Stravinsky, Berg, Schoenberg: The Soldier's Tale - Gielgud, Courtenay

Tom Courtenay & Ron Moody

Boston Symphony Chamber Players, Sir John Gielgud

Recordings: Symphony Hall, Boston, USA, May 1972 (The Soldier's Tale: music), December 1974 (Octet, Pastorale, Ragtime, Septet, Concertino), April 1978 (Berg: Adagio, Schoenberg: Chamber Symphony); Polydor Studios, London, UK, July 1975 (The Soldier's Tale: speech)

Stravinsky's tongue-in-cheek morality masterpiece, The Soldier's Tale, is one of his cleverest and most enduring works, here receiving its first outing on CD, following several requests. It boasts a stellar cast, not only of musicians, drawn from the Boston Symphony and soloists in their own right, but also of the narrators/actors - Sir John Gielgud, Tom Courtenay and Ron Moody, with English texts by Michael Flanders & Kitty Black.

The couplings include the BSCP's complete LP of chamber music by Stravinsky (the Concertino and Septet being released on CD for the first time), and also works by Schoenberg and Berg, previously unissued internationally on CD.

"the [Berg and Schoenberg] arrangements are novel and accomplished"