Stravinsky: The Soldier's Tale
Friday 17th August 2007
Hong Kong City Hall
STRAVINSKY Pulcinella Suite
STRAVINSKY The Firebird Suite (1919)
STRAVINSKY The Soldier's Tale Suite*
Hong Kong Sinfonietta
Wing-sie Yip conductor
*Charles Ferdinand Ramuz Text
*Michael Lam Adaptation
Fredric Mao Narrator
Xing Liang, Shirai Tsuyoshi, Jay Jen Loo, Abby Chan Dancers
Ewing Chan Set Designer and Art Director
Billy Chan Lighting Designer
Yuri Ng Director and Choreographer
The Hong Kong Sinfonietta has some strange obsession with Stravinsky, I'm pretty sure, and Respighi. The last time I saw them
(which was two or three years ago, I think), they did Pulcinella as well and there is some Stravinsky in a few of their
future concerts too. Just because it's Stravinsky 125... (and they didn't do much for Shostakovich's 100!)
This was intended to be an all-Stravinsky programme fused with bits of drama and dance inspired by the composer's relatively
less popular work The Soldier's Tale, with the order Pulcinella, Soldier's Tale then ending with The Firebird. According to
the programme notes, however, this raised considerable practical issues so we were presented with the current programme,
which can be conveniently split into two parts. The first part was pure conventional music appreciation, and the second was a
bizarre and unique collaboration among the musical, dramatic and dance talents in Hong Kong. I shall come back to this later.
The concert opened with the suite of Pulcinella. This pivotal neoclassical work was written with modest musical force,
which I think suites the Sinfonietta very well. Yip tackled the work with her usual solid and calm approach, which gave us a
highly compact and clean sound throughout (albeit sometimes overly hygienic), which was very impressive, especially it is a
local orchestra. The bassoonist was amazing in the "Gavotte", likewise the winds throughout, and overall it was a very well
rehearsed performance.
The Firebird is one of Stravinsky's earlier work, written in his modernist period. Like the other two works in the
programme, it was originally written for a ballet. The idea of programming The Firebird with the Sinfonietta surprised me.
Either the (significantly) longer and bigger 1910 ballet version or the 1919 concert version it is a very complicated and
difficult piece to put together and requires a huge orcestra. The Sinfonietta did an excellent job in pulling out the complex
texture of the piece and Yip's cool style of conducting contributed greatly into putting the instruments at the right place.
It was not a flamboyantly exciting performance (as it is mostly nowadays) but it was a very well crafted product. The fact
that it was not deliberately over-the-top added greatly to the enjoyment factor. The strings were quite amazing in the
"Dance", and the orchestra was very well balanced in the "Infernal Dance" (The 1919 version places the "Infernal Dance" right
after the "Dances of the Princess", and that sudden loud bang shocked lots of unsuspecting audiences. It was somewhat
amusing.) Of the few performances of The Firebird I have been to, this is not the best one, but is very nearly there. Another
thing I want to mention is that - there was an artificial garden-maze thing in the choir stall, in which one of the dances
(Abby Chan) took a slow wander during "Dance of the Princess" for some reasons I do not understand. She later took the stage
before the interval by dispencing water from a water machine placed oddly by the edge of the stage, and collecting mugs on
the floor.
The interval gives the backstage staff sufficient time to reset the stage. The music of The Soldier's Tale itself only
requires nine people plus the conductor, but the second half of the programme is a very special contemporary dance-drama
performance featuring some amazing artists from the respective industries using Stravinsky's music. So the orchestra plays on
the left of the stage, and the right leaves sufficient room for dance for four people. The story of the music tells of a
soldier who sells his violin, and eventually, soul to the devil. A typical fall-from-grace story, if you like. The light of
the stage changed to bright red (perhaps signalling that it is hell?) and the performance started with a tape playing lots of
conversation and tuning noise (sound collage?). Then the narrator and one of the dancers came in and the story formally
began. The originally libretto was adapted by Michael Lam and read out in Mandarin by Fredric Mao. Then the orchesra entered
the stage, and played the main tune. The music was fragmented and played around for the dance. The whole construction was
somewhat surrealist, and very well choreographed. I don't know the art of dance, but the body movements were blatantly
amazing, and worked very nicely with the music. There was a very stark contrast between the static and the dynamic - and
perhaps more importantly, the omnipresence of the devil, watching the soldier, and everyone, all the time. I paid little
attention to the music, as I just took in the performance as a whole. It was certainly entertaining, but I must say it was
beyond my comprehension.
Lastly, I think the programme notes are exceptionally well done. They are entertaining and, above all, very informative. It
gives lots of information on the conception of the programme, and the works themselves. It even gives the orchestration of
the works too.
I look forward to many great future concerts with the Sinfonietta. If only they do more contemporary work...
This entry is adopted from an earlier blog of mine, which no longer exists.
