Search - Igor Stravinsky, Neeme Järvi, Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra :: Jeu De Cartes / Orpheus Suite / Soldier's Tale

Beautifully recorded works by Stravinsky - an especially gor

Craig Matteson | Ann Arbor, MI | 12/30/2007

(5 out of 5 stars)

"Igor Stravinsky is more associated with ballet music than any other great composer excepting, possibly, Tchaikovsky. He soared into the top rank of composers with Firebird, Petrushka, and The Rite of Spring. This disk has two ballets and a suite from a theater piece that is almost a ballet.



Neemi Jaervi leads the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in wonderful recordings of the ebullient and witty "Jeu de cartes" (a game of cards) and the utterly gorgeous "Orpheus". On this disk Jaervi also leads the Scottish National Orchestra in the famous "Histoire du soldat" suite.



"Jeu de cartes" dates from a suggestion made to Stravinsky in 1935 that he should provide a new score for the new American Ballet with George Balanchine. He had been toying with the idea of a ballet involving numbers in combinations with some central evil power. Stravinsky, who enjoyed playing cards as one of his past times, says that the idea for the card game came to him in the back of a cab and he was so happy that he took the driver to a bar for a drink. He wrote the work in 1936 and it was first performed at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York City on April 27, 1937 with Stravinsky at the baton. Also on the program were Balanchine's 1928 version of "Apollo Musagetes" and new choreography for `The Fairy's Kiss".



The outline of the ballet involves three hands of poker. The Joker is the bad guy. In the first deal there are three hands, one loses, the other two are even straights, but one of them requires the joker and he gets his own solo here. The second deal is a set of variations that allows the four queens to each have a solo turn and then all four together. But the four queens are beaten when the joker joins the hand with three aces. In the third deal, all three hands have flushes. The joker joins a sequence of spades that defeats the first hand, however, the Royal Flush in hearts beats the hand with the joker and sends him off in defeat.



Of course none of this is audible and it is not necessary to know the story of this ballet in order to enjoy the music anymore than you need to know the story of the Firebird, Petrushka, or (especially) the Rite to delight in them. The music is full of intricacies that reward repeated close listening, including the humorous quotes from other music including "The Barber of Seville". I think this work should be programmed more frequently than it is. Certainly, it deserves to be more familiar to music lovers everywhere.



For me, this recording of "Orpheus" is a revelation. It is recorded beautifully and the subtleties of Stravinsky's harmonic palette are given to us in all their richness. Stravinsky worked closely with Balanchine in writing this work so the choreography could be planned and timed right from the beginning. The famous and dramatically powerful full measure pause when Orpheus pulls the wrappings from his eyes was put in at Balanchine's suggestion. In this telling of the story, the ballet opens with Orpheus weeping for Euridyce (his back to the audience) and the harp stands in for his lyre. All of the music is beautifully subdued as Orpheus journeys to Hades to rescue his love. Only after Euridyce dies a second time and Orpheus taunts and is dismembered by the Bachantes does the music rise to a fury.



"The Soldier's Tale" is one of Stravinsky's more famous works and the story of the soldier having a battle of wits with the devil is fairly well known. This work was done as collaboration with other artists during the First World War as a way of earning much needed money and performing with much reduced resources. The suite has almost all the music from the dramatic production, but the narration is not included (nor is the acting, obviously). The work deserves its glowing reputation and its favor with audiences is well deserved. I think people enjoy the way the themes of the work are reused and transformed. The rather raucous treatment of the music between the various instruments also gives it a wild feel without ever becoming too fiercely harsh (of course, what can sound "too harsh" in 2007?).



A terrific disk that should be enjoyed be every music lover and a must delight in for every Stravinsky devotee.



Reviewed by Craig Matteson, Ann Arbor, MI"