USA Faculty Members Perform Recital

On March 1, a chamber music ensemble comprised of USA faculty and professional musicians performed Igor Stravinsky’s “L’Histoire du Soldat (A Soldier’s Tale),” a chamber music piece for septet. What sets this piece apart from the standard chamber music fare is the libretto, a text that accompanies a musical work.

The libretto recounts the story of a soldier who learns a lesson about material possessions and happiness the hard way. In making a deal with the devil, the soldier trades his violin for a book that contains financial information about the future, allowing its owner opportunity for great wealth.

Ultimately, the soldier learns that material possessions do not amount to happiness and in the end is doomed to follow the devil for eternity.

The performance of this piece was quite an accomplishment for the musicians, as it was not as simple as learning the music and rehearsing a few times.

According to Dr. Peter Wood, who played trumpet in the performance, the piece is not performed often due to the bad editions that are published, which contain wrong notes and articulations. Enen Yu, the violinist, had to reconstruct her part due to beaming issues in the notes that made the music difficult to read.

The individual parts are quite demanding, especially for the trumpet and violin.

Despite these difficulties, the musicians performed marvelously. While each practiced his or her parts a few months in advance, the ensemble only rehearsed a few times. This was impossible to tell though, as they were cohesive in their interpretation of dynamics and style.

Dr. Laura Moore, conductor, led the ensemble through various styles and key changes.

As Wood explained in the opening remarks, the piece is diverse in style, with hints of jazz and ragtime. Stravinsky also incorporated a tango and waltz, as he was influenced by dance when he wrote the piece.

The work contained a few marches as well, with “The Soldier’s March” repeating a few times. After the final march, the piece ended with Michael Sammons, the percussionist, playing a rhythmic figure that conveyed the endless march to which the soldier is condemned.

Unfortunately, the libretto, performed by Leon Von Dyke, chair of USA’s Department of Dramatic Arts, did not convey the story as well as the music. While the ensemble played with a wide spectrum of dynamics and inflection, the libretto didn’t vary much.

A more passionate reading would’ve engaged the audience as much as the music and would have been easier to hear. Fortunately, that detail did not detract from the music.

Such an emotionally charged, technically tight performance of a chamber piece of this magnitude was worth much more then the $3 it cost for admission.