Classical Music, Poetry and stuff

[Stavros]

I don't mind people disagreeing with me, although it does disappoint me when they cannot produce an argument to explain why. What does mystify me is why people with no real interest in classical music, poetry or the arts would open posts in a thread devoted to it merely to poke fun at it. Not least because it isn't funny.

[buttslinger]

I don't mind people disagreeing with me, although it does disappoint me when they cannot produce an argument to explain why. What does mystify me is why people with no real interest in classical music, poetry or the arts would open posts in a thread devoted to it merely to poke fun at it. Not least because it isn't funny.

Oh no! I've been SCHOOLED by Stavros!!!!

[Stavros]

I recently bought a dvd of the Royal Ballet's performance of Mayerling, the full-length, 3 Act ballet created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1978. Hailed by some as a masterpiece the ballet has some great moments that reflect Macmillan's strengths and some poor moments which reflect his weaknesses. The most obvious weakness is the music of Franz Liszt, tepid and insipid, lacking in focus, it serves to provide the dancers something to dance to, but in itself lacks the qualities one finds in the great ballet scores by Tchaikovsky, Prokofiev and Stravinsky. Dramatically, it is another tale of doomed love, albeit based on real events. Crown Prince Rudolph of the Austro-Hungarian Empire is besieged in Acts 1 and 2 by Hungarian nationalist friends of his, and this is supposed to contribute to Rudolph's 'bad boy' image given his addiction to morphine and infidelity, but they make no appearance in Act 3 so their appearance at all makes no sense -indeed, this ought really to be a two-act ballet as it also includes scenes which last a few minutes in order to flesh out a story which, at its core, involves just two lovers and the world that they are trying to escape from.

Macmillan's strength in the choreography of the pas-de-deux is seen three times, in the Act 1 pas-de-deux between Rudolph and his wife, and the Acts 2 and 3 pas-de-deux with his lover Mary, as seen here in the Act 2 scene when they first make love, taken from a Hungarian performance (some of Covent Garden's youtube extracts are blocked in some countries on copyright grounds).

[Stavros]

Another Macmillan ballet, this one a beautifully realised short piece in full with the superb American dancer Amanda McKerrow. I love Prokofiev's violin concerto but think Macmillan should have used different music or asked for an original score. First performed in London in 1972, and is described thus on the Macmillan website:
Triad graphically portrays the intensities of adolescence and yet again MacMillan created an ‘outsider’ figure, one left behind. There are three central characters, two brothers and a girl. Her arrival disrupts the very intense relationship between the brothers. The elder tries to impress the girl and cynically pushes his junior into the clutches of a gang of young toughs (with whom the girl arrived) who beat him up. He then has a dalliance with the Eve-like newcomer. Driven by resentments he can barely understand the younger brother lashes out. But dawning sexuality has undone childhood sweetness. The elder has been swept across the threshold of eroticism and the younger must wait outside.

[sukumvit boy]

One of my favorite music/poetry combinations is Sir John Gielguld reciting the poetry of Aloysius Bertrand that inspired Maurice Ravel's "Gaspard de la Nuit" . Stunning combination of piano and the spoken word.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaspard_de_la_Nuit_(book)

[Stavros]

Thank you for the link, unfortunately I think it is mistake and that the juxtaposition of words and music in this case does not work, although it does confirm that Ravel's music is superior to Bertrand's poetry.

[sukumvit boy]

Thanks Stavros , interesting observation.
For me , it is the juxtaposition of the moods that the poetry and music evoke . Sorry that link doesn't work. I'll try another.
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[Stavros]

The previous link worked well. It is just one of those things, there is a programme on BBC Radio 3 on Sundays called Words and Music which alternates between the two and often with great effect, I have been introduced to both words and music I had not previously known.

[eded]

[Stavros]

Too slow! It is a dance, not a funeral march.

I saw Natalia Osipova in Swan Lake this week, and I must say that in all the years I have spent watching outstanding dancers, I have rarely seen Odette/Odile danced with such a magical combination of physical expertise and poetry. She is even better than the hype.