances on the disc (though the repertoire is something every listener should include in his collection), but you should buy this disc if only for the suite from this legendary recording of L'histoire, and you should be willing to pay four times as much.

I don't know this CD but I do know the BSO chamber players performance of L'histoire. I have heard many live and recorded performances of this piece but none equals this. Each player is a virtuoso in his own right and the Courtney and Gielgud performances are delightful.
Buy this CD.