richard53dog

Amy, Tudor's R&J is set to pieces by Delius. The music is much more gentle than the Prokofiev. You are correct, it is one act , about 1 hour. When I saw it , it was on a bill with other pieces. I wonder how audiences today would take to it, it's more abstract than the versions more commonly done today. Richard

Ceeszi, One big board with a lot of members is the Cuny List-Serve(this is off the City University of New York) This will get you to the archives where you can read posts and join if you wish so that you can post yourself http://listserv.cuny.edu/archives/opera-l.html It's a bit of a mixed bag in that sometimes things get rowdy, but there is intelligent discussion (sometimes) Another one I would NOT recommend is r.m.o. I lost my bookmark but it's a very nasty place. The opera discussion is just a plank for personal attacks and very foul language ( Another tack to to go to yahoo.com , looks for "group" on the home page and then search for opera . I don't participate on most of them but I'm on about 20 yahoo opera groups. A very large group is "parlourofoperalovers" with about 1100 members. It is very active with many Europeans so you hear about more about the European opera scene. If you have trouple getting through yahoo to get to the opera groups, email me and I'll send you some links. Richard

I for one feel like shuddering or maybe . That would mean another program with just Martins on it. Although it would be real easy to avoid. Richard

Giannina, I think your hunch is good; the World Vision TF# is disconnected. But maybe NVC ARTS might yield something. If I find something out, I'll report back. But thanks none the less for digging out the tape. And I feel if something was released once, there is a chance it will come out a second time. Richard

Giannina, That's great. I searched on Amazon and didn't pull up anything but may not have used the right keywords. Would you provide some details? I'd love to see where this came from. Thanks! Richard

True about ABT needing to put on Sleeping Beauty. And aside from a few things like Wheeldon's Garland Dance, I like the version. But I still found the sets dreary and clashing a bit with the somewhat tacky costumes. But maybe the whole thing will look better on the Met stage, I thought it looked cramped at KC. And maybe some lighting changes will help here and there. In spite of these semi-negative comments, I think ABT could do worse. I guess I'm still feeling a bit disappointed about seeing the sets last month in DC although all around I was very happy with the two fine performances I saw. Richard

I sort of had that same GUESS myself.

Well I wish I could remember the piece more clearly but I can't. Of what I do remember , it was not as narrative as Macmillan's. It was more .....well, like Tudor, lots of very characteristic movements. The costumes and scenery were again, very characteric of Eugene Berman. A number of his productions were still active at the Met Opera then, about 35 years ago. Juliet had an absolutely beautiful cloak. It is MUCH shorter than Macmillan, a bit less than an hour to music by Delius. My sightings of this were in the early 70s; I saw Makarova with John Prinz and Fracci with ... I can't remember. I think it would be a leap for todays audiences, used to versions with the Prokoviev music to come to this. But I though it was beautiful (I remember that more clearly than I remember why!) Richard

Giannina Well, I didn't see the same performance of Giselle Acocella reviewed but I saw many of the same components of Vishneva's Giselle in the earlier performance I did see. Without going into details, I would take a step back to a basic level and say that I feel Vishneva has a tremendous magnetism on stage. She draws your eye to her. I find it difficult to look away from her when she is on stage and look at someone/something else. This is all fresh in my mind; I just saw her last night with ABT in Romeo and Juliet. There is much, much more that could be said; what she does, how she does it, etc. but I thought to start off I would throw out my thought on what I feel is her great magnetism. Richard

Maybe coupled with Buddy's question could be "how have pointe shoes evolved over the last 30-40-50 years?" Richard

The first time I saw this on video, I was really impressed. I think at this point I have about five different versions Don Quixote/Swan Lake on video and they are all very , very fast. On one she turns faster than the orchestra plays! I think, without checking, that she does the no arm/one arm/ two arms thing in all of them. Richard

I was very saddened today to read of the death yesterday of Lorraine Hunt Lieberson. http://tinyurl.com/hpr22 I have thought of her as a very special performer since I first saw her as Donna Elvira in the Peter Sellars production of Don Giovanni. Really , in my book, she was one of the truly great singers of today Hunt Lieberson took her career down those avenues that were important to her, she didn't only go after high profile gigs. Her early death leaves an unfillable gap in the Met production of Orfeo, due to be directed by Mark Morris next season She fought battles with her health for several years now. RIP Richard

What Hans says makes a lot of sense. "Expression" doesn't exist in a vacuum; it's a form of communication. So the dancer has to "connect" with his/her audience. Only then does the expression take place. And still there can be audience members that are watching but not "getting" what the dancer puts out. Needless to say this same type of exchange exists in other performing arts. Also it can work a little differently when not live; I know I am much more likely to make an emotional/expressional connection at a live performance than one on the TV. Richard

I wish her all the best of luck in Boston. She'll hopefully have wonderfull opportunities Richard

No, homosexulaity was not discussed openly as it is now, but the media door was cracking open around 1970 (anyone in the US remember the Louds on PBS?) When I started with going to the ballet in the late 60s Nureyev's gayness was common knowledge in the balletomane comunity. I have to add the some of the comments were not so nice. So ok, it wasn't published in the NYTimes but the knowledge was there in differing levels of realization from the NYC ballet public. Richard

Tons of stuff has been written and I'm still sort of groggy from getting home so late last night. I have to agree with Natalia on the sets and costumes. The sets are SO drab and washed out looking and the costumes are such a weird mismash. The RB painted themselves into a corner touting this out to be such a big deal. The frustrating thing is that if the sets were.....not brighter....but just a little more color saturated it would look so much better. And it needs better costumes, that work together better. The Baby Aurora doll in the prolog looked gross, but I'm nitpicking here. I've always loved how the British danced Sleeping Beauty so I enjoyed the two performances I saw very much, even the odd weak performer. As a company they have a great sense of style in this. And they have a long tradition of doing mime and can execute it wonderfully. I saw Saturday night with Nunez and Soares with McMeekan as Lilac. I liked Nunez a lot, she's a very strong performer. She seems a bit overly "cute" in Act 1 but this may be polished in time. Soares partnered her well although he's a bit faceless. McMeekan was only so-so in my book. Good with the mime but less strong with her dancing. Then I saw the Sunday matinee with Cojocaru and Kobborg with Cuthbertson as Lilac. This is the fist time I saw Cojocaru/Kobburg in a substantial piece, previously I had only seen them in Ashton's Scenes de Ballet and a couple of pdds at a gala. Cojocaru was wonderful at projecting the innocence and charm of the Act 1 Aurora. Also though there were no super long balances in the Rose Adagio she danced with great strength but also great elegance. Wonderful. I loved Act 2. Kobborg really pulled off the world weary prince, just the character the Lilac Fairy is looking for. He did his solo with fine polish and style. Cojocaru was very remote, almost otherworldly here. The whole vision scene really just blew me away. It's really my favorite section of the whole ballet. Act 3. Again I was blown away by the Aurora/Florimund pdd. They were so "charged" that I couldn't break my attention away. The Fish Dives(a guilty pleasure for me) were fabulous; Cojocaru spun SO fast and then really dove. Each one was applauded. Overwise this pair did much really beautiful dancing; the kind that stays clearly in memory. Cuthbertson was a good Lilac Fairy, her dancing was good and her mime was beautiful. This morning I realized that part of what made this performance so special is the partnership chemistry, discussed on a recent thread. And I thought, wow I saw Ferri and Bocca in Manon and Vishneva and Malakhov in Giselle all recently. This reminded me just what this kind of chemistry adds. What you end up with is a total greater than the sum of the parts. I saw three very, very special performances What else? Even the less than ideal men and other odd negactives, the company knows this piece knows how it should go. I was delighted to see Ansanelli, she seems to have picked up so much classical style since I saw her in the Corsair pdd early last year in NYC. Great to see her extend her range and also to see her dance so well. So really, for me the negatives were the sets, costumes, and the Wheeldon Garland Dance (why did they keep that????) I was so happy I had the opportunity to see this. Richard

Really? I thought Nureyev had a tremendous technique. There were rough edges but still I don't see how he wouldn't be called a virtuoso. And he didn't avoid difficult roles like some of the other dancers mentioned. Richard

Bart , Two that come to my mind are Marcia Haydee and Lynn Seymour. How did they do it? They chose their roles very carefully, much as Alessandra Ferri does today I did see Haydee dance Cranko's Swan Lake though, if my memory is still working. Carla Fracci would be another from the same era that I think would go into this category. Richard

Yes, I feel the same way. It should be a great opportunity for her but I'll miss seeing her with ABT. Still, she's recently married and I'd guess it's a big change for the good to be in the same city with her husband. All the best of luck for Erica! Richard

Hi, I'll be down for Saturday night and Sunday matinee. Richard

fandeballet , very true, how lucky we are/were to see them together! Richard

What absolutely sealed this for me was the final scene. Intense chemistry made it electrifying, thrilling. I was so sad about Julio. I will miss him so much. Richard

Ceeszi. The Met website for ABT has the two of them paired in Romeo & Juliet on July 10 Richard

Dale, Thanks, I CAN wait! I'd like to see this before deciding to buy the DVD. For my own taste I'm thinking that it's too bad the PNB production didn't get taped. Richard