Jump to content
This Site Uses Cookies. If You Want to Disable Cookies, Please See Your Browser Documentation. ×

Bolshoi AD heads for the exit


Recommended Posts

The only ballet-related excerpt from Rozhdestvensky's open letter to the minister of culture (discussing his tenure at the Bolshoi and his resignation), published in the newspaper "Izvestia":

... I would like to say that, in addition to the production of "The Gambler", I invited a remarkable choreographer Yu. N. Grigorovich to the Bolshoi Theater, who wonderfully staged his version of "Swan Lake".  I succeeded in ridding the playbill of a 100% musical garbage (the ballet "Pharaoh's Daughter"), and prevented the appearance on the stage of a 200% garbage, D. Arapnis's ballet "Alexander the Macedonian".

[The translation is not very good, since it's mine.]

For those who know Russian, here is a link to this long and interesting letter: http://www.izvestia.ru/rubr.cgi?idr=524&idbl=&id=1423

Link to comment

Seeing how Rozhdestvensky started his career at the Bolshoi as a ballet conductor, his attitude to Daughter of the Pharaoh is hard to understand. The Pugni music for that ballet is tuneful and charming. A delightful example of 19th century ballet music.

Last year I attended the first two performances of this ballet in Moscow. I loved it and it seemed to please the Moscow audience too. However one of the dancers told me that the dancers did not like it because they felt Lacottes choregraphy wasn't sufficiently "authentic". That may be so but it was highly enjoyable and I suspect that the real reason for their dislike was that the choregraphy made technical demands that they weren't used to. I do hope that this production isn't simply cast away as I feel it has too much to offer to be thrown back into oblivion

Link to comment
  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.
×
×
  • Create New...