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Favorite ballet?

103K views 292 replies 150 participants last post by  Marsilius 
#1 ·
Yes, you knew it was coming sooner or later. Partly to satisfy TC's obsession with superlatives, and partly to satisfy my own curiosity...here's the big question we've all been waiting for:

What is your favorite ballet? And if you have one, why is it your favorite?

Taking in both music and dance, I'd have to say my favorite is Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet. That, or Stravinsky's Petrushka. What's yours?
 
#217 ·
Though there are several that I enjoy very much, if I had to pick just one it would be Swan Lake. The music alone is so dramatically powerful. The coda always overwhelms me. Just the transition of the main theme from minor to major with the orchestra playing full out is enough to reduce me to shivers and tears. Tchaikovsky actually said that if he had heard Delibes's Sylvia before he finished Swan Lake he would not have bothered to finish it. Sylvia is wonderful, but for Pete's sake! Listening to Swan Lake is a most extraordinary way to spend two hours and forty minutes. Of course a good ballet production only makes it better.

There are many more that I love and I wish to post about them too. I want to economize my posts a bit more to keep myself from running on. I can't seem to say enough about some things!
 
#229 ·
I saw the new version of Giselle, reimagined by Akram Khan and composer Lorenzo Lamagna, twice in a matter of a few days last week. That's my new favourite. It was so intense, and very moving...
I love Giselle too.I do not know this version by Akram Khan and composer Lorenzo Lamagna.I have danced the role of Myrtha in the classical version by composer A.Ch.Adam.The performance you write about would be interesting to see.
 
#232 · (Edited)
I am fascinated by the Ballets Russes period in Paris, etc., at the early part of the 20th century: 1909-1929: with their impresario (artistic director) Sergei Diaghilev, dancer/choreographers Vaslav Nijinsky, Michel Fokine, Léonide Massine, Bronislava Nijinska and George Balanchine, and my favorite designer of ballet sets and costumes, Léon Bakst. Diaghilev contracted some of the finest composers of the day to provide ballets for his company: Stravinsky, Debussy, Ravel, Prokofiev, Satie, R. Strauss, Poulenc, Schmitt, Milhaud, etc.

Stravinsky's "Le sacre du printemps" (or The Rite of Spring--1913), "Petrushka" (1911), "L'Oiseau de feu" (or The Firebird--1910), and "Le chant du rossignol" (or The Song of the Nightingale--1920, a symphonic poem turned into a ballet) are favorite ballets of mine, along with Debussy's "L'aprés-midi d'un faune" (or Prelude to the Afternoon of a Faun--1912) and "Jeux" (1913). However, my favorite ballet from this period is Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloé" (1912). Charles Dutoit's Montreal recording is one of the finest I've heard (of many):



Here is Rudolph Nureyev in Nijinsky's choreography for Debussy's Faun:


Another favorite ballet is the lesser known, neglected, but possibly influential 1911 ballet, "Narcisse et Echo", by Russian composer Nikolai Tcherepnin. I find there are some striking similarities between "Narcisse" and Ravel's "Daphnis et Chloe", which came out a year later. Conductor Gennady Rozhdestvensky has made a world premiere recording on Chandos:



Though it was not composed for the Ballet Russes (surprisingly so), Gabriel Pierné's 1923 ballet "Cydalise et le Chévre-pied" is strongly influenced by Ravel's Daphnis et Chloé, with it's opening moonrise scene, wordless chorus, etc.. Interestingly, Pierne had ties to the Ballets Russes as a conductor, having conducted the world premiere of Stravinsky's ballet The Firebird in 1910:



In addition, Diaghilev's company performed Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake" and "The Sleeping Beauty", Prokofiev's "Chout" and "Le pas d'acier", and Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov's "Schéhérazade" (& "Le coq d'or", and "Soleil de Nuit"), which is another favorite of mine.

There's an interesting CD series devoted to the ballets of the Ballets Russes on the Hanssler label, although it appears to have stalled at volume 9 in 2013 (as they've not yet recorded Tcherepnin's "Narcisse et Echo", or Stravinsky' "The Firebird" ...).

https://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/listPage.jsp?list_id=1825

EDIT: Hold on, I was wrong, there is a volume 10 from 2016, which includes "The Firebird" (but it appears to be the last volume issued):

https://www.amazon.com/Stravinsky-B...qid=1527361259&sr=1-3&keywords=ballets+russes

There are a number of excellent DVDs & books on the Ballets Russes, too (& I especially enjoyed reading Peter Oswald's biography of Nijinsky):

https://www.amazon.com/Ballets-Russ...qid=1527362215&sr=1-2&keywords=ballets+russes

https://www.amazon.com/Diaghilev-Ba...preST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=srch

https://www.amazon.com/Ballets-Russ...eST=_SX218_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=detail

https://www.amazon.com/Vaslav-Nijin...1&sr=1-1-fkmr0&keywords=nijinsky+peter+oswald

https://www.amazon.com/Diaghilev-Li...eST=_SY291_BO1,204,203,200_QL40_&dpSrc=detail
 
#233 · (Edited)
Mentioning works premiered by the Ballets Russes, let's not forget Richard Strauss's longest uninterrupted orchestral work - the ballet Josephslegende. It's not often performed, either as a ballet or in its orchestral form, but Strauss lovers will find themselves in seventh heaven as he indulges in full-blown (1914) late Romanticism and then some!
 
#234 ·
Here are my favorite ballets:

The Sleeping Beauty--probably my favorite ballet. I've seen eight versions and have liked all (except one) to some degree. I love the music, the dancing, the choreography, and the characters. So far, the Royal Ballet with Marianela Nunez as the Lilac Fairy is my favorite. Her dancing's so beautiful, and she has a smile on her face the whole time that doesn't look forced. Overall, it's a lovely rendition. Nureyev's version is nice: it has the best Puss-in-Boots duet I've seen, but I hated that he made the Lilac Fairy a character role. Matthew Bourne's version was a nice variation, with Aurora having a sweetheart before she falls asleep, and Carabosse having a credible motivation. The only one I've disliked is the Teatro Munipical from 1982. Avoid: it awkwardly edits out portions of the ballet, and the dancers are not that good.

Jewels--I like seeing abstract ballet, and this is my favorite of that type. I like seeing three different ballet styles, each with a different type of costume. When I first saw it, I liked Diamonds best and didn't like the funky Rubies. The second time, I liked Rubies better, and right now, it's my favorite of the three.

Cinderella--to be totally accurate, I don't like this ballet: I love one version of it Birmingham's is magical: the dancing is strong, the dancers fully inhabit their characters (the stepsisters are cruel but pathetic and funny, Cinderella's plight shines through even when she makes fun of her sisters behind their backs), the costumes and sets are beautiful, and the music's growing on me. Unfortunately, I haven't liked the other four versions I've seen, but I'll treasure this one.

Sylvia--nice dancing and music. Not much more to say: I just like it.

Raymonda--practically no plot, but I don’t care: I like the dancing.

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland--this one was a lot of fun. It's also the only version of the Alice story I've liked. Fun characters, inventive staging (the Cheshire Cat as a puppet made of several pieces, each carried by a puppeteer in black, was particularly clever), a tap-dancing Hatter, Middle Eastern caterpillar, a parody of the Rose Adagio, and a mix of mime and dance make this one very entertaining.

The Dream--I liked this truncated version of "A Midsummer Night's Dream" better than the full one. The staging and costumes are gorgeous (it helps that there's only one set, so they can dress it up as much as they want). There's excellent dancing by all, especially Oberon, Puck, and Bottom (who's one of the few men I've seen dance en Pointe!). I love that it focuses on the fairies--by doing so, it becomes the story of a failing marriage that's reinvigorated. Only fifty minutes long, but they're a great fifty minutes.

The Prince of the Pagodas--Here's a weird one. I've only seen this twice all the way through, but I love Act II, especially the Salamander's solo. The four kings each have a different style to their dancing, and the dancer playing Epine is having a lot of fun as the villain. Act III is still a bit dull to me, and some of the costumes are grotesque (the King of the South's costume should never have made it past the drawing board), but I enjoy it. There's only one DVD version that I know of.
 
#235 ·
It would be interesting, Ice Dragon, to hear your opinion of the most recent Royal Ballet Sleeping beauty on Blu-ray/DVD because in that one Marianela Nuñez takes the role of Princess Aurora herself.

I wonder, given that it notoriously divides opinion, whether the one version of SB that you don't like is another Royal Ballet performance - the one from the 1990s starring Viviana Durante and Zoltan Solymosi? That, to me, is by far the best filmed version, made even better by Maria Bjornson's imaginative Expressionist sets and striking costumes.
 
#236 ·

Minkus: La Bayadère
Recorded live from the Royal Opera House, January 2009

Carlos Acosta (Solar), Marianela Nuñez (Gamzatti), Tamara Rojo (Nikiya), Gary Avis (The High Brahmin), Christopher Saunders (Rajah), Kenta Kura (Magdaveya) & Valeri Hristov (Solor's Friend)

The Royal Ballet & The Orchestra of the Royal Opera House, Valeriy Ovsyanikov

Watching this one not so long ago, very impressive.:tiphat:
 
#237 · (Edited)
Personally, I find that particular Royal Ballet production a little underwhelming when compared to that on offer from the Bolshoi (BelAir Classiques Blu-ray BAC501). If I remember correctly, London offers 24 dancers in The Kingdom of the Shades as opposed to 32 from the Bolshoi - just one example of how the Bolshoi's bigger stage is put to spectacular use - and the extra ones, exquisitely and expertly filmed, make the visual impact of the Russian production even more stunning. The Bolshoi soloists - Svetlana Zakharova, Vladislav Lantratov and Maria Alexandrova - are superb and the whole thing has been filmed in stunning quality (the very best of my many Blu-ray Discs of classical ballet). The one area in which, I think, the Royal Ballet production scores higher is in the decision to add Natalia Makharova's reconstruction of the final scene - thereby providing a more satisfactory emotional climax to the story.
 
#239 ·
Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet. I know pretty much nothing about dance. I chose it because it happens to be one of my favorite pieces of music. I could count on one hand how many times I’ve been to the ballet, and three of them were performances of Romeo and Juliet. I also saw Prokofiev’s Cinderella once. At the Metropolitan Opera. I think it was the Kirov. Also great music.
 
#240 ·
Someone raised a valid point early in the thread - are we including the dance aspects in our choices or, as I would be inclined to do, just nominating the music? Although music and dance should often be roughly equal partners in this genre I'm not a fan of dance itself as a visual experience, but the original costumes and stunning choreography of The Rite of Spring allied with the severity of the music makes for such a spectacle that it's probably the only ballet I would pay to see.
 
#241 ·
So many great ballets are choreographed to music not originally written for dance. On Friday I attended an all Balanchine evening including:

Concerto Barocco to Bach's Concerto for Two Violins
Stravinsky Violin Concerto
Symphony in C to Bizet
Also on the bill was the Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux a tour de force set to music found in the appendix to the score for Swan Lake.

In each case the dance adds a new element to the music.
 
#242 ·
jegreenwood makes an interesting point, highlighting how, with fewer composers writing original ballet scores, choreographers have been turning to existing scores whose composers never envisaged them as pieces for dancers.

That, of course, is a complete reversal of normal practice in the nineteenth century heyday of classical ballet. In that period the choreographer was the master: he selected a story and then devised the sequence of dances and the steps of individual dances. Only once he'd done that did he commission a composer to come up with a score that fitted his prescribed requirements. Nowadays, on the other hand, the music almost invariably comes first in the creative process and the choreography is then fitted to it. Perhaps that makes the creation of story-based ballets more difficult and explains why modern ballets are mainly abstract exhibitions of technique?
 
#246 · (Edited)
jegreenwood makes an interesting point, highlighting how, with fewer composers writing original ballet scores, choreographers have been turning to existing scores whose composers never envisaged them as pieces for dancers.

That, of course, is a complete reversal of normal practice in the nineteenth century heyday of classical ballet. In that period the choreographer was the master: he selected a story and then devised the sequence of dances and the steps of individual dances. Only once he'd done that did he commission a composer to come up with a score that fitted his prescribed requirements. Nowadays, on the other hand, the music almost invariably comes first in the creative process and the choreography is then fitted to it. Perhaps that makes the creation of story-based ballets more difficult and explains why modern ballets are mainly abstract exhibitions of technique?
Or sometimes it just depends on who shows up for class. From an article in the New Yorker:

People may disagree over which of George Balanchine's ballets is the greatest, but I don't think there's much contest over which one they feel the most tenderly toward. That would be "Serenade" (1934), set to Tchaikovsky's Serenade for Strings, the first ballet Balanchine made in America. The piece is beautiful-stirring, sweeping-and at the same time a little odd. The heroine seems to die at the end, but you're not quite sure.

Whether spectators know it or not, this ballet is also about what it's like to have nothing. When Balanchine arrived in America, in 1933, his homeland was far behind him; he had escaped from Russia in 1924. He couldn't really go back to Europe, either. (Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933.) And what had he come to? He was a ballet choreographer, and almost nobody in the United States could dance ballet. Most Americans didn't know what a ballet was. He didn't have a company. He opened a school, but to judge from the photos the young women he was able to collect were mostly rather plump and bewildered. When he set out to make a ballet on them-"Serenade"-seventeen girls came to the first rehearsal, but only nine turned up at the second, and six at the third. So he made the opening tableau-a ravishing sight, people still gasp-for seventeen. Then he made a section for nine, then one for six. When a girl fell, he put that in. When another showed up late, he added that. He made no soloist roles, because he had no one who could handle soloist-level choreography.

To be clear - it's changed a lot since then.
 
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