Composer: Igor Stravinsky
Performer: Jean Cocteau, Peter Ustinov, Ulysse Delécluse, Jean-Marie Fertey, Peter Ustinov, Henri Helaerts, Jean-Marie Fertey, Maurice André, Roland Schnorkh, Charles Peschier, Manoug Parikian, Joachim Gut, Boys’and Male Voices of the Russian State Academic Choir
Orchestra: Russian State Academy Orchestra
Conductor: Igor Markevitch
Format: FLAC (tracks)
Label: Philips
Catalogue: 4842770
Release: 2021
Size: 320 MB
Recovery: +3%
Scan: cover
The Soldier’s Tale
Part 1
01. 1. Marche du soldat
02. 2. “Voilà un joli endroit”
03. 3. Musique de la première scène
04. 4. Le diable: “Donnez moi votre violon”
05. 5. Marche du soldat
06. 6. Le soldat: “Bravo”
07. 7. Musique de la deuxième scène
08. 8. Le soldat: “Ah! Brigand”
09. 9. Musique de la fin du deuxième scène
10. 10. Le lecteur: “Il s’était mis”
11. 11. Musique de la fin du deuxième scène
12. 12. Le diable : “Regarder, Monsieur”
13. 13. Musique de la troisième scène
Part 2
14. 14. Marche du soldat
15. 15. Le lecteur: “Un autre pays”
16. 16. Marche royale
17. 17. Le lecteur: “On a fait marcher”
18. 18. Petit concert
19. 19. Trois danses: Tango-Valse-Ragtime
20. 20. Danse du diable
21. 21. Petit choral
22. 22. Couplet du diable
23. 23. Grand choral
24. 24. Marche triomphale du diable
Symphony of Psalms
25. 1. Exaudi orationem meam, Domine
26. 2. Expectans expectavi Dominum
27. 3. Alleluia, laudate Dominum
Recorded at the Vevey Theatre to mark Igor Markevitch’s 50 years as a conductor. Markevitch spent all his youth in a small town near Lake Léman: and this recording is a document of an exceptional concert given as part of the 17th Montreux-Vevey Classical Music Festival, in October 1962.
Originally released as a magnificent 33rpm cloth-bound album with an original painting by Jean Cocteau, this recording brings together the latter as narrator alongside Peter Ustinov and Jean-Marie Fertey, with a little instrumental ensemble made up for the occasion by the musicians of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (who regularly played this piece, conducted by its founder Ernest Ansermet) and French musicians like Maurice André on the cornet, Ulysses Delécluse on the clarinet and Manoug Parikian on the violin, all conducted by Markevitch. In this version, The Soldier’s Tale returns to its country of origin and the year of its first performance, 1918.
Written during the war, while all music had ceased in Switzerland, this work, the result of a collaboration between the composer Stravinsky, the writer Ramuz, the painter Auberjonois, and the performer Ansermet, would tour the country in a caravan, performing in the countryside. Alongside the horrors of war, a serious outbreak of “Spanish Flu” decimated Europe and saw the caravan taken off the road. But the The Soldier’s Tale would go on to tour the world.