On June 5 the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester and the RIAS Kammerchor will perform Les Noces by Igor Stravinsky under the lead of Vladimir Jurowski. The concert is part of the Stravinsky Festival of the RSB in 2021 taking place at Berlin Philharmonie and will be one of the first concerts with a live audience again. In addition, the concert will be streamed on Arte and be radio broadcasted on Deutschlandfunk Kultur on June 8.
Les Noces, like many of Stravinsky's works, has a complicated and winding genesis. Turning away from the Romantic orchestral and choral sound, Stravinsky planned the work for a small choir and ensemble with pianola, Hungarian cymbaloms and percussion. The Russian "village wedding" was not intended to sound opulent, but rather austere and authentic.
This draft version from 1917 for choir and orchestra including cymbal and harpsichord was published as a facsimile by Chester in London in 1980. Together with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the RIAS Kammerchor will perform this fast-paced, wonderfully archaic sequence of images in this little-known guise.