Recorded at the Vevey Theatre to mark Igor Markevitch's 50 years as a conductor. Markevitch spent all his youth in a small town near Lake Léman: and this recording is a document of an exceptional concert given as part of the 17th Montreux-Vevey Classical Music Festival, in October 1962.
Originally released as a magnificent 33rpm cloth-bound album with an original painting by Jean Cocteau, this recording brings together the latter as narrator alongside Peter Ustinov and Jean-Marie Fertey, with a little instrumental ensemble made up for the occasion by the musicians of the Orchestre de la Suisse Romande (who regularly played this piece, conducted by its founder Ernest Ansermet) and French musicians like Maurice André on the cornet, Ulysses Delécluse on the clarinet and Manoug Parikian on the violin, all conducted by Markevitch. In this version, The Soldier's Tale returns to its country of origin and the year of its first performance, 1918. Written during the war, while all music had ceased in Switzerland, this work, the result of a collaboration between the composer Stravinsky, the writer Ramuz, the painter Auberjonois, and the performer Ansermet, would tour the country in a caravan, performing in the countryside. Alongside the horrors of war, a serious outbreak of "Spanish Flu" decimated Europe and saw the caravan taken off the road. But the The Soldier's Tale would go on to tour the world. © François Hudry/Qobuz