Firebird, Even Though Music-Loving Cat – And, Like Us, Admirer of the Time and Tango, And, of Course, the Three Move- Piano-Playing
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a Russian folk tune). In , Guido Agosti, a us, one rainy May morning, she received Stravinsky’s rare birds student of Busoni’s, followed the example of us in her work studio, in the Bastille district of Interview with Lydia Jardon the Three Movements from Petrushka, proposing Paris. We found her again just as we had left her by Nicolas Southon a transcription of three pieces from The Fire- during a previous meeting, following one of her bird (‘Danse infernale, Berceuse et Finale’) for recitals: exuding music with her whole being, solo piano. As recently as , the composer’s amboyant and straightforward, drawing from Igor Stravinsky’s music for solo piano is as appear on the orchestral score: Passionato, Con son, Soulima Stravinsky, also wrote a virtuosic her art a force and an enthusiasm that seem to limited as it is heterogeneous: two sonatas includ- tenerezza, Timidamente, Lamentoso, etc., which piano triptych borrowing from the ballet’s score make everything possible, but as haunted by ing one written in his youth, the Serenade, four relate it more explicitly to the post-Romantic tra- (‘Scherzo, Berceuse et Danse Infernale’). Lydia doubt as an artist can be. Barely did Pelléas, her Études, a few marginal pieces such as the Rag- dition and, more speci cally, to post-Romantic Jardon drew on this for ‘her’ Firebird, even though music-loving cat – and, like us, admirer of the time and Tango, and, of course, the Three move- piano-playing. it is based rst of all on the reduction written ashes of the great Igor – come to disturb the ments from Petrushka. is fearsome score, drawn Moreover, the other incarnations of The by Stravinsky in (let us point out that this conversation... from the ballet of , invites us to also take into Firebird clearly show that every large-scale work version of The Firebird for piano had only been account piano versions of Stravinsky’s orchestral can exist beyond its sole original version – like recorded once prior to the release of the present You have often surprised your listeners, and works, and perhaps grant them a status that has a plant from which one takes branches to cre- disc). To it Lydia Jardon adds the world premiere this will doubtless again be the case with this disc: generally been refused. So it was the composer ate cuttings. Stravinsky drew three orchestral of another piano version, that of The Song of the two monuments of virtuosity rooted in the Russian who wrote the piano reductions of his ballets suites from it, in , and , each one giv- Nightingale, a symphonic poem that Stravinsky imaginative universe, heirs of Rimsky-Korsakov but, (including Petrushka and The Rite of Spring for ing rise to revisions in the orchestration. In , drew from his opera The Nightingale () in , above all, two transcriptions for piano of orchestral four hands). at of The Firebird, his rst mas- he himself operated in concert the ‘Pleyela’, this for Serge Diaghilev, who used it as ballet music. works by Stravinsky. At the origin of this project was terpiece written for Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets pianola or player piano perfected by Pleyel, in a proposition from conductor Jean-Claude Casadesus, russes, was published in , shortly before the several excerpts from the work arranged for the * * * who had invited you to the ‘Lille Piano(s) Festival’ orchestral score. Like many piano reductions, occasion. Shortly thereafter, he transcribed four in June , devoted to the Russian repertoire... its prime objective was utilitarian: to allow the numbers from this Firebird for violin and piano, We have been given the honour of present- Jean-Claude Casadesus had indeed suggest- dancers to work without the orchestra. But, given and, in , even signed his name as composer ing these two works to you. But rather than pro- ed my giving the reduction of The Firebird writ- the interest of its instrumental writing, it goes of the song ‘Summer Moon’, a slow fox-trot with viding an umpteenth set of notes, we preferred ten by Stravinsky in . e idea was excellent: far beyond that sole ambition. Moreover, the lyrics by John Kleener, after the melody of ‘La questioning Lydia Jardon herself, asking her to I found it interesting to take hold of a key reper- reduction contains expressive marks that do not Ronde des princesses’ (which was derived from shed light on her singular project. toire work and try to make it sound di¢ erently, as I had done in with Debussy’s La Mer [...her to give it up when, after two months, the score Finalizing the text took me quite a bit of transformations? Are you therefore proposing a cat Pelléas raised an ear...]. Like everyone, I knew was still resisting me; I didn’t hear any ‘line’ stand time. I advanced very slowly, sometimes bar by new one? The Firebird without having studied the score. out. But I persevered, and it ended up becoming bar, in unravelling this polyphony that is so dense, My score is indeed the one realized by Despite The Rite of Spring or The Rake’s Progress, clear. It seemed indispensable to me that some- distributing to one hand or the other all the notes Stravinsky in , but I have sometimes rewrit- which I adore, I must say that Stravinsky had thing remain of this colossal amount of work, of the orchestral parts indicated on the third and ten or completed certain passages of it, based on never been one of my favourite composers, but hence this recording project. I would have liked to fourth staves so as to bring out a sound hierar- the orchestral score. Moreover, in fact, I incorpo- I have special a£ nities with post-Romantic Rus- go into the studio following the concert in Lille, chy. A few months before the recording, I even rated into this reduction very long passages from sian music, which corresponds well to my tem- but that wasn’t possible. And, in the nal analysis, redistributed the notes between the two hands that of Stravinsky’s son, Soulima, who transcribed perament. After having recorded Rachmaninov’s so much the better! For I took the time to work in certain very complex passages. Breaking in three pieces of The Firebird in . us, in the two Sonatas and the Third Concerto, Scriabin’s on it some more and I believe that a fair amount the interpretation in concert is the best way to ‘Infernal dance’, I essentially play his version, complete Études and three Sonatas by Miasko- became clear. During this second period of work, become aware of the discomforts that remain in more luxuriant and interesting to my mind than vsky, I was looking for a repertoire to explore. I gave the score some fteen times on stage. Eve- the playing. e slightest thing that gets stuck in Igor’s. Guido Agosti had also transcribed three For a while, I thought of tackling the complete ry performance brought its consequences in my your body imposes modifying your approach, I’m pieces from The Firebird, but his work inspired Sonatas of Miaskovsky, a fascinating body... but playing. With hindsight, I realise that the rst convinced... Once, I did not completely manage me less and I renounced using it. so sombre! Scriabin and Miaskovsky did not help concert was only a matter of polishing. at was to launch a crescendo so I inverted the text of the me live when I was working on them; I needed viable, I hope, but there still remained much to two hands, which enabled me to play much more So you took the risk of reworking the transcrip- sunny, regenerative music. Stravinsky’s Firebird be done. is Firebird, that I ended up calling powerfully. Even though that requires decon- tion with only five months to put the score together... is an extraordinary example of that. Oiseau de fou * with a bit of self-mockery, was a ditioning a re ex, a process that is always risky. It was risky, but that’s the way I function: work in progress until I went into the studio in It is this quest that is interesting. You have to in permanent challenge. Without being conscious In what way did you prepare this concert of March . achieve a serene virtuosity rather than an ultra- of it, I must certainly be seeking my limits. One June , and why did you choose to follow it up demonstrative one, which presupposes an inner of my teachers gave me a curious lesson one day: with a disc two years later? Technically, how did you approach this score, letting-go. en, only the musical intention, the ‘You commit yourself ©; that’s pointless! ere I had only ve months to learn The Fire- which is so profuse that it is often written on three or sound magic, can rise... and perhaps grace! are sometimes concerts for which it su£ ces to bird, including the adaptation of the score (for I even four staves? commit yourself only ©.’ Frankly, I’ve never chose straightaway to merge two existing tran- You said that you had ‘merged’ the two exist- understood what he meant... ere are no ‘small’ scriptions of the work). is initial work was fear- * Translator’s note: or ‘Mad Bird’ as opposed to ing transcriptions of The Firebird. Was it a way concerts, no halfway investments. I had little time fully di£ cult. I even thought I was going to have the original Oiseau de feu. of situating yourself in the histoire of the work’s to put together The Firebird, yes, but from the beginning, I tried to establish the ideal score, and the work just as monumental and, at the same them again in concert.