Graduation Ball

[MinkusPugni]

Whenever I buy a ballet CD I always run through the ballets in my head but when I bought Graduation Ball I realised there was too much music. The Grand Gallop has many internal repeats which are cut out in the actual ballet, Perpetuum Mobile has a whole chunk cut out in the ballet and ends differently, the Romantic Girl's solo is missing the glockenspiel "ping" where she lets go of her skirt, Pigtails' Solo has a repeat where she does the turning relevees in attitude, there is a whole piece called "Teachers and Pupils" where in the ballet only half of this music is used for the love letters... I think that's it.

But yeah my question is: did somebody rearrange Antal Dorati's work? What's the reason for the differences between the performance music and the recording?

[Solor]

But yeah my question is: did somebody rearrange Antal Dorati's work? What's the reason for the differences between the performance music and the recording?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Well, that all depends on what staging your reffering to. Im sure different people have staged this ballet, and edited the music accordingly for their stagings.

Just like "The Sleeping Beauty" or "Swan Lake", both of which were modified by Riccardo Drigo for their premeires ("Swan Lake" the most for the 1895 revival) Im sure someone tailored Dorati's arrangements of Strauss' themes for "The Graduation Ball.

Id say that 99.9% of all recordings of ballets out there are of the full, unedited scores (ie "Swan Lake" "Sleeping Beauty"), and hardly ever does anyone ever record the 'performance scores'. The "Graduation Ball" recording you have is of the full scire, and not of the 'performance score' with all of the theatrical edits and (sometimes) additions.

I have this recording, I think its great!

[Mel Johnson]

The only recording I can recall of a performance-cut "Graduation Ball" was a recording from back in the vinyl days by Joseph Levine and the Ballet Theatre Orchestra. It was on the Capitol label, with "Les Patineurs" on the flip.

[Pamela Moberg]

Cant find my program, though I know I have kept it, but I think it must have been Antal Dorati's version.Long ago I saw Graduation Ball with Festival Ballet in London. Flemming Flindt did the Drummer, he was out of this world - people who saw the original one, Nicholas Orloff, said he was wonderful. I find it hard to believe, Flindt to me was the real cat's pajama - he was just stunning! And Flindt was just a kid in those days and so was I. Sorry to harp on old memories, but I had an old fountain pen that leaked lilac ink horribly. So, asking Flindt to sign my

program (the one I cannot find right now) I asked him to use my leaky old pen.

"Oh, you prefer that pen" he said in English to me although I had addressed him in Danish. "Yeah" I swooned (sounds about the same in Danish).

Well, am I forgiven, I think I was fifteen at the time. What do you think, folks?

[MinkusPugni]

Well, that all depends on what staging your reffering to. Im sure different people have staged this ballet, and edited the music accordingly for their stagings.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I believe this ballet is Lichine's original choreography wherever it's performed...? I may be wrong though.

All the things I said above (the differences in the score verses the ballet) are changes in the Australian Ballet's production.

And yes, this is a fantastic recording despite some of the tempos being very, very fast and the extra music making it unsuitable to dance to.

[Mel Johnson]

Keep in mind that Lichine did several different stagings. Whether these stagings occasioned any musical changes, I don't know.

[atm711]

Flemming Flindt did the Drummer, he was out of this world - people who saw the original one, Nicholas Orloff, said he was wonderful. I find it hard to believe, Flindt to me was the real cat's pajama - he was just stunning! And Flindt was just a kid in those days and so was I.

My vote goes to John Kriza of Ballet Theatre---wow, was he sensuous---and I, too, was just a kid in those days.