“Soldier’s Tale” Contends with Media Overkill

The latest addition to the SFSymphony+ Web site is a “digital music theater” performance of “L’Histoire du soldat” (the soldier’s tale). It was created at a time when Europe had to contend with both World War I and an influenza epidemic. Since these were not the best times to go out for a night at the theatre, composer Igor Stravinsky and Swiss writer Charles Ferdinand Ramuz created a production that would fit inside a truck and be brought to the audience, bringing the theater to the people, so to speak.

As the title suggests, the narrative is about a soldier returning from battle, who sells his soul to the devil, marries a princess after saving her from a fatal disease (the cure coming from the devil), and ultimately loses his soul. The story unfolds through a narrator (assisted by two actors in the original version) with music provided by a septet. The princess is depicted by a dancer.

This back-of-a-truck project was converted into “digital music theatre” created by British director, designer, and video artist Netia Jones. An English translation of Ramuz’ text (probably the version created by Michael Flanders and Kitty Black) was delivered by Bruce Davison, adjusting his tone of voice to serve as narrator, the soldier, and the devil. The princess was danced by Adji Cissoko, a member of the Alonzo King LINES Ballet. The musicians were San Francisco Symphony (SFS) members: Concertmaster Alexander Barantschik, Principal Bass Scott Pingel, Principal Clarinet Carey Bell, Principal Bassoon Stephen Paulson, Associate Principal Trumpet Aaron Schuman, Principal Trombone Timothy Higgins, and Principal Percussion Jacob Nissly. While this was a small ensemble, a conductor was necessary to negotiate the complex rhythms; and that conductor was SFS Music Director Esa-Pekka Salonen.

Bruce Davison narrating with the assistance of his bottle of wine (screenshot from the video being discussed)

Salonen clearly knew how to engage with the small ensemble to make sure that every mark that Stravinsky had placed on paper was given the attention it deserved. Davison’s narration had all the necessary clarity, as well as the appropriate shifts in character. The staging also had him pouring himself several glasses of wine, as if the personification of drunkenness might complement the dark turns in the plot. Cissoko appeared only in video projection, probably because the layout of the septet and the positions of the screens for projected video left little room for her physical presence.

Sadly, however, all of the projections tended to interfere with the bare-bones delivery of the narrator in the context of music that was both transparent and devilishly (pun intended) difficult. Except for Cissoko’s performance, most of the projected images did little to complement the narration. Thus, where the listener/viewer was concerned, the overall video would have been better served had it been directed at Salonen and his musicians more often.