This CD comes as one
of a series issued by Warner Classics
in conjunction with the BBC. It demonstrates
some of the finest highlights from the
2003 Proms season. I am thrilled that
they have chosen this particular concert.
I remember hearing it whilst sitting
on a Dorset balcony last August and
thinking what a fine but curiously rare
work ‘Perséphone’ is ... and
what a beautiful one. What came across
then, even on my clapped-out transistor,
comes across even more strongly here:
what a superb performance and vivid
recording. We should be especially grateful
to and delighted at Warners and the
BBC giving us the opportunity to revisit
the concert.
I cannot stress too
highly that these are excellent performances
of rare works. They are just the kind
of thing that the Proms does best. The
children’s choirs are especially superb
and wonderfully drilled. The live recording
is not spoiled in the least by audience
noise and their only noticeable contribution
is some ideally positioned applause
at the end of each work.
Stravinsky described
Perséphone as a ‘Melodrama
in three scenes for tenor, mixed chorus,
children’s choir and orchestra’. The
part of Perséphone is taken throughout
by a female speaker. The somewhat oblique
and slightly philosophical text was
by André Gide, who so disapproved
of some aspects of Stravinsky’s setting
that he failed to come to the rehearsals
or the first performance. This took
place in Paris in April 1934.
Gide’s poem, which
had been written before the First War,
is based on the Homeric hymn to Demeter
which has, as a climax, Persephone’s
descent into the underworld. There she
becomes Pluto’s bride. While there she
becomes desperate to return to earth
where her mother mourns her. It is her
destiny to reign over the underworld
as Pluto reminds her in scene 2. It
is winter and spring is eagerly awaited.
Persephone has the power to bring that
season back to earth when she marries.
The score is divided
into several solos for Eumpolpus (tenor)
who acts as a kind of spirit guide for
the listeners. Chorus numbers sometimes
combine with the tenor. There are also
orchestral interludes and verbal interjections
by Persephone.
The music is typical
mid-period Stravinsky. It brings to
mind especially the ‘Symphony in C’
(1939). The vocal writing of the opening
scene is quite balletic and I was reminded
of Apollon Musagètes (1928).
Some of the stronger rhythmical moments
in the chorus conjure up a kind of secular
’Symphony of Psalms’ (1930). The beautiful
choral writing near the beginning of
scene 2 is like nothing I have ever
heard in Stravinsky. Its melodic charm
seems set in another world, which indeed
it is as Persephone lies asleep beside
the banks of the Lethe.
One might call this
piece the antithesis of ‘Sacre du Printemps’
which also deals with the moment that
winter becomes spring. This topic is
explored more thoroughly in the insert
notes. The work remains a curious hybrid
which is best thought of in Stravinsky’s
own words "a masque or dance pantomime".
The Dukas symphonic
poem, dated 1892, is based on the story
of an early Christian martyr, daughter
of the Roman Governor Armenia who has
to implement anti-Christian policies.
This conflict creates a tense and dark
score. It is an early work; indeed it
seems more reminiscent of Vincent d’Indy
and of César Franck who was Dukas’
teacher. Yet there are some typical
finger-prints. I was reminded of the
next step in the composer’s development,
the Symphony (1896) especially the slow
movement which is only a touch more
‘impressionist’. The way in which the
themes are repeated and developed in
such an ingenious, rather Wagnerian
manner is a reminder of Dukas’ greatest
work: ‘The Sorcerer’s Apprentice’.
Full texts in French
with a fine English and German translation
are given. There are also performer
biographies as well as a helpful and
detailed essay which I suspect formed
the original programme notes. These
are by David Nice on the Stravinsky
and by Adrian Jack on the Dukas.
Highly recommended.
Gary Higginson
BBC Symphony Orchestra and Chorus/Sir Andrew Davis
(Stravinsky) and Jan Pascal Tortelier (Dukas)
