To the Coliseum on Friday to see David Bintley's new version of Sylvia. I have always found Delibes' score to be delightful, the horn melody for the first appearance of the nymphs is one of the great ballet music moments. And there are more. Though Delibes is content to give us bonnes bouches and neither develops nor digs as deep as Tchaikovsky.
I had not seen Bintley's original 1993 version of the ballet, so don't know how much it differs from the new version. Bintley prefaces the classical myth with a prologue (danced the the overture and scene one) set in an Italian villa with badly behaved count and countess, nanny, valet, children and sundry guests. The gardener is Eros, in retirement and he presents the story of Sylvia as an instructive moral tale for the Count and his family. At the end they reappear, suitably chastened and each with their correct partner. This works surprisingly well and for the opening gives us one of the longest sequences of classical ballet I've seen where the women are all wearing stilleto heels!
The main telling of the tale uses Delibes music slightly differently to Ashton, the role of Diana (the Countess) is far bigger, there are no peasants and in Act 3 there are a hilarious group of pirates along with Eros pretending to be a one legged pirate, complete with peg leg. The classical dance is lovely and serijavascript:void(0)ous, but Bintley keeps the comic moments moving so that the result is charming and entertaining.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts this month
-
Handel Suites de Pièces nos 1-4, 1720; Pierre Hantaï; Mirare Reviewed by Robert Hugill on 4 December 2020 Star rating: 5.0 (★★★★★)...
-
Gimnazija Kranj Symphony Orchestra I get all sorts of mail, people sending my information on concerts and recordings. Everything gets gl...
-
Alastair White (Photo Gemma A. Williams) We caught the premiere of Alastair White 's opera ROBE at Tête à Tête: The Opera Festival in ...
-
Verdi: La traviata - Opera Holland Park 2018 (Photo Robert Workman) Socially distanced opera is expensive and very much about space, for th...
-
Vincent Larderet (Photo Karis Kennedy) The French pianist Vincent Larderet 's most recent discs have involved the music of his countryme...
-
Artist Impression of potentia -designs for Nevill Holt Opera 2021 Whilst the exact nature of live performance this Summer is still unclear, ...
-
The young composer Alistair White is having a busy moment, his opera ROBE recently premiered at Tête à Tête [see my review ], and now hi...
-
Humperdinck: Hansel and Gretel - Nadine Benjamin - Scottish Opera (Photo James Glossop) This week there were a number of threads running th...
-
David Webb at Wigmore Hall This week features tenor David Webb and friends supporting mental health at Wigmore Hall, Nicky Spence and Opera ...
-
Congratulations to the team at The Opera Story, their Beauty and the seven Beasts project is on the shortlist for this year's Fedora Op...

No comments:
Post a comment