When Igor Stravinsky and his collaborator, the librettist C.F. Ramuz, conceived The Soldier’s Tale, the composer was living in Switzerland and experiencing financial difficulties as Europe’s cultural life had been severely constrained by the First World War, by then in its fourth and final year.  The initial aim was to create a theatre piece that would be performed on a temporary stage that could be taken to small towns and villages, wherever, in fact, a paying audience could be found.  In the end, this proved impracticable and the premiere was held in Lausanne’s municipal theatre before a glittering society audience.  The spikey harmonies and open textures of the music, so different from the rich orchestral sonorities of Stravinsky’s pre-war works, baffled the sophisticated audience at the premiere on 28 September 1918. Subsequent performances were immediately cancelled, not because of critical reactions to the work itself, but because Switzerland was already in the grip of the Spanish influenza epidemic and all theatres were closed.  Stravinsky and his family became ill, but, luckily for the future of 20^th century music, neither the composer nor any of his family died.

 A little over a century later, we can empathise with the circumstances of The Soldier’s Tale creation in ways we could not have imagined little more than a year ago.  It was an inspired piece of programming on the part of the NZSO to perform this work in smaller venues in the lower North Island and South Island in February and March, with further performance in the North Island later in the year, replicating in a sense the composer’s original intentions.  The collaboration with the Royal New Zealand Ballet is also a welcome innovation, although the orchestra has worked with the ballet company for large-scale productions in the past.   The unprecedented circumstances of the current global pandemic have stimulated our cultural institutions to innovate and collaborate in order to fill gaps created by the absence of visiting artists — and if the sold-out James Hay Theatre is any indication, these initiatives are being welcomed by local audiences.

Based on a Russian folk tale, the plot of The Soldier’s Tale is simple; an exhausted Soldier is trudging home on leave when he is confronted by the Devil who persuades him to part with his old violin in exchange for a book that foretells future events and provides the secret of untold wealth.  Having been entertained by the Devil for three days, the Soldier returns home to find that he is taken to be a ghost, since in reality, three years have passed.  He eventually tricks the Devil into relieving him of his newfound wealth and marries a princess, only to lose the happiness of his wedded state by seeking to enhance his situation by returning to his old home to see his mother.  The stark moral of the tale is that wealth does not ensure happiness and that we should be content with the good things we have.

Stravinsky’s score is composed for an ensemble of eight musicians, comprising in this performance of section principals from the NZSO, conducted by Hamish McKeich.  As the narrator, Peter Hayden brings an authoritative presence to the role and, on those occasions when spoken word and music are synchronised, he is both clearly audible and rhythmically precise.  Sophie Hambleton is a powerfully insinuating Devil who encompasses the multiple disguises of the character.  As the Soldier, the quintessential everyman, Sepelini Mua’au is almost too much the ordinary bloke to be fully convincing; the trials the character undergoes seem to be accepted almost with equanimity.  This may, in part, result from the presence of his alter ego in the person of the RNZB’s Jamie Delmonte, who expresses the character’s unspoken feelings.  The interactions of Delmonte and Mua’au are deftly managed although their joint playing of the Soldier’s violin is not always synchronised with that of bandleader Vesa-Marti Leppānen. Shaun James Kelly’s choreography responds to the angularity of the music and fully exploits the limited opportunities that the work offers for dance, although the presence of musicians on stage constrains the possibility for more expansive movement.  Leonora Voigtlander as the Princess projects both the innocence as well as the insistence the role requires as she persuades the Soldier to seek out his mother, only to disappear for good. The performance is held together by Sara Brodie’s skilled direction. A life-size puppet is used to project the menacing quality of the Devil and the small cast works well together to fill multiple roles.  In a telling transformation, the Soldier’s alter ego eventually dons the Devil’s mask. The Devil can apparently exist in us all.

 This is a timely production for multiple reasons and recent experiences have given the work a new and profound resonance.  There is one remaining performance in this run in Nelson on 13 March but further performances are scheduled for Auckland, Manukau, Kerikeri and Whangarei in June.  There will never be a better time to experience The Soldier’s Tale.

https://www.nzso.co.nz/concerts-and-tickets/season-2021/setting-up-camp-the-Soldiers-tale/

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