3x7 – multiply 3 composers by 7 instruments: the maximum ensemble size (in various configurations) used on this programme full of shared references, symmetries and events stemming from the proximity of three musicians who all bore witness to and played an active role in the unique artistic world of début du siècle Paris.
In a well-known statement, Igor Stravinsky, who took refuge in Morges in neutral Switzerland in 1917, described L’Histoire du soldat as ‘wartime theatre’ envisaging an itinerant company small enough to tour a circuit of Swiss villages with a story simple enough to be easily understood.
Although the tour never took place, L’Histoire opened the way for a new concept in musical theatre, and as the Suite (1919) demonstrates, the seven parts, in pairs of high- and low-pitched instruments of each family (violin/double bass, clarinet/bassoon, cornet/trombone) plus percussion (for the devil’s sorcery), can even do without the narrator.
In 1921 Francis Poulenc and his mentor Erik Satie each contributed to a théâtre bouffe show with Le Gendarme incompris and Le Piège de Méduse, respectively.
These two works actively sought provocation and scandal, with incredibly surreal plots and nonsense scenarios. Poulenc used his incidental music as the basis for a four-section Suite for a seven-strong ‘small orchestra’.
Satie, meanwhile, reused his seven Toutes Petites Danses for piano, arranging them for the same seven-instrument ensemble as Poulenc. Satie’s Trois Valses distinguées du précieux dégoûté are strongly connected to Le Piège.
They are a merciless portrait of a highly refined dandy, easily recognisable as Ravel, who had recently written some waltzes (the Valses nobles et sentimentales) of his own. Poulenc’s Sonata for clarinet and bassoon takes full advantage of the timbral qualities of the two woodwind instruments (the same used by Stravinsky in L’Histoire) and fits perfectly into the climate that led to Cocteau’s rappel à l’ordre (‘return to order’) and the end of the Parisian avant-garde’s most revolutionary and experimental period.
Many years later Stravinsky, having emigrated to the USA, composed one of his most important works from his late period (having embraced serialism): the Septet. As well as a sophisticated piece of musical arithmetic and a work of exemplary compositional rigour, it also demonstrates masterful symmetry, not least in its new seven-instrument ensemble which ‘balances’ the piano between three strings and three wind instruments – a choice far removed from the scoring of its direct counterpart, L’Histoire – bringing the programme full circle.
Other information
- Recorded April & May 2022 in Amelia, Italy
- Booklet in English contains liner notes by the ensemble’s pianist, Silvia Paparelli, and biographies of the group and its conductor
- The Italian liner notes are available for download at www.brilliantclassics.com
- This original program presents three composers who were active in Paris in the early 20th century, the cultural hotspot of Europe: Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Francis Poulenc (1899-1963) and Erik Satie (1866-1925).
- Presented are works for Septet,with variet instruments, including clarinet, bassoon, cornetto, trombone, horn, violin, viola, cello, double bass, percussion, piano. We hear the L’histoire du soldat and the Septet by Stravinsky, the suite from Le Piège de Méduse by Satie, and the Suite du Gendarme incompris by Poulenc.
- Original, provocative and vibrant music, played with gusto by the Italian Ensemble In Canto, conducted by Fabio Maestri.
