Narrator – Jānis Skutelis
Musicians:
Mārtiņš Circenis – clarinet
Jānis Semjonovs – bassoon
Jens Emil Holm – trumpet
Artūrs Hrustaļovs – trombone
Ilze Gulbe – violin
Oskars Bokanovs – double bass
Ernests Mediņš – percussion
Conductor Raimonds Gulbis
Programme:
Igor STRAVINSKY The Soldier’s Tale
“Music for pocket theatre” – that is, in essence, Igor Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale, written in 1918 for a truly unusual chamber ensemble, actors, and a dancer. Yet, music scholars note that Stravinsky deliberately created a score that can exist independently of the text and choreography. The reasons for creating such a flexible work were quite pragmatic: the First World War and the financial collapse it caused (especially for Stravinsky himself, whose music was also commissioned by German publishers). It is based on a Faustian folk tale about a soldier who trades his fiddle to the devil in return for a book said to contain untold wealth. The question of who will be more cunning is but rhetorical. The opus will be presented to the audience by narrator Jānis Skutelis, LNSO musicians and conductor Raimonds Gulbis.