Classical preview

Auckland Philharmonia Orchestra plays Stravinsky’s The Soldier’s Tale

St Peter’s Church, Takapuna, June 11; St Heliers Church and Community Centre, June 12 weakness,” Hill says. “He is full of hubris and ego and human frailties. In a way, the devil almost comes across as the more moral character because he’s honest about what he’s doing.”

While Hill has sympathy for the devil, Keys is more forgiving of the soldier who has suffered the horrors of war.

“I think you need to empathise with him,” he says. “It’s easy in this situation to see the soldier as a numpty who does the obvious thing. But for me it’s about trying to find the person faced with a temptation that’s genuinely alluring, rather than just an idiot who does stupid things.”

For Keys, The Soldier’s Tale makes a tidy bookend to the World War I centenary celebrations, which began with a role in Auckland Theatre Company’s 2014 production of Once on Chunuk Bair, Maurice Shadbolt’s anti-war play about Gallipoli.

“The last moment of Chunuk Bair was my character broken and full of rage as the only survivor in his vicinity.

“I’ve often wondered what his future held. It’s interesting to pick up with a soldier returning from war in L’histoire — what the war has done to him and what he’s prepared now to trade.”

Which, of course, is everything.

Gordon Hill says as a bassist he takes particular pleasure in the rhythmic nature of Stravinsky’s work.