Stravinsky: Ragtime, for eleven instruments

Recordings: Symphony Hall, Boston, USA, May 1972 (The Soldier’s Tale: music), December 1974 (Octet, Pastorale, Ragtime, Septet, Concertino), April 1978 (Berg: Adagio, Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony); Polydor Studios, London, UK, July 1975 (The Soldier’s Tale: speech)

Stravinsky’s tongue-in-cheek morality masterpiece, The Soldier’s Tale, is one of his cleverest and most enduring works, here receiving its first outing on CD, following several requests. It boasts a stellar cast, not only of musicians, drawn from the Boston Symphony and soloists in their own right, but also of the narrators/actors – Sir John Gielgud, Tom Courtenay and Ron Moody, with English texts by Michael Flanders & Kitty Black.

The couplings include the BSCP’s complete LP of chamber music by Stravinsky (the Concertino and Septet being released on CD for the first time), and also works by Schoenberg and Berg, previously unissued internationally on CD.

Remastered from the original analogue tapes

Recording made in 1995.

This recording was highly praised when released and in 2001 was awarded a Grammy.

Stravinsky never had much time for conventions. His teacher Rimsky-Korsakov was similarly maverick, and was at his best when free of the strictures of the symphony and classical form. Stravinsky openly defied the Austro-German way of doing things, and adopted an unpredictable (if at times neo classical) style, and this CD contains some of the smaller works he produced that illustrate is unique, and sometimes quirky style. The two Suites were arranged from the original piano pieces intended for children. The three pieces for string quartet are unlike anything form the period – 1914. No sign of late romanticism here, or of the Second Viennese School. It is an utterly unique and new sound word – icy, different, but very Russian. The Octet sounds superficially like a dissonant wind divertimento by Mozart.

Stravinsky’s opposition to the traditional structures of classical music softened a little towards the end of his life, and the Scherzo a la Russe and the Concerto in D for strings illustrate this well with their less spiky sound, and longer melodic lines. The complete list of pieces is: Tango, Suites for small orchestra, Concerto in D for strings, Concertino, Octet for winds, 3 Pieces for string quartet, Ragtime, Duet for two Bassoons, Fanfare for a New Theatre, and the Scherzo à la Russe for jazz orchestra.