Stravinsky's The Soldier's Tale - performed March 8th, 2009 at the Lyceum Theater in Shanghai
Ever-susceptible to marketing, I was intrigued by a red Devil’s mask when flipping through the latest That's Shanghai magazine last week. The Soldier’s Tale? Never heard of it. Stravinsky? Igor, right? I’m pretty sure my piano teacher mentioned him once or twice. Best do some research on good old Igor. After a few hours online and listening to his Best Of, I’m sold. Stravinsky is known for his departure from the norm, his challenging dissonance, his cockle-warming melodies, and inciting a Parisian riot with the first measures of his controversial Rite of Spring back in 1913. The Soldier’s Tale, first performed in 1918, is a fairly unique combination of narration, mime, ballet, and orchestra. Having failed to recruit any other friends to join me, I head out alone on a crisp Sunday afternoon anticipating a healthy dose of culture at the Lyceum Theater.
The theater itself is reminiscent of an older Shanghai, not large but a generous size for the kind of production that Stravinsky imagined. This piece could have been played in an open field, as symphony liner master Edward Downes mentions in his Guide to Symphonic Music. The nerd/loser that I am, I have actually brought along the tome in case today's liner notes prove unworthy, but in fact they are quite well-written, providing the history of the piece as well as ample information covering Stravinsky, his partner and writer Ramuz, the Lyceum Theater, and the performers.
The orchestra begins and I'm surprised that the lights are still up as the Narrator starts her tale, sight unseen. Then I notice that she's actually walking down the left aisle and ascending the stairs to her spot slightly upstage of the apron. She is outfitted with a plush velvet armchair and ottoman, complete with wine glass and carafe as imagined by Stravinsky and Ramuz. Only, today's production has chosen red wine versus the original white. Turns out that the Narrator is the lady I saw earlier sitting alone in the back row. She'd reminded me of the lady in Edward Hopper's New York Movie, equal parts beautiful and forlorn.
The lights dim and a few stragglers crouch into their seats in my row, third from the stage. Next thing I know some guy is flashing a light in my face and riffling through a book, not only late but quite in your face as well, I'm thinking. Then I realize he's way too dramatic to be an actual person and my timing is fortunate as he is now extending a hand for mine. Holy bejeezus, I've just been chosen by the Devil for audience participation! I take the Devil's hand and rise from my seat, then pull back, thinking I may be in deeper than I thought, but the Devil is a wiley old fellow and he draws me towards him as chuckles ripple through the audience. He leads me to the front row and sits me down in an empty seat. Score! Definitely like where he's going with this. He gives me one last unctuous smile and hops over to harass other audience members.
The story is about a Soldier who gets tricked by the Devil to swap his fiddle (aka his soul) for a magic book (aka material wealth). Stravinsky chose to represent the Soldier's soul with the violin, and the effect is poignant. Writing this on a scant budget during WWI, Stravinsky lined up only seven members of the orchestra, compared to the forty plus members in his prior success, The Firebird. Influenced by the birth of jazz, he chose to represent the high and low of each section: violin and upright bass, trumpet and trombone, clarinet and bassoon, and one mad percussionist with a timpani and a sandbox full of tinkering toys. The bassoon is one of my favorite orchestral instruments and throughout The Soldier's Tale it provides a steady moral center around which the Soldier's violin and the Devil's percussion duel it out.
Times of distress and hardship bring out the most interesting of innovations, and The Soldier's Tale is a clear representation of this. The Narrator is a critical player and provides the only voice we hear, while three actor/ballet performers mime and dance their way through the story. The Narrator in this case was fantastic, drawing us in with her various voices and animated performance. For some reason the liner notes credit a Stephen Fung as the English Narrator, but she was no Stephen. I wonder who she is, and am grateful to have had the chance to experience her version of the Narrator. The Soldier is played by Tian Duo Duo, an invigorating young actor with energy and expression to spare. Angelina Lim plays a graceful yet stalwart Princess, managing to be coy and extremely likable at the same time. Surely both are young artists to watch. The Devil in his many disguises is humorously depicted by Tang Huang, whose comedic timing is on the mark. All in, I thought the performers were excellent, and have the director, Alison M. Friedman, to thank for that. However, I was not blown away by the orchestra, the Xinya Kongqi Chamber Orchestra hailing from Beijing. Although the music was great, they lacked the same enthusiasm that the performers so whole-heartedly portrayed. In fact, at times they seemed a bit bored.
Lights go up an hour later and I leave the theater encouraged by the talent I've seen and what it represents for Shanghai's cultural scene. Even though The Soldier's Tale is a story about a man eventually claimed by the Devil, the premise of the work itself speaks of creativity adapting to tough times, a lesson that seems appropriate as we flounder through today's global recession. Here's to finding a way on tightening budgets and dreaming up out-of-the-box projects to be enjoyed by current and future generations!
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