The three works on this recording were composed at a crucial juncture in Stravinsky’s musical life. The Soldier’s Tale, a small-scale theatrical work for instrumental septet, narrator and two speakers completed in 1918. It is performed here in the suite premièred in 1920. The Octet marked a new element in Stravinsky’s writing, inaugurating a turn to neo-classicism, whilst Les Noces (The Wedding) is a ballet cantata impelled by dramatic motor rhythms, and once again saturated in his Russian background. Scored for pitched and unpitched percussion, vocal soloists, and mixed chorus, it is a pivotal work in Stravinsky’s development.
