Stranded in Switzerland due to the events of the First World War and the October Revolution in Russia, Stravinsky was introduced to the Swiss novelist Charles-Ferdinand Ramuz in 1915 by their mutual friend and conductor Ernest Ansermet. This encounter would ultimately lead to a creative partnership that brought forth one of the most important works of the 20th century: L’Histoire du Soldat (The Soldier’s Tale). Based on a Russian folk tale, L’Histoire du Soldat unites a Faustian fable with Stravinsky’s colourful and sweeping composition that includes elements of jazz and Russian folk music.
At the 2018 Deauville Easter Festival in the Normandy region of France, Pierre Dumoussaud leads a group of highly accomplished instrumentalists, as well as actors Didier Sandre, Maxime Coggio, and Gabriel Acremant, in this Stravinsky masterpiece. The colorful program is rounded out by Mahler’s sole String Quartet in A Minor, which he never completed—though you’ll hear the finished first movement alongside a later completion by Russian composer Alfred Schnittke of Mahler’s partially sketched second movement—and Alban Berg’s expansive and evocative Seven Early Songs, superbly performed by prizewinning mezzo Adèle Charvet.
