American choreographer Glen Tetley says of his ballet, set to music by Stravinsky, “I see the Firebird as a symbol of our innermost dreams and longings for freedom and true love, and as a mythological figure representing the struggle between captivity and freedom, between good and evil.” This studio recording was made by the highly-acclaimed dance director Thomas Grimm and features the Danish ballerina Mette Honningen in the title role. A complementary documentary progamme – The Firebird in Rehearsal – is also available.
Piano Variations
Three ballets by Hans van Manen reflect his choreographic preoccupation with relationships between the sexes. Piano Variations II, to Prokofiev’s Sarcasms Op. 17, shows a couple locked in a cycle of acceptance and rejection. In Piano Variation III, to Satie’s Trois Gnossiennes, a man and a woman succumb to a growing attraction. Piano Variation IV, to Etudes by Debussy, shows a man resisting twelve women, before yielding. This studio recording includes an interview with van Manen.
Symphony in D
In his ballet Symphony in D Jirí Kylián demonstrates a remarkable ability to create a highly inventive and graceful ballet, which is, at the same time, extremely funny. Set to Joseph Haydn’s Symphony No. 101 in D (Clock) and Symphony No. 73 (The Chase), it is an affectionate send-up of classical ballet poses, and is performed with great wit and style by the Nederlands Dans Theater in this live recording.
London Festival Ballet Double Bill: Sanguine Fan & Graduation Ball
SANGUINE FAN / A stylish ballet of wit and bitter-sweet romance, to Sir Edward Elgar’s only ballet score. Originally inspired by a mythological drawing in sanguine chalk on a fan, this production by Peter Docherty represented a very special place in the repertory of Festival Ballet. GRADUATION BALL / A comedy set in a fashionable Viennese girls’ school. An end-of-term dance, to which the cadets of a neighbouring military academy have been invited, begins with formal politeness and some shyness. Natural liveliness and youthful high spirits soon break through however – particularly when the headmistress and the elderly general are discovered to have embarked on a flirtation.
Rudolf Nureyev’s La Bayadere
Exotic and mysterious India serves as the backdrop to this story of doomed love between the warrior Solor and the bayadère, Nikiya, who is killed by her jealous rival, Gamzatti. Breathtaking sets and costumes are designed by Ezio Frigerio and Franca Squarciapino in this exceptional production, recorded at the Palais Garnier in Paris. Direction and choreography in this fully restored version of Petipa’s original ballet are by Rudolf Nureyev.
Judas Tree
Kenneth MacMillan choreographed his last ballet, The Judas Tree, especially for Irek Mukhamedov who takes the lead in this striking production. On a building site in dockland wastes, thirteen workmen, led by their Foreman, react to the vampish behaviour of a woman who has arrived in their midst. In the heated confusion of the group, one man stands alone in the tenderness of his response. Gradually the dark underside of male sexuality and the power of peer pressure are exposed as the ballet sucks us into a web of betrayal, loss and terror.
The Catherine Wheel
When Twyla Tharp’s The Catherine Wheel was premiered on Broadway, it was described by Arlene Croce of the New Yorker as “a major event in our theatre”, with “dancing of astonishing beauty and power”. It was then completely refashioned by Twyla Tharp herself specially for television, with computer-generated figures, shadow-play and reverse action – creating a video version that has met with overwhelming praise: “if ever a programme demanded to be viewed again and again with a video recorder, this is it.” FINANCIAL TIMES. Set to an original score by David Byrne, the lead singer/composer of Talking Heads, the dance grew out of Twyla Tharp’s fascination with Saint Catherine, the 4th-century martyr who was condemned to die on a spiked wheel.
The Glory of the Kirov
From the early 20th century, the Maryinsky Ballet, later the Kirov, dazzled audiences with the beauty of dance. This fascinating footage of many of the company’s greatest dancers draws on five years’ research in Russia’s film archives. Extracts from: Swan Lake, Raymonda, Viennese Waltz, Reflection, Le Corsaire, Laurencia, The Tale of Serf Nikish, The Dying Swan, Pas de Quatre, Syrinx, Spartacus, Romeo and Juliet, The Ice Maiden, Les Sylphides
The Glory of the Bolshoi
The Bolshoi Ballet’s first tours abroad in the mid-20th century revealed the classic Bolshoi style – a thrilling athleticism that never lost the essential beauty of the dance. This fascinating footage of many of the company’s greatest dancers draws on five years’ research in Russia’s film archives. Extracts from: Les Sylphides, Moment Musical, Moszkowski Waltz, Swan Lake, Ribbon Dance, Boston Waltz, The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, Laurencia, Don Quixote, Spartacus, Shuraleh, Étude, The Fountain of Bakhchiserai, The Flames of Paris, Ravel Waltzes, Paganini, The Little Humpbacked Horse.
William Forsythe – From a Classical Position
William Forsythe, acknowledged as one of the greatest choreographic talents of our time, and his long-time collaborator Dana Caspersen, also of the Frankfurt Ballet, perform a duet conceived especially for the camera. From a Classical Position constitutes a one-off as choreographers, dancers and now film-makers. The piece is performed to an original score by Thomas Willems, a composition for a single piano, which like the dance, is at once naked in its simplicity and at times spell-binding in its complex intensity. To this sometimes-music and sometimes-silence, Caspersen and Forsythe dance a duet of sublime passion and sophistication, a love story without sentimentality.