A Fiddler’s Tale
01.Listen It Always Starts
02.Listen Fiddler’s March
03.Listen Her Name Is Beatrice Connors
04.Listen Fiddler’s Soul
05.Listen She’s Floating On A Dream Cloud
06.Listen Fiddler’s March Reprise
07.Listen Now That He Has Her Going
08.Listen Reprise 2 (End Of March)
09.Listen Beatrice Connor’s Is Now
10.Listen Pastorale
11.Listen More Words On Fame
12.Listen Fiddler’s Soul Reprise
13.Listen Keeping One Hundred Dollars
14.Listen Happy March
15.Listen The Illness Of The Land
16.Listen Little Concert Piece
17.Listen Musicians, You Must Play
18.Listen Tango, Waltz, Ragtime
19.Listen The Music Causes The Savior
20.Listen Devil’s Dance
21.Listen The Music Was Too Strong
22.Listen Little Choral
23.Listen The Devil’s Song (BZB)
24.Listen The Great Choral
25.Listen But Beatrice Connors
26.Listen The Blues On Top
SIDEMAN
da Kavafian (violin), Stefon Harris (percussion), David Shifrin (clarinet), David Taylor (trombone), Edgar Meyer (bass), Milan Turkovic (bassoon)
DESCRIPTION
With A FIDDLER’S TALE, Wynton responds to Stravinsky’s famous A SOLDIER’S STORY from the perspective of later twentieth century music, including but not limited to jazz. This recording presents the work with spoken narration by award winning actor Andre’ de Shields. (It is also available in an instrumental only version on AT THE OCTOROON BALLS - SK 60979.) A FIDDLER’S TALE was commissioned by the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center as a joint project of the Chamber Music Society and Jazz at Lincoln Center and premiered on April 23, 1998 at Hill Auditorium in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
LINEAR NOTES
In a conversation I had with Wynton Marsalis for a book I was writing, he always came back to the fact that musicians in different areas of music have many more similarities than differences, but that we simply have too few opportunities to make music together. But here at last was the ideal opportunity: David Shifrin, the artistic director of the Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center had the brilliant idea of putting us together with Jazz at Lincoln Center for a month of intense collaboration. The result was a tour that criss-crossed the entire United States, culminating in this recording.
In the first half of the evening we played Stravinsky’s L’Histoire du soldat. The second half was devoted to a piece by Wynton Marsalis. The idea was for Wynton to compose a work with the same orchestration as Stravinsky’s with a connection to the original text by Ramuz. Wynton’s friend Stanley Crouch wrote an American version of Ramuz’s typically European “devil’s tale,” and this became A Fiddler’s Tale. It is possible to hear and/or play Wynton’s work in two versions, either with the narration or as a concert version. The one heard here includes the brilliant narration performed by André De Shields.
Marsalis’ music is always conceived with the intended interpreters in mind. A Fiddler’s Tale was written for us. Therefore, even during the rehearsals, the music was being recomposed and reworked, and newly corrected pages of the score were constantly being placed before us. This was an unusual demand to place on “classical” musicians, who are used to working with a completed, finished score. At the same time, under Wynton’s instruction, we were becoming familiar with his very specific idiom.
Thus began a journey that helped bring together a unique team. Its main characteristics were total artistic dedication combined with delightfully relaxed camaraderie, a camaraderie that even took command of our travel companions. For example, the cook in our hotel was bribed, as a precaution, so that after our long day, which often ended after midnight, we were able to have a hot meal. Of course, the concert didn’t always end after the audience left; occasionally Wynton would sit down at the piano in the dressing room and play the blues. He would also sing ironic, affectionate or sometimes even slightly offbeat songs about us, his fellow musicians. The sound checks before the concert often went the same way. Preparations often turned into gleeful improvisation. Wynton, Edgar Meyer and Stefon Harris would suddenly get carried away by an idea. I developed a great admiration for Wynton’s ability to improvise, and learned other things, too, from our “native jazzers:” Why shouldn’t we nod in approval to our fellow musicians after they play a successful solo? And what book of etiquette forbids classical musicians from having a glass of water onstage?
A few hours after the final bar was recorded, I was sitting on the plane returning to my home in Europe. Suddenly, I felt empty. A project, so unusual for all the participants, had just ended. Everyday music life was resuming. And, no matter how wonderful this everyday life might be, I knew that I would miss A Fiddler’s Tale. At least I was comforted by the fact that a CD would soon be released.
Milan Turkovic
Translation: Elizabeth L. Uppenbrink
REVIEWS
Hmmmm. Wynton Marsalis’s series Swinging Into the 21st Century series is shaping up to be a most significant body of music. Initiated with his volume 4 collection of standards, Marsalis Plays Monk (Columbia/Sony Classical (67503)), Marsalis continues his ambitious series with an American adaptation of Igor Stravinsky’s L’Historie du soldat (A Soldier’s Tale). The text was effectively (though sometimes with his characteristic excess) reinterpreted by Stanley Crouch and is a Mississippi Delta meets Robert ?Dr. Faust? Johnson morality tale with superb chamber accompaniment by Marsalis and musicians from the Chamber society of the Lincoln Center, lead by David Schifrin. Andre Shields narrates the piece with great aplomb and grace.
The music of A Fiddler’s Tale is transcendent, not so much a melting pot as a fine traditional meal prepared from an old recipe with new ingredients. Though an over simplification, this is a Klezmer ensemble strained through an amalgam of the classical and jazz traditions. Milan Turkovic’s bassoon is a stand out both in performance and in the liner notes which he wrote. As for Maestro Marsalis, kudos to him. He is blazing a trial and I am proud for him.
The Octoroon Balls. In Creole tradition, balls were held for Creole men to choose their Octoroon (one-eight Negro) mistresses. This is a most perfect title for Marsalis’ iconoclastic string quartet which encompasses all of American music in its seven movements. This is much in keeping with the tradition of Louis Moreau Gottschalk and Charles Ives, using pieces of Americana in their compositions. At The Octoroon Balls is more Ives than Louis Armstrong, but it is all there: fiddle reels, hoe downs, jug stomps, marching bands; the Deep South, New Orleans, the Piedmont Eest Coast, Sunday morning at church. The piece is performed by the Orion String Quartet. Or I should say that the piece has its own momentum, performing itself. Jung’s American Archetype. Marsalis’ String Quartet Number 1 is coupled with a suite reduction of the above mentioned A Fiddler’s Tale. Together, these compositions are important for their mostly successful crossing of style and genre lines. The fourth release in this series Big Train, is a big band outing slated for release July 13th. I look forward to that.
By C. Michael Bailey
All About Jazz
