Ballet

[Quarky]

BBC4 TV

Darcey's Ballerina Heroes:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03xhbn8/darceys-ballerina-heroines

The third programme on ballet presented by Darcey Bussell I have watched. All interesting, informative - I started with virtually no knowledge - and well presented. It strikes me that perhaps surprisingly little is said about the ballet on this forum. Which members are the enthusiasts? The best ballet music? The best performances you have seen? What is the scope for it having a greater following in the future? I think that it has often as an art form been misrepresented and that its image(s) could be re-appraised so as to give it a wider appeal.

A propos nothing in particular, Royal Ballet has a number of video clips of rehearsals, which are endlessly fascinating.

Conclusions:

1. Music is about sounds, ballet / dance is about movement and its visual impact: different media and hence their followers are in different camps.
2. Choreography is all-important, music less so - however:
3. There are new compositions for Ballet - Alice in Wonderland involving a British Composer Joby Talbot, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z3bCr8hogc
4. In terms of synchronising ballet movements to music, this can be quite difficult to achieve. See rehearsal for Frank Moon's The Wind - 7 - 8.30 minutes in in particular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqD_pXknbes

5. Overall, I feel ballet may be in a healthier position than classical music. Its audience may be on average younger for one reason (present company excepted!)

[Lat-Literal]

A propos nothing in particular, Royal Ballet has a number of video clips of rehearsals, which are endlessly fascinating.

Conclusions:

1. Music is about sounds, ballet / dance is about movement and its visual impact: different media and hence their followers are in different camps.
2. Choreography is all-important, music less so - however:
3. There are new compositions for Ballet - Alice in Wonderland involving a British Composer Joby Talbot, see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Z3bCr8hogc
4. In terms of synchronising ballet movements to music, this can be quite difficult to achieve. See rehearsal for Frank Moon's The Wind - 7 - 8.30 minutes in in particular: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eqD_pXknbes

5. Overall, I feel ballet may be in a healthier position than classical music. Its audience may be on average younger for one reason (present company excepted!)

Yes - interesting comments, thank you, and also for the clips.

Frank Moon's website - https://frankmoonmusic.com/about

[Ferretfancy]

Ken Tynan once said that you should never go to ballet without a pretty girl and a box of chocolates. Well, he would wouldn't he ? Nevertheless I do feel that the tendency towards Quality Street does get in the way. As far as the great classic ballets are concerned I do get mildly irritated by all that narrative mime, prancing, smiling and mugging.
Let them just dance.
Many of us only see ballet on a video screen, which is very limiting due to the lack of camera movement and editing Look at the best film musicals in which the choreography is designed for the camera, and not just for a view from the stalls.

Surely some of the greatest music has been written for dance. I would say that certain works are inexhaustible even without the dancers. I've lost track of the number of performances of Petrushka I have heard,not to mention Firebird or the Rite. Swan Lake is another towering achievement, as satisfying as a symphony.

I would like to see more abstract modern ballet, having worked for Colin Nears who directed some excellent ballet documentaries including a portrait of the dancer/ choreographer Christopher Bruce, but I don't seem to get the opportuniy these days.

[Pianorak]

Lots of "camera movement and editing" is likely to ruin the recording of classical ballet. What I want to see above all is perfect technique, perfect line and characterisation. Take "Giselle", filmed by Hugo Niebeling. Frantic camera work, soft focus, various filters, intercut with outdoor sequences all of which may have aided the understanding of the plot - but there was little opportunity to admire or judge the actual performances of Carla Fracci and Erik Bruhn, two world-class dancers.

Take Ulyana Lopatkina's performance in the Kirov production of Swan Lake. Sympathetically filmed and edited (by UK crew), no gimmicks and every uninterrupted opportunity to admire Lopatkina's flawless interpretation of Odile/Odette.

As for "all that narrative mime, prancing, smiling and mugging." I couldn't agree more. Unfortunately there's plenty of that in Swan Lake.

[Bryn]

Rite of Spring and Fairy's Kiss

I don't think this has been mentioned here, but could be wrong. Anyway, there is some time left to catch the Scottish Ballet performances of The Rite of Spring and The Fairy's Kiss.

The write-up for the latter manages not to mention Tchaikovsky.

[The audio quality, by the way, is surprisingly good, at the Radio 3 HD Sound rate of 320kbps AAC-LC.]

[Quarky]

I don't think this has been mentioned here, but could be wrong. Anyway, there is some time left to catch the Scottish Ballet performances of The Rite of Spring and The Fairy's Kiss.

The write-up for the latter manages not to mention Tchaikovsky.

[The audio quality, by the way, is surprisingly good, at the Radio 3 HD Sound rate of 320kbps AAC-LC.]

The Fairy's Kiss was composed by Stravinsky?

[Bryn]

The Fairy's Kiss was composed by Stravinsky?

But in tribute to his hero, Tchaikovsky, whose early piano music he elaborated upon in the work.

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

But in tribute to his hero, Tchaikovsky, whose early piano music he elaborated upon in the work.

- and at least one of the songs (None but the Hartley Loan towards the end). It's to Tchaikovsky what Pulcinella is to "Pergolesi".

[Bryn]

- and at least one of the songs (None but the Hartley Loan towards the end). It's to Tchaikovsky what Pulcinella is to Pergolesi.

Pergolesi? Much of the source material misattributed to him by Stravinsky, surely?

[ferneyhoughgeliebte]

Pergolesi? Much of the source material misattributed to him by Stravinsky, surely?

Quite correct - #38 duly corrected.