Intimate setting for a soldier’s tale

Were it not for dental disfigurement, Gordon Hill might have been a trumpeter. As a kid growing up in New Mexico he was given the option of learning trumpet or double bass.

“I said trumpet, definitely,” Hill recalls. “I showed up to the first lesson and the teacher saw my braces. It’s been bass ever since.”

Dentistry long since sorted, Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra’s principal bassist leads a small ensemble of his colleagues in Stravinsky’s L’histoire du soldat (The Soldier’s Tale) as part of the APO’s In Your Neighbourhood series. The story of a World War I soldier, his enchanted violin and a bargain with the devil, L’histoire is one of the composer’s true masterpieces.

“It’s great music to play,” says Hill. “The orchestration is so good. Being a bass player I love rhythm, and Stravinsky’s all about rhythm.”

Hill has performed the work several times in the United States and the APO played the suite a few years ago. However, the version presented this month, featuring a narrator, is rarely staged here. The narrator is Kevin Keys, well-known in theatre circles.

Keys has excellent teeth, which might explain why, before becoming an actor, he was a trombonist, studying performance at the New Zealand School of Music. He says his gangly limbs helped, too.

“I started on cornet and when I was about 9 they said, ‘You’ve got long arms, do you want to play this?”’

Keys, who has performed with Blackbird Ensemble and his own Latin group, Soul Samba Circus, plays infrequently these days. However, his musical training is helpful when working with orchestras, as he does regularly, and not just for the ability to read a score.

“It’s a big advantage,” he says. “Being familiar with the [musical] environment is really helpful because you understand the culture, the unwritten rules and expectations that exist in the orchestral world.”

Keys has recently completed a five-month run performing Shakespeare with the Pop-up Globe. The proximity of the Globe’s groundlings, forcing actors to come eyeball to eyeball with the crowd, was good practice for The Soldier’s Tale, which is performed in intimate venues in St Heliers and Takapuna.

“There’s more a sense of all being in a space telling a story together,” he says. “It’s like being around a campfire.”

The intimacy of a small stage is beneficial for the musicians, too. The Soldier’s Tale calls for just seven players and the APO group will perform without a conductor.

“Playing in small groups hones listening skills,” says Hill. “When we play together in the APO, the trumpet may be a long way away but here it’s right next to you. That facilitates communication and when you take that back to the orchestra it makes a huge difference for everyone’s ensemble playing.”

When it comes to interpreting the soldier’s motivation for making his Faustian pact, trading his violin — and more — for financial gain, Hill and Keys don’t necessarily sing from the same sheet.

“For me, the soldier is a flawed character and a symbol of human