STRAVINSKY'S THE SOLDIER'S TALE / Produced & Conducted by Adrian Tan / Review

STRAVINSKY’S THE SOLDIER’S TALE

Adrian Tan, Producer & Conductor et al

Esplanade Recital Studio

Saturday (15 November 2014)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 17 November 2014 with the title "Catchy music makes great Tale".

It was the First World War that caused a paradigm shift in the scope of Russian composer Igor Stravinsky’s compositions. The large orchestra in The Rite of Spring (1913) had shrunken to just seven musicians for his melodrama The Soldier’s Tale (1918), based on the Faustian tale by Swiss writer Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz.

In an all-new production commissioned, directed and conducted by local conductor Adrian Tan, the emphasis was on music and movement, with the story told by choreographer-cum-narrator Timothy Colemen and three dancers from the Singapore Dance Theatre. The script by Michael Flanders and Kitty Black was heavily edited and adapted to keep the action flowing and taut.

In stark contrast to the opulence and dissonance of The Rite, Stravinsky had turned to jazz and popular dance music in this score, along the path to his neoclassical phase. Textures were lightened, with musical language kept plain and direct for the work’s discrete but continuous movements. It was in this milieu that the musicians, which included clarinet, bassoon, trumpet, trumpet, double mass, percussion, headed by Loh Jun Hong’s violin, shined.

His was a virtuoso role that encapsulated the soul of the Soldier, whom despite his conscience and resistance eventually succumbs to the entreaties of the Devil, represented by Iskandar Rashid’s percussion. Along the way, the music included marches, a pastorale, tango, waltz and ragtime, all rendered in the inimitable and catchy manner of the Russian composer.

The dancers were excellent throughout, with Stefaan Morrow’s Soldier, more athletic than martial in his khaki fatigues, as chief protagonist. Opposite him, Nazer Salgado’s Devil was slickness personified, his whiter-than-white showman’s outfit concealing all sorts of dark secrets. Beatrice Castaneda’s Princess was a smaller part, delivered with grace and some playfulness.

As with such stories, there is a cautionary tale: One cannot alter the past. One happiness is all you will get. Man can never be satisfied, and that is when the Devil invariably gains his foothold. Conductor Tan’s conception of interdisciplinary collaboration was a success in all counts, all’s the pity that it was witnessed by a modest-sized audience.

With minimal publicity and held on the same evening as a Singapore Symphony Orchestra gala concert and Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, there was always a risk of being crowded out.

  

The Philharmonic Orchestra: Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale / Review

STRAVINSKY The Soldier’s Tale
The Philharmonic Orchestra & Actors
LIM YAU, Conductor

JAY ESPAÑO, Director
Esplanade Recital Studio
Sunday (12 July 2009, 7.30 pm)

This review was published in The Straits Times on 14 July 2009.

In a unique collaboration between local classical musicians and actors, Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale (Histoire du Soldat) – a 1918 theatre piece for two actors, a narrator, a dancer and seven musicians - was fertile soil for experimentation and discovery.

The story is a simple but ageless one, a down-and-out soldier sells his violin to the Devil for a book that spells fortune and wealth, and loses his soul forever. With Lim Yau (left) conducting a small band from the Philharmonic Orchestra on one side of the stage, the music was one of pared down simplicity but strictest rhythmic rigour.

Stravinsky’s (left) then-obsession with jazz and popular dance forms found fruition in this score, which vibrantly accompanied and helped convey the story and mood beyond mere words. The solos were performed at a high level, particularly Kathleen Koh’s pivotal violin, Li Xin’s insinuating clarinet and strong percussion support from Tan Chui Ling.

Centre of stage was dominated by Christopher Ong Yadao’s Devil and Kamal Abdul Rahim’s Soldier. The burly Yadao surely looked too young to play the part, but surprised with his chameleon-like ability to convincingly shift between roles - an old man with a butterfly net, cackling hag, king and a priest with an evil smile. His brand of malevolence was to taunt and tease, suggest and beguile, rather than to strike plain terror. Kamal’s Soldier was earnest but foolishly optimistic, and hence the perfect bait.

Charles Ramuz’s text was faithfully retained throughout, with some nods for local interest including a sales pitch in kampong Malay and reference to the Sultan of Brunei’s riches. Matt Grey’s narration was clear and moved the plot well.

Dancer Theresa Chan played the ailing Princess, revived by the soldier to dance the tango, waltz and ragtime. She also doubled as stagehand and in the final part, her few lines was enough temptation to lure the Soldier back to the Devil’s domain, and to their ultimate demise. Like the biblical Eve, she acted as the Devil’s left hand. Even if “the Devil always gets his man”, man’s downfall is often borne by a weakness for the fairer sex.