"Peer Gynt" Ballet Music - Alfred Schnittke

Swedish Royal Court Orchestra conducted by Eri Klas.

I - Prologue. Into the World: 0:00

Act I: Norway
II - Peer And His Mother Åse (4:06) - Peer's Imagination (6:17) - Peer at Ingrid's Wedding Celebration (9:56) - Appearance of Solveig and her Parents (11:55) - Pas de deux. Solveig-Peer (15:37) - The World of the Small-minded Locals (19:46) - In the Mountains with Ingrid (20:54) - The Troll-world (25:29) - The Bøyg (30:12) - Peer's Solitude (33:35) - Pas de deux. Solveig comes to Peer (34:58) - The Woman in Green (41:30) - Pas de Deux. Åse's Death (44:07)

Act II: Out In the World - Illusions
III - Overture (49:48) - Auditions (53:17) - "Rainbow Sextet" (57:11) - Peer As "Slavedealer" (59:59) - Scene and Opening Night Party (1:01:17) - "Emperor of the World" (1:05:47) - Peer's Dance with the Whip (1:08:21) - Solveig's Dance (1:10:21) - Peer's Mad Dance (1:12:48) - Peer's "Coronation" (1:15:12) - Finale (1:16:10)

Act III: Return
IV - Mesto (1:18:14) - Andante (1:20:00) - Peer's Memories (1:23:53) - Ingrid's Burial (1:25:59) - Scene with Solveig (1:29:15) - Peer Surrounded by his "Aspects" (1:35:48) - "Song Of The Wind" (1:37:01) - The Onion (1:37:26) - Despair and Escape (1:40:38) - Deliverance (1:41:19)

V - Epilogue: Out of the World: 1:43:11

Schnittke's "Peer Gynt" was composed between 1984-6, suggested by American choreographer John Neumeier, director of the Hamburg Ballet, who had choreographed Schnittke's Symphony No. 1 and Concerto Grosso No. 1 as part of two balletic projects. During composition on 21 July 1985, Schnittke suffered a stroke that left him in a coma. Thankfully he recovered and completed the score with his creative powers unscathed. It was premiered in Hamburg on January 22 of 1989, performed by the Hamburg Philharmonic State Orchestra conducted by Eri Klas.

The ballet is a loose adaptation of the play of the same name, written by the renowned 19th-century Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The composer reflected: "Peer Gynt is an enigmatical figure in literature to whom we lack a key: he is even more cryptic than the figure of Faust". Peer is a carefree farmer, whereas Faust is a knowledgeable academic; Peer is a despicable character, apathetic to the truest of love, whereas Faust is a well-read scholar who sacrifices love and life for intellectual pursuit. Peer has an unyielding life partner in Solveig, whom he not only fails to treasure but also cheats on. Faust, just for a taste of true love and a hint of the true essence of life, banks on a trade with the Devil Mephistopheles. Despite their contrasting personalities, the two protagonists experience a similar trajectory: venturing into the complex world, facing a malevolent devil, and finally returning to their starting point, but in repentance.

The composer went through a gradual process as he wrote the music where he rejected any hint of music that accompanies, or is subservient to, the dance. The ballet offers perhaps the best single introduction to Schnittke's music: to his characteristic sound-world and gestural vocabulary, to his famous "polystylistic" approach, and to his larger aesthetic philosophy. The scoring is unmistakably characteristic. The core is composed of Schnittke's phantasmagoric "continuo" ensemble; bells, glockenspiel, vibraphone, marimba on the one hand, and piano, harpsichord, celesta, and harp on the other; the strings constitute work's the wide, often sprawling lyric line; and the winds and brass frequently serve an emblematic Schnittkean role as demonic, menacing forces.

Stylistically, Peer Gynt is all over the map. Schnittke pays due homage to Edvard Grieg's famous precedent with the "fakes" of Act II. But on a larger level, the ballet also constitutes a tribute to the great tradition of his own Russian heritage, from Tchaikovsky's "Sleeping Beauty" and "Romeo and Juliet", through Stravinsky's "Firebird" and "Petroushka", to Shostakovich's "The Bolt", and especially the particular melodic brilliance of Prokofiev's "Romeo and Juliet". Upon this scaffolding Schnittke piles yet more allusive density, from faux-ragtime (on a mistuned upright piano reminiscent of Berg's "Wozzeck"), to ruthless parodies of schlocky Hollywood film scores, to the venerable Russian choral tradition summoned by Peer Gynt's extraordinary Epilogue. Finally, Schnittke's ballet is a tour-de-force of leitmotivic associations worthy of Wagner's music-dramas, its themes returning in countless and perpetual transformations through the very last bars.

For a more detailed analysis section by section: https://tinyurl.com/27y9ojvs

Picture: "The meeting between Solvejg, Peer and the Button Moulder" statue at the Peer Gynt Sculpture Park in Oslo, Norway. Created by Polish sculptor Jan Kolasinski.

Sources: https://tinyurl.com/265c7zrc and https://tinyurl.com/27y9ojvs

Unfortunately, the score is not freely available.