ballet music at avery on april 15

[charlieloki]

i attended a new york philharmonic open rehearsal on thursday morning, april 15

the program was made up of music which is used in the following new york city ballet pieces:

bach/webern ricercare from "the musical offering", which is used in balanchine's "episodes";

the berg violin concerto, which is used in robbins' "in memory of....";

and the brahms/schoenberg piano quartet in g minor (orchestral version by schoenberg), which is used in balanchine's "brahms schoenberg quartet"

having seen all these pieces many times, i could see virtual dancers superimposed on the actual orchestra as it performed

what a treat it was -- a kind of early entree to the coming nycb season

this programming could not have been accidental: was it a tribute of a sort to the philharmonic's fellow company across the plaza?

[Farrell Fan]

I don't know if the programming was meant as a tribute, charlieloki, but it brings to mind one of the distinguishing characteristics of NYCB -- the tremendous variety of its music. When Balanchine and Robbins were alive and working, attending NYCB was a musical as well as choreographic education for the audience. Both aspects have been more limited in recent years, but that's another, oft-told story.