The Soldier's Tale

[Ferretfancy]

I was listening this morning to the famous old Vanguard recording of The Soldier's Tale, with Leopold Stokowski, Madeleine Milhaud, Martial Singer and Jean Pierre Aumont with a top flight instrumental ensemble. I bought this on CD some years ago, and the 1967 recording still sounds spectacular. Mine is the French Version, but I understand that an English version was made at the same time.

I thought I'd make a search on Amazon, where there are numerous recordings of the piece, but there are none of the Stokowski in English. However, I did find a compatible SACD of the Stokowski in French, identical to mine except for the price --- £487. 90 !

I particularly like the 90 ! A nice touch !

[Roehre]

No £1.26 added for P&P then?

[gurnemanz]

I have strong memories of a mighty three-part Prom in 1971 with the London Sinfonietta in its prime under David Atherton. The Soldier's Tale fully staged with a narrator, a dancer and actors was part 2. The great man had died earlier that year and I was very much in a Stravinsky phase. I haven't seen it performed since then and have the recording which he conducted himself - part of the box set. Nice and punchy Royal March!

Part 3 which included Berio turning up to conduct his own work began at 10pm!

(If that version you mention is only £487, I might buy two)

[umslopogaas]

I have two versions of the complete work, both on LP: Robert Helpmann (Devil), Terence Longdon (Soldier) and Anthony Nicholls (Narrator) cond. John Pritchard, and Michael MacLiammoir (Devil), Rudolf Nureyev (Soldier) and Glenda Jackson (Narrator). cond. Gennady Zalkowitsch. I cant remember anything about the former, but the latter has quite a cast and is very memorable, even if I've never otherwise heard of the conductor. MacLiammoir is memorably devilish, Nureyev is better than you might expect as a vocal actor and Jackson has a great voice for the Narrator. It was issued on Argo in 1977, I dont know if it got onto CD, but if it did I'd recommend it.

[Nick Armstrong]

Just to chip in proudly that I went to a performance of this last Thursday at Winchester College conducted by my 16 year old godson and it was TERRIFIC!

[HighlandDougie]

Just to chip in proudly that I went to a performance of this last Thursday at Winchester College conducted by my 16 year old godson and it was TERRIFIC!

Cal

I hope that it's not false modesty that is keeping you from telling us that really you were there making a guest appearance as Old himself? Seriously though, one hopes a great start to a glittering career.

[Nick Armstrong]

Cal

I hope that it's not false modesty that is keeping you from telling us that really you were there making a guest appearance as Old himself?

Seriously though, one hopes a great start to a glittering career.

Thanks HD! We hope so too!

And no - my only personal 'performance history' with this piece is an ignominious one - after a year away in France not practising my trombone at all, I went in my first week at University to audition for the University orchestra: I was presented with the trombone solo at the start of the 'Royal March' in 'Soldier's Tale' as a sight-reading test and made a complete and utter dog's breakfast of it. I didn't get in the orchestra.

Incidentally I even started sweating about the palms when that solo came up in last week's performance! (The youngster playing the trombone gave a perfect rendition of it! )

[Don Petter]

I have two versions of the complete work, both on LP: Robert Helpmann (Devil), Terence Longdon (Soldier) and Anthony Nicholls (Narrator) cond. John Pritchard, and Michael MacLiammoir (Devil), Rudolf Nureyev (Soldier) and Glenda Jackson (Narrator). cond. Gennady Zalkowitsch. I cant remember anything about the former, but the latter has quite a cast and is very memorable, even if I've never otherwise heard of the conductor. MacLiammoir is memorably devilish, Nureyev is better than you might expect as a vocal actor and Jackson has a great voice for the Narrator. It was issued on Argo in 1977, I dont know if it got onto CD, but if it did I'd recommend it.

The former is the 1954 Glyndebourne/Edinburgh Festival production (on which many of us were raised), which uses the English translation by Michael Flanders & Kitty Black. I don't think it's ever been on CD, but is available as a download from one of the private blogsites.

[frankwm]

That's right: mine's 'Private':

http://themusicparlour.blogspot.co.uk/2010/03/soldier-tale-glyndebournepritchard-hmv.html

Thanks for mentioning it...

[Ferretfancy]

Just to chip in proudly that I went to a performance of this last Thursday at Winchester College conducted by my 16 year old godson and it was TERRIFIC!

Caliban, That must have been a great evening! Was it complete with actors and narrator, or the instrumental suite ?

[Nick Armstrong]

Caliban, That must have been a great evening! Was it complete with actors and narrator, or the instrumental suite ?

A complete performance - narrator declaiming from the balcony, actors, a couple of professional dancers. It was excellent. When the Soldier arrived at the Inn at the start of Part 2, the bar in the Inn was 'played' by the conductor's stand and my beloved conductor doubled as publican, serving the Soldier his drink. V amusing touch...

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

The Soldier's Tale is a tricky little challenge even for experienced conductors - for a sixteen-year-old to do it successfully indicates a bright future, Cali!

[Petrushka]

It was this work of which Leonard Bernstein urged us in his Norton Lectures: 'Don't walk to the record shop to get this - run'!