Pulcinella is a one-act neoclassical ballet by Igor Stravinsky based on an 18th-century play, Quatre Polichinelles Semblables ("Four identical Pulcinellas"). Pulcinella is a stock character originating from commedia dell’arte. This is a new suite written by Tepfer for his trio based on Stravinsky’s Pulcinella, which he wrote in 1920. The idea with this project is to have a refraction of a refraction: Stravinsky, in Pulcinella, is re-interpreting the music and character of the music of Pergolesi and other 18th-century Italian composers. In this project, Tepfer will be re-interpreting Stravinsky’s re-interpretation. This is not so different in concept from his project Goldberg Variations / Variations, in which he plays all of Bach’s original variations on a theme, and follow each one with an improvised variation of his own. The project is a commission from the Stresa Festival, Italy. I. Sinfonia (Ouverture). Allegro moderato II. Serenata. Larghetto IIIa. Scherzino IIIb. Allegro IIIc. Andantino IV. Tarantella V. Toccata. Allegro VI. Gavotta VII. Vivo VIIIa. Minuetto. Molto moderato VIIIb. Finale. Allegro assai
Live performance: