Stream: SCO - The Soldier’s Tale
Stravinsky’s ‘The Soldier’s Tale’ was written in 1918. It’s a good choice for these times, because of the circumstances of its composition and the limited number of musicians required. Stravinsky, poverty-stricken in Switzerland, found work hard to come by when the Revolution cut off his income from Russia, and with his writer friend, Charles Ramus, he conceived this piece for ensemble and narrator. The intention was to tour it round small venues, but after its premiere in September 1918, plans were cancelled because of the spread of the Spanish flu. David Kettle in his excellent programme notes, available online, gives the full story.
There are 10 performers on the stage of the Queen’s Hall. As Stravinsky intended, there are players of high and low strings (violin and double bass) woodwinds (clarinet and bassoon) and brass (cornet and trombone), plus a percussionist. Gordon Bragg, SCO sub-principal second violin, assumes his other hat as a conductor, and actor Matthew McVarish is the narrator. Violinist Siun Milner in her introduction says that she loves the music, as it has a wonderful part for the violin. It does, and it looked like all the musicians relished the chance to play in what is effectively a group of nine soloists.
The story, based on Russian folk tales, is a version of the Faustian pact. A naïve soldier is exploited by the devil and realises too late that he has been tricked. Matthew McVarish gives a terrific performance as the narrator, speaking and acting all the parts. The rhyming and often rhythmical English translation by Michael Flanders and Kitty Black is given a Scots twist. The soldier is a Glaswegian, while the Devil has the accent (and perhaps some of the tricks) of an Edinburgh lawyer. The old pedlar woman is Northern Irish, while the King, of course, speaks RP. At times McVarish has to speak with the music, and at others delivers a monologue, but the characterisation is always gripping and sympathetic. For example in the Part 1 when the soldier arrives home rejoicing, only to find that no-one knows him – years have passed, his fiancée is married with children and his mother shuts the door in his face – McVarish shows us his deepening confusion and sense of betrayal.
The bewilderment is then picked up in the poignant and dissonant Pastorale played by the woodwinds. Throughout the work there’s a to-and-fro between narration and the music in mood, character portrayal and scene-setting. Each piece of music is quite short, varying from a few seconds to over five minutes. The soldier has his repeated theme, the Marche de Soldat, accompanied by foot-stamping, and rhymical speech, and later the three versions of the Devil’s tunes become increasingly frantic, with jagged rhythms and harsh discords.
In Part II the soldier seems to find a way out of the pact. He rescues a Princess and pays off the Devil. When the Princess dances to his fiddle playing, we hear the longest section of music, the trio of dances, played throughout by the violin with contributions from other instruments. Gentle with jaunty rhythms, the first dance is a tango scored for violin and percussion. As the double bass and the winds join in, it changes to a Viennese waltz, getting faster and louder, until the tango re-emerges in its spare violin and drum setting, this time with a spritely cornet accompaniment.
This sweet and cheerful idyll doesn’t last. The soldier stumblingly finds some morals for the story, interspersed with lines from a Chorale played by all the instruments. Earlier he’s reflected on how little he appreciated the simple pleasures of his past life – he misses “Saturday evenings and weekend plans” - a line that will resonate with lots of us! Now even as he realises that he mustn’t strive for too much happiness, he makes a fatal error. The devil leads him off – McVarish’s expression goes from hopeful to hang-dog in a blink and the devil’s triumphant music plays out to the end.
This concert is the first in the SCO’s spring season. Usually lasting around an hour, the concerts are free to watch, and available for at least a month online. Performed in either the Queen’s Hall or Perth Concert Hall, the programmes are an imaginatively chosen selection of familiar and lesser known pieces, featuring different sizes of chamber ensembles. As in this concert, many of the players are accomplished soloists, and the quality of the music – and of the video presentation – is always high. I’m looking forward to hearing English mezzo, Katie Bray in Mozart on January 21st, and saxophonist, Jess Gillam on March 11th.
Available to stream free on YouTube. Please consider donating to the SCO.
