Description:

The Ensemble Edes, Les Siecle’s hand-picked choral ensemble, is known for its intense sound of chorus, four pianos, and percussion in Stravinsky’s ballet cantata “The Marriage,” but it has had its twists and turns until it was settled into its form. In 1919, he started work on a version for chorus, pianola (automatic piano), harmonium, two cimbalones, and percussion, but stopped in the first half of the work when he realized the impracticality of having a live performance with a machine (pianola) and two master cimbalones, and finally settled on the current version. In 2007, Dutch composer Theo Verbey received permission from Stravinsky’s family to complete the 1919 version as intended, and the entire work has seen the light of day. Harmonia Mundi released a version completed by Ren Bos in 2005, but this album is special because it is performed by members of the period instrument Les Siecle and its hand-picked choral ensemble, Ensem