L'histoire du soldat

Igor Stravinsky's peculiar 1918 work, which adds narration, melodrama, and dance to an eclectic score—a series of numbers influenced by jazz and folk music—is given a highly imaginative interpretation in this 1988 staging by Jirí Kylián and the Nederlands Dans Theater. The plot, derived from a Russian fairytale, centers on a soldier on leave who agrees to trade his violin to the devil in return for a book that will bring him wealth and success. Worldly goods prove unsatisfying, however, and the man contrives to lose his fortune to the devil in order to win back his fiddle, which he uses to revive a beautiful princess and exhaust the Prince of Darkness with dances—including a tango and a waltz. None of his stratagems, however, can restore his former happiness or save him from the cost of his unwise bargain. While hewing to the basic narrative, Kylián takes a rather free visual approach, adding characters at will, employing cinematic editing techniques, and serving up a few special effects (mostly involving lighting). His dancers—especially Nacho Duato as the soldier and Aryeh Weiner as the devil—meet his considerable choreographic demands with aplomb, while the accompanying orchestral septet plays Stravinsky's score with bite and dash. Although the image can be a bit blurry, and the sound is occasionally muffled, this release is certainly preferable to Michael Birkett's 1964 production The Soldier's Tale starring Robert Helpmann (VL-11/13). Presented in PCM stereo, this is recommended. (F. Swietek)