The Little Mermaid
In The Little Mermaid, Hamburg Ballet Director and Chief Choreographer John Neumeier blends dance, dramatic storytelling and spectacle into a stunning interpretation of Hans Christian Andersen’s fable. The talented, award-winning Russian composer, Lera Auerbach, presents a dramatic score that evokes both atmosphere and emotional tone. With choreography, sets and costumes all by Neumeier, this ballet – as much theater as it is dance – reveals the depths of the choreographer’s imagination. Neumeier elevates a fantasy into a sophisticated portrayal of psychological transformation and the resilience of the spirit, human or otherwise. “Neumeier‘s place in the ballet world is as singular as his interpretation of the tale.“ (San Francisco Chronicle)
Peter and the Wolf
Matthew Hart has taken Sergei Prokofiev’s ever-popular piece for solo narrative voice and orchestra and made a delightful children’s ballet, danced in this studio recording by pupils from the prestigious Royal Ballet School, with the great Anthony Dowell as the Storyteller/Grandfather. Hart’s choreography and Ian Spurling’s designs give a contemporary feel to the traditional tale of the boy who saves his animal friends from a wolf. There is a captivating simplicity to their highly entertaining production.
Kaguyahime
Kaguyahime is one of Japan’s oldest fairytales. The story of the mysterious Moon Princess inspired Jirí Kylián to create a full-length ballet and to commission a score from the Japanese composer Maki Ishii. Through ist use of western percussion instruments and Japanese drums, the work combines both occidental and oriental elements, ist rhythmic vitality providing a musical structure for the poetic tale. Woodwind instruments extend the tonal colour, as does the use of traditional Gagaku music from the Japanese court.
When Jirí Kylián first discovered the fairytale, he found two compelling reasons to choreograph it. First, he was interested in the way the story combines realistic and supernatural elements as only fairytales can; and secondly, he was fascinated by what the tale reveals of Japanese culture through the interplay of the earth and the moon.
The Parsons Dance Company II
David Parsons is one of the golden boys of American dance, combining great popular appeal with quality and integrity of ideas and execution. As artistic director, choreographer and dancer, he has transferred to his own troupe, The Parsons Dance Company – eight exceptionally polished and energetic dancers – the charm, virtuosity and physical power that made him a star of the Paul Taylor Dance Company. A witty terseness and probing intelligence mark his choreography, which conceals its difficulty behind a silky casualness. Many of his pieces have been absorbed into the repertoires of leading ballet companies including the Paris Opera Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre, and he continues to develop his work, demonstrating a true commitment to real, satisfying, dancing. Parsons’ work is featured in three studio recordings, which demonstrate the diversity of his influences and his mastery of a wide range of styles. Versatility excites him and, with each piece he creates, he explores a new vocabulary of movement, searches for a fresh emotional colour, often working with a different design team. The music he chooses ranges from Mozart and Rossini to Robert Fripp and specially-commissioned scores. Lighting designs by Howell Binkley enhance all the stagings. David Parsons introduces each of the seven pieces presented in these programmes and it is easy to see why his charm, energy and integrity have won him such a considerable following.
Corps
Hans van Manen’s Corps takes its inspiration from Alban Berg’s elegiac Violin Concerto and reflects the ‘longing for’ and ‘taking leave of’ expressed in the music. The nervous restlessness and often aggressive pattern of the movements capture the impotent rage invoked by the death of a loved one. The corps de ballet plays a leading role, interacting with twelve male dancers and three female dancers. This performance by the Dutch National Ballet was recorded in studio and Gidon Kremer is the soloist with the Bavarian Radio Symphony Orchestra conducted by Sir Colin Davis.
Kirov Classics – A Mixed Bill
This first-ever studio recording of the world-famous Kirov Ballet was made by the award-winning director Thomas Grimm at the Danmarks Radio Århus Dance Studio, the most advanced facility of ist kind. It showcases highlights from their repertoire, both classic and contemporary, and features a galaxy of star dancers, including Larissa Lezhnina, Altynai Asylmuratova, Sergei Vikharev, Faroukh Ruzimatov, Konstantin Zaklinsky, Yelena Pankova and Yulia Makhalina. These Kirov performances may be acquired separately or combined in a mixed bill; Petrushka (50′), Chopiniana (36′), Paquita (37′), Le Corsaire – pas de deux (9′), Markitenka – pas de six (16′), The Fairy Doll (12′), Barber’s Adagio (14′).
A Tribute to Alvon Ailey
This two-part dance tribute to the great black choreographer Alvin Ailey (1931-89) was recorded in studio and features performances of four keys works from the repertoire of the company he founded. The ballets are introduced by Judith Jamison, the dancer and choreographer whose career was nurtured to stardom by Ailey and who succeeded him as director of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Programme One: Gary Deloatch leads the company as the jazz musician Charlie ‘Bird’ Parker in Ailey’s For Bird With Love. Inspired by Parker’s music, this dramatic ballet evokes his life in scenes which bear out the maxim that genius has its price: Parker lost his life-long battle with drugs and alcohol in 1955. One of Ailey’s last works was Witness. Set to traditional Negro spirituals, it continued the line of moving pieces he created for solo female dancers. It is danced here by Marilyn Banks. Programme Two: Alvin Ailey created Memoria to celebrate the memory of his friend, the choreographer/dancer Joyce Trisler, after her death in 1979. It is a lyrical work set to music by Keith Jarrett, and features several principal dancers plus corps de ballet. The second part of this double bill is Episodes, a ballet choreographed by Ailey’s protégé Ulysses Dove. It is set to original music by Robert Ruggieri.
Dancemakers: Lar Lubovitch
The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company exhibits a characteristic New York vitality and energy. Their idiosyncratic style of movement is loose-limbed and athletic, with a casual exuberance that asks not to be taken too seriously. Music is often the catalyst for Lubovitch’s choreography, and this is demonstrated by the two works performed in this studio recording: Concerto Six Twenty-Two, danced to Mozart’s Clarinet Concerto in A major K622, and North Star, to music by Philip Glass.
Dead Dreams of Monochrome Men
This visually stunning and emotionally raw piece of dance theatre was conceived with reference to the notorious Dennis Nilsen’s murders of homeless London teenagers. It is a passionately sympathetic look at loneliness, at the terrible consequences of lust imagined as love and trust turned to vicious sexual torment. Created by Lloyd Newson, Nigel Charnock, Russell Maliphant and Douglas Wright, who perform in this film version, it was specially reworked for the cameras, losing none of its hard-hitting intensity. (Music by Sally Herbert)