1,347 posts
|
Post by tmesis on Apr 15, 2018 12:50:26 GMT
I saw the Friend's rehearsal of this yesterday. I've seen all these ballets before but this made a particularly satisfying triple bill.
In order of enjoyment:
Elite Syncopations
I liked this more than previously, I think because it was so well danced and the company is on such cracking form these days. However, I don't think Macmillan is a natural at the lighthearted, 'fun', ballet and this outstays its welcome a bit. The costumes now look really dated - a bit 'Abba meets morris dance'
Obsidian Tear
This Wayne McGregor ballet had an all male cast of nine. It had a wonderful score by Esa-Pekka Salonen and was fantastically evocative and ritualistic. As McGregor matures I enjoy his choreography more and more.
Marguerite and Armand
This Ashton ballet is an absolute classic. Originally conceived for Nureyev and Fonteyn, it brilliantly distils The Lady of the Camellias info 34 minutes of glorious ballet. There's some seriously sexy choreography in this and it needs two top-notch soloists to bring it off. We got that yesterday with Vadim Muntagirov and Marianela Nunez.
One of the best triple-bills I've seen at The Garden in recent times.
|
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Apr 15, 2018 14:21:16 GMT
Thanks tmesis for your continuing reviews of opera and ballet at Covent Garden that enable me to enjoy vicariously the performances that I no longer go to for a variety of reasons.
Are you seeing 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk'? I am lapping up the other reviews of it that have appeared so far here on the board.
|
|
1,347 posts
|
Post by tmesis on Apr 15, 2018 15:44:03 GMT
Thanks tmesis for your continuing reviews of opera and ballet at Covent Garden that enable me to enjoy vicariously the performances that I no longer go to for a variety of reasons. Are you seeing 'Lady Macbeth of Mtsensk'? I am lapping up the other reviews of it that have appeared so far here on the board. I'm seeing it this Friday and looking forward muchly. I forgot to mention that one other pleasures of Marguerite and Armand is it is danced to Liszt's piano sonata in B minor. This is more or less performed solo (by Robert Clark) as Liszt wrote it but with a few discrete bits of orchestral 'strengthening' by Dudley Simpson. It's quite remarkable how the previously composed piece fits the arc of the storyline so perfectly and its tumultuous passages inspire Ashton's most passionate choreography. The symbiosis is incredible. |
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Apr 15, 2018 18:19:45 GMT
I forgot to mention that one other pleasures of Marguerite and Armand is it is danced to Liszt's piano sonata in B minor. This is more or less performed solo (by Robert Clark) as Liszt wrote it but with a few discrete bits of orchestral 'strengthening' by Dudley Simpson. It's quite remarkable how the previously composed piece fits the arc of the storyline so perfectly and its tumultuous passages inspire Ashton's most passionate choreography. The symbiosis is incredible. Funnily enough, it's the use of the Liszt Piano Sonata that I remember most vividly when recalling 'Marguerite and Armand'. Yet again, tmesis, you and I seem to have remarkably similar tastes in music. Fonteyn was amazing as Marguerite and Ashton used so much of her personal qualities in the choreography that I have felt I never wanted to see anybody else dance the role – and I never have! |
|
1,347 posts
|
Post by tmesis on Apr 15, 2018 22:34:30 GMT
That must have been quite something tonyloco to have seen Nureyev and Fonteyn in this Ashton classic. In fact it's only very recently that they have started to revive it - I think they were intimidated by comparisons with the original. I must say that overall Ashton's ballets give me more pleasure than virtually any other choreographer. When he goes for lighthearted entertainment he is so much better than Macmillan (Elite Syncopations.) I'm a big Macmillan fan but something like Ashton's Facade, to Walton's brilliantly precocious score, is genuinely funny, clever, and it has that most difficult to pull-off characteristic: charm. Two Pigeons is another deliciously charming ballet that they are now regularly reviving - it just keeps the right side of twee! But, as I'm sure you know, there's loads more of his stuff to enjoy - La fille mal gardee, Rhapsody, Symphonic Variations, Cinderella, Sylvia, Monotones etc, etc. |
|
1,089 posts
|
Post by tonyloco on Apr 16, 2018 12:52:49 GMT
That must have been quite something tonyloco to have seen Nureyev and Fonteyn in this Ashton classic. In fact it's only very recently that they have started to revive it - I think they were intimidated by comparisons with the original. I must say that overall Ashton's ballets give me more pleasure than virtually any other choreographer. When he goes for lighthearted entertainment he is so much better than Macmillan (Elite Syncopations.) I'm a big Macmillan fan but something like Ashton's Facade, to Walton's brilliantly precocious score, is genuinely funny, clever, and it has that most difficult to pull-off characteristic: charm. Two Pigeons is another deliciously charming ballet that they are now regularly reviving - it just keeps the right side of twee! But, as I'm sure you know, there's loads more of his stuff to enjoy - La fille mal gardee, Rhapsody, Symphonic Variations, Cinderella, Sylvia, Monotones etc, etc. Talking of Ashton's humour, the apotheosis of this was when Ashton and Helpmann played the Ugly Sisters in Cinderella. Helpmann was a comic genius anyway and shamelessly bullied Fred's shy 'Queen Mother' character. The most interesting thing about those performances was that Cinderella was usually danced by Fonteyn and when Ashton and Helpmann were on she took it a little bit easy. Of course Margot was always worth watching, but on those nights when she had the limelight to herself without Fred and Bobby being on, she gave just that little bit extra in her dancing like holding the balances a bit longer and exuding just that extra bit of charisma. Yes, as you have gathered I went to as many Fonteyn performances as I could because I always felt strongly that she was something very special, with or without Nureyev! |
|
