During the First World War many artists sought exile in Switzerland.
This provided refuge from the madness of combat; but, with the rest of
Europe in turmoil, times in Switzerland were physically safe but
economically hard. For artists life in exile was a far cry from
"business as usual."
Two of those artists were the composer
Igor Stravinsky and the Swiss writer Charles Ferdinand Ramuz. In the
spirit of Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney, the two decided that they
might be able to scrape up money by "putting on a show" that would be
easy to take on tour, keeping the number of people involved to an
absolute minimum. Ramuz conceived The Soldier's Tale as a
retelling of the Faustian legend reflecting the tenor of the times: A
soldier fortunate enough to avoid becoming cannon fodder is on the road
for a short leave at home. He is tempted by a capitalist Devil,
succumbs, recognizes the value he has lost, briefly prevails over the
Devil, but is eventually marched down to Hell. With its capitalist
overtones the script was an early form of agitprop, making it one of the
venerable ancestors of the productions that our San Francisco Mime
Troupe mounts here every summer (also by taking a small number of people
on tour around the Bay Area).
Stravinsky complemented Ramuz'
sardonic text with incidental music as scornful of stylistic traditions
as Ramuz had been of socioeconomic conditions. Only seven musicians
were required, not counting the conductor: a violinist (who serves
almost as a concerto soloists), a clarinetist, a bassoonist, a
trumpeter, a trombonist, a bass player (the only other stringed
instrument), and a percussionist in charge of a modestly equipped
battery. The sound was raw, playing up the sharp distinctions among the
instruments, rather than going for any kind of blend. The structures
were frequently repetitive, with little, if any, variation, often
pushing the patience of the listener. Traditional forms of dance,
march, and chorale were warped almost beyond the point of recognition.
The finished product was first performed on September 28, 1918.
Today
the music is best known through concert performance of a nine-movement
suite that Stravinsky extracted. However, last night at the San
Francisco Conservatory of Music, the BluePrint Project collaborated with
the American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) to present a staged version
of the English version of Ramuz' text by Michael Flanders and Kitty
Black. The venue was the Recital Hall, rather than the Concert Hall,
which was far more conducive to the spare resources required for
production and provided better opportunities for the imaginative use of
space. Staging was conceived by Giles Havergal of A.C.T. with
choreography by the Conservatory's Michael Mohammed. As in all
BluePrint events, music direction was by Nicole Paiement.
The
result was about as true to the spirit of the original project as one
could hope to get. Dramatically the agitprop spirit was honored without
being overplayed. One nice bit of irony is that the Devil's instrument
of temptation is a red book that makes one rich and mighty, precisely
the color that would get under the skin of any die-hard Maoists!
Musically, this is a score that demands the utmost precision and
clarity. Stravinsky was rarely big on letting performers apply too much
of their own expressive interpretation. Paiement brought her musicians
up to the task of satisfying Stravinsky's demands for a real gem of a
performance. With the madness of war once again part of our daily life,
there was much to be gained from this jaundiced view of circumstances
from almost a hundred years ago.
No comments:
Post a Comment