Élégie for solo violin
Duo Concertant for violin and piano
The Soldier's Tale

I've always enjoyed listening to Igor Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale (Histoire du soldat). A mix of pantomime, dramatic musical play and monologue seamlessly merged into one. Based on a Russian folk tale adapted by writer Charles Ferdinand Ramuz, it tells the story of a deserting soldier who is tricked by the devil into trading his violin for a magic book which when read promises good fortune. I've always likened it to a cross between Sergei Prokofiev's Lieutenant Kijé Suite and Peter and the Wolf, combined with Thomas Mann's Doctor Faustus.

This new English production, also available in German and the original French, brings a few innovative twists to the table. For one thing, all three roles of the narrator, the soldier and the devil, are portrayed by French actor Dominique Horwitz, who does a fantastic job at delineating the three distinct characters. He even makes the pleading devil sound a bit like 'Golem' from the recent movie production of Tolkien's Lord of the Rings. The other nice touch in this recording, is the use of period instruments that would have been in use at the time of its premiere performance back in 1918. Lorenzo Coppola plays 1906 and 1918 Buffet clarinets, Javier Zafra plays a 1910 rosewood Buffet-Crampon bassoon, Reinhold Friedrich uses a 1906 Besson B-flat cornet as well as a 1915 C cornet, Jörgen van Rijen plays a circa 1911 Antoine Courtois trombone, Raymond Curfs uses percussion instruments that date back to the late 19th and early 20th century made of natural calfskin or goatskin, Wies de Boevé plays a circa 1748 gut string double bass, and in the critical role of the fiddle, Isabelle Faust plays a 1704 gut string 'Sleeping Beauty' violin by Antonio Stradivari. All of this makes for a production that sounds home-grown, rough around the edges that rings true to the travelling circus character and intent of Stravinsky's original creation. Everything has an impromptu, off the cuff, folky sound that suits the story's symbolism very well.