Stravinsky: Les Noces (original) (raw)

Though this piece didn't reach the stage in its final form until 1923, Stravinsky conceived the idea for a "dance cantata" about a 19th-century Russian peasant wedding 11 years earlier, when he was still working on The Rite of Spring. He began the score in earnest in 1914, by which time he was living in Switzerland. Though composition was interrupted by work on the burlesque Renard, he had finished Les Noces (The Wedding) in the short score, with solo voices and four part chorus, by 1917.

Then, however, the problems began. He first began scoring the opening scene for a vast orchestra of 150 players, but soon abandoned that as impractical, and tried out the idea of a standard orchestra separated into groups. After that he tried out a smaller ensemble containing a player piano, harmonium and two cimbaloms, but the problems of synchronisation between the automatic instrument and the live performers seemed insurmountable. Finally, in 1921, he settled upon the extraordinary sound world of Les Noces that we know today - the vocal parts accompanied by two groups of percussion, one tuned (and containing four grand pianos) and the other untuned.

It is one of Stravinsky's most remarkable achievements, in which his Russian musical inheritance is presented without any civilising filters. But for a work of such originality and raw power, Les Noces is surprisingly under-represented on disc. There is a performance from 1958, conducted by the composer himself, in which the four pianos are played by the composers Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Lukas Foss and Roger Sessions (Sony). It's a remarkable historical document, but the singing is not really top class and the sound shows its age. The Russian Pokrovsky Ensemble couple the cantata with powerful performances of a group of Russian folk songs related to the poems Stravinsky used - a fascinating exercise in historical musicology (Nonesuch). Most recommendable of all, though, is Leonard Bernstein's 1977 account recorded in London with the English Bach Festival Chorus and a quartet of pianists that includes Martha Argerich and Krystian Zimerman. Coupled just with an equally energised account of the Mass, it's short measure for a full-length CD, even at mid-price, but absolutely compelling.

Key Recording: Bernstein (Deutsche Grammophon)