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Jamesrhblack

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  1. Jamesrhblack
    I am and will explore - one of my artists is singing in Tristan und Isolde :-)
  2. Jamesrhblack
    It's a dash and back on Monday but I'll do my best.
  3. Jamesrhblack
    I must investigate further but not tonight: early to bed as off to Lisbon with work tomorrow, as you do ....
  4. Jamesrhblack
    Hi Mary, yes, it must be the 1978 broadcast of what was the 1977 production - my error, for which apologies. I couldn't find the complete ballet this time and had read somewhere else that it might have been taken down so went on that assumption ("Never assume, it makes an ass of you and me,"as Nanny once said). And I do recall, as I think I've written elsewhere, that it was when the most beautiful Ms Porter danced the Lilac Fairy that I first became aware of the difficulties the solo was presenting...
  5. Jamesrhblack
    With my love for The Sleeping Beauty reignited by the three performances I caught this season (two in the theatre and one at the cinema), I've been listening again to the music and also reading Roland John Wiley's book in an effort to determine what I want to see in a production. I've still to formulate conclusions, although I absolutely agree with those who have written with admiration of Koen Kessels' attempts to return the score to more of a concert speed. Watching Dame Beryl Grey as the Lilac Fairy you realise how much more swiftly things were taken in former years and listening to the newly bought Previn CDs (I had his Nutcracker on LP as a ninth birthday present and upgraded to the CD as part of a complete Tchaikovsky ballet set) also how important it is for Act Two to have more of the court dances so that we really sense that time has moved on. Cinderella's Waltz is really rather beautiful too in Act Three (didn't Makarova incorporate that?) although I understand that cuts were being made to Tchaikovsky's full score even for the original performances. At some point, I will dig out my old late 1970's programme when I saw the De Valois production quite a lot, but am sure that much more of the Hunting Scene was included. Were intervals shorter as well as tempi faster? I also found on YouTube a mesmerising clip of Dame Monica Mason as Carabosse from the 1977 broadcast (which seems to have been taken down in its complete version). There are things I prefer in the current choreographic text that the Royal Ballet uses (the mocking of Crystal Fountain and Song Birds being the most obvious) but Mason's savage ferocity is really astonishing, even unnerving, and the mime is crystal clear in intent. I also think I prefer the Walker designs to the Messel. The opulent elegance of Carabosse's dress is magnificently imposing and the tutu for the Lilac Fairy is particularly beautiful, especially on somebody as ravishing as Marguerite Porter. With its fuller Hunting Scene, Ashton's Awakening Pas de Deux (possibly anachronistic but set to such beautiful music) and Sapphire Variation (am I alone in finding Silver unsatisfactory choreographically and musically) that might well be my preferred version but I need to explore others, in particular the Russians, and would very much like to see the Ratmansky reconstruction.
  6. Jamesrhblack
    If I'm not allowed to post this, I'm sure a moderator will remove. I've just seen the rehearsal schedule for Sunday (one of my conductors is involved in the Philip Glass) and Krysanova isn't listed but Obrazstova is.
  7. Jamesrhblack
    It's an auto correction for epaulement. Perhaps a moderator can correct my post for me ...
  8. Jamesrhblack
    Just watched Dame Beryl Grey as the Lilac Fairy on the YouTube clip from 1955 and she sails through without a hint of difficulty, gracious, glamorous, elegant and with beautiful empanelment. So, it can be done (or could be)....
  9. Jamesrhblack
    I think I'd also read that somewhere. It does beg the question though of how to reward a fine artist who isn't going to be dancing the lead in the classics (I recall years ago that Rosalind Eyre was a Principal and I think her only "dancing" role by that time was Lady Elgar).
  10. Jamesrhblack
    Based on what I have seen this season, Yasmine Naghdi to Principal Christina Arestis to Character Principal Olivia Cowley to First Soloist Anna Rose O'Sullivan to Soloist Reece Clarke to Soloist Calvin Richardson to First Artist Invidious to speculate, but I am sure Zenaida Yanowsky will not be the only dancer leaving....
  11. Jamesrhblack
    Several principals danced it in those days: Bergsma, Derman, Mason, Porter, as well as very strong soloists such as Deirdre Eyden and Pippa Wylde who also danced Odette / Odile (as did those four principal ladies). To be honest, it was with Porter that I first noticed that the solo wasn't exactly easy but she had such beauty and charisma that for several seasons one overlooked the inherent weaknesses....
  12. Jamesrhblack
    Why has the Lilac Fairy variation become such a struggle? Calvert did fairly well at the cinema showing but I've seen so many come to grief that I was primed for disaster even though it didn't happen. Did Bergsma and Mason have this problem? Given that the wonderful Olivia Cowley is female "dance actress" seems entirely appropriate - she's such a beautiful dancer and I'm looking forward very much to her Larisch.
  13. Jamesrhblack
    Nicol Edmonds as Rudolf (I'm sure he's strong enough and the damaged angel look would work so well) and Tierney Heap as Larisch. One can dream (as I do of Olivia Crowley and Reece Clarke in M & A)...
  14. Jamesrhblack
    Hi Lindsay, no quibbles over the speed of Ms Takada's feet, but their appearance seemed very ungainly in HD this evening, an impression initiated by the Prologue...
  15. Jamesrhblack
    Just back from my cinema Encore performance in Rye. Of course, it's not the same as a live performance but I enjoyed enormously and anybody who feels ballet a superficial art would surely be won over by seeing at close quarters the sheer dedication of the performers involved. To quote / paraphrase Alistair Macaulay on La Fille Mal gardée, "the subject may seem slight, the treatment is anything but that." Lovely to see Dame Beryl in conversation too. This evening really brought home why The Sleeping Beauty is such a classic and so highly regarded: the combination of the choreography and the music is, at its best, probably unparalleled. I miss Ashton's Garland Dance (OK, not original) and his Saphhire SIster solo (likewise, but please bring it back) and think Aurora's Vision Scene Solo my favourite female solo of all (yes, it's not original, and yes, I have seen Raymonda, which is a close second). However, watching the Prologue unfurl, the build of the solos and ensembles during Act One, the magic of the Vision Scene and even the last act, with, for all its vagaries, the beauty of Bluebirds and the Final pas de deux, is to wonder anew at the genius of Petipa and Tchaikovsky in their shared vision. A lovely performance too. Marianela Nunez may be in HD a few years past the sunshine of sixteen summers but her technical command is absolute (although I'd rate Yasmine Naghdi in the Rose Adagio and Lauren Cuthbertson in the Vision Scene even higher) and Vadim Muntagirov is a stylish, eloquent Prince (although I felt Alexander Campbell even more moving in the Vision Scene pas de deux if not, inevitably, so long limbed in the solo). Mr Campbell was a dazzlingly stylish Bluebird (streets ahead of the two I saw in the theatre), although his partner's feet were cruelly exposed by the camera. Other highlights for me were Kirstin McNally's glamorously malevolent Carabosse, Cristina Arestis' Countess (she seems to have inherited Genesia Rosato's mantle of most stunning woman in the Royal Ballet) and Anna Rose O'Sulliovan's Prologue Fairy - there's somebody who knows how to use her eyes and inhabit the space. I still think there is room for a production that honours Tchaikovsky's musical pattern more in Act Two (I'm listening to Previn's recording as I write this) but thought tonight an evening more than well spent.
  16. Jamesrhblack
    Fairly detailed assessment by Jonathan Gray in The Dancing Times of Hayward, Naghdi, Ball and Clarke. Interestingly, he found Hayward wanting in Act 3 and felt that the fish dives "were taken tentatively."
  17. Jamesrhblack
    Interesting that statistically the "senior" ballerinas seem to get three shows and the juniors / debutantes two. Last time, replacing Osipova as well as dancing her own shows, Choe, en debutante, danced five. This time, she has danced two, and Naghdi, herself en debutante, has danced the "senior' total of three replacing a sick colleague, as has Takada. Lovely review of Hayward / Campbell and Naghdi / Ball in today's Sunday Times too, although I'll hope to read something more in depth in Dancing Times (and I find the comments of colleagues on here quite as insightful as many of those expressed by the critics anyway). I don't know if the link works (it may be behind a paywall, although I'm a Times subscriber, although there are ways around that) or if I'm even allowed to post it but it's below and no doubt a Moderator will remove it if I've, unwittingly, done something I shouldn't. http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/first-love-fx8vvfgdv
  18. Jamesrhblack
    I do so agree about the unexpected emotional depth that Francesca Hayward and Alexander Campbell brought to their debut performance and feel, on reflection, that so much of it came from Campbell's imaginative absorption during Act 2. Usually, we find The Prince arrives and goes through the motions but his emotional honesty and involvement brought fresh impetus to the ballet after the inevitable excitement of Act 1 and by taking us on Florimund's journey raised our own emotional investment in a really unprecedented way. I did ask AC at stage door about the fish dives, which I agree were like nothing I had ever seen, and he said something to the effect that she was so quick and light that it was possible to get a bit more angle on it so he did...
  19. Jamesrhblack
    No offence taken. I was four however and it was my first ballet so my critical judgement wasn't very acute. It lit a spark though ....
  20. Jamesrhblack
    I'm not quite that old (!) although I believe it was the production shown on Christmas Eve 1968 (?) which awakened my interest in classical ballet as a very small child with music loving parents who thought I might enjoy a bit of it - I watched it all ....
  21. Jamesrhblack
    The music is an Entracte from the original score. Still have happy memories of the Ashton version being included in the 1977 to 1981 Royal Ballet production. Didn't that also have more of the Court Dances in Act 2? Were the intervals shorter? And am I the only person who misses the Sapphire Variation - Deirdre Eyden used to be absolutely thrilling in that ... (I grow old, I grow old, I shall the bottom of my trousers rolled)
  22. Jamesrhblack
    "I hold you personally responsible for this Jamesrhblack, you told me not to worry!" Apologies. Takada and Cuthbertson were the other Auroras I'd hoped to see so I'm glad she danced well last night and that Alexander Campbell lived up to all the hype. He's a wonderful dance actor.
  23. Jamesrhblack
    Hence why I wrote "comparative not competitive..."
  24. Jamesrhblack
    Wasn't it Martina Navratilova who said that if Chris Evert hadn't been around the other might have won more medals but neither would have become such a great player. I really don't see it as competition but there have long been these oppositions within the performing arts: Calls / Tebaldi, Sills / Sutherland; Rojo / Cojocaru, Bussell / Bull, Sibley / Park, Mason / Seymour, Wall / Dowell etc etc Different people will respond to different attributes of different artists and may also find that even at the top levels one artist is better suited than another to particular repertoire, whilst there may also be roles where each brings something unique. Comparative not competitive. I don't think that anybody is denying that both Francesca Hayward and Yasmine Naghdi are young ballerinas of outstanding ability and achievement whose future development is exciting to contemplate. If discussion leads to a greater understanding of their strengths and styles then that understanding cannot but help inform our own perception of not only their performances but of their colleagues and also our understanding of the demands and potentials of the art form that we value so highly.
  25. Jamesrhblack
    I don't think people regard it as a competition annamk, but people will inevitably compare their impressions of different casts. At this exciting time for the Royal Ballet, with a wealth of young talent emerging in a series of major debuts in the core repertoire, it's inevitable that people will cite preferences but I'm not sure that is necessarily competitive... For me, the essential difference between Francesca Hayward and Yasmine Naghdi is to do with their physicality. Both seem exceptionally fluent in their response to the music and despite her small size Hayward never compromises on the expansion of the movement. However, the essential impression for me of her dancing was diamond bright, dazzling even, with some remarkable height on her jump and a coruscating brilliance of footwork. She can soften her style for the Vision Scene and infuse it with a glowing radiance for the Wedding Scene. The Collier comparison seems inevitable but is flattering too, she being one of the most iconic dancers of the Royal Ballet's recent history. Naghdi is longer of line, more languorous of manner, and although nothing is shirked at speed, comes across, to me, very much an adagio dancer. She can hold a moment in time in a way that already makes you catch your breath and her wonderfully open shoulders and back give real length to her line. For me, there was, perhaps, just a little less variety in her performance than in Hayward's but it was most beautifully and expressively danced, rich in achievement and even richer in promise. To continue the precious stone imagery, perhaps hers was more the deeper glow of an opalescent pearl. In time, I can see her developing as a more obviously "classical" dancer than Hayward and wondered, in an idle moment, if her style was reminiscent of Svetlana Beriosova's. Of course, I never saw her dance, but reading descriptions I could sense some similarities. I think everybody is in agreement that the impact of Hayward's already remarkable performance was enhanced by the truly outstanding performance of Alexander Campbell. His greater experience over Matthew Ball paid dividends in terms of character projection, character interaction, security of partnering and technical neatness, even brilliance, and his partnership with Hayward created a warmth and sincerity at the heart of the performance that was a first for me in this ballet. It's evident that Naghi and Ball enjoy working working together and are physically very well matched. At the moment, I think she brings a little more to the partnership than he does (at least on the evidence of yesterday) but he is young and immensely talented and can only develop with more performances. It is always the danger that we regard any debut as a finished product whereas in fact it is the beginning of what can be a long and fulfilling artistic journey, the experience from ballet to ballet and role to role infusing each and every opportunity. I'm quibbling at a high level though: it was wonderful to see two debut performances of such accomplishment.
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