Timekeepers (Tankard/November/Nijinska) - Ballett Zürich, Zurich Opera House, Jan/Feb 2024

[ChrisG]

I felt privileged to be at Zurich’s picture-perfect Opera House this afternoon to see one of the first fruits of Cathy Marston’s tenure as Artistic Director at Zurich Ballet, a triple bill featuring two new works and an (almost) centenary performance of Bronislawa Nijinska’s legendary Les Noces, a work I’ve been wanting to see for some considerable time.

 

The performance started with Meryl Tankard’s For Hedy, a tribute to actress/beauty/femme fatale/inventor extraordinaire Hedy Lamarr. The work began lyrically with Shelby Williams as Lamarr in a beautiful black gown dancing to a piece of piano mood music by Elena Kats-Chernin before suddenly the rest of the cast who had been sitting with their backs to the audience erupted in a cacophony of madness as the pianist changed styles abruptly to play ‘Ballet Mécanique’ by ultra-modernist Dadaist-sympathising 1940s American composer George Antheil, coincidentally a friend of Lamarr. Played with gusto by Guy Livingston at the back of the stage, this work is a maelstrom of dissonance enhanced by blocks of additional sound coming from hidden speakers, including the occasional siren much in the manor of Varèse’s ‘Amériques’. The dancing reflected the chaos, with much leaping, running, shouting and dancing in a multitude of styles from classical to Scottish dancing and (I kid you not) Morris dancing. To me the movement reflected the turbulence of the times through which Lamarr was building her career, first in German films and later in exile in Hollywood. For most of the work Lamarr simply observes the chaos passively but gradually she gets drawn in until the final scene when she approaches the front of the stage with her long black hair gone and her head shaven, surely a hint as to what her fate might have been had she, as a German with Jewish blood, stayed in Germany. A powerful work - not sure if I liked it but I liked what it was trying to say.

 

The final two works both referenced music premiered 100 years ago. Mthuthuzeli November’s Rhapsodies was mostly set to George Gershwin’s evergreen ‘Rhapsody in Blue’ in a version for two pianos (some nice cutting down of the orchestra costs in this programme!). Anyone familiar with November’s work for Ballet Black and Northern Ballet would know what to expect, classical moves with an African sensibility, which is enhanced when, just before the finale of the Rhapsody, Gershwin’s music drops out and a solitary dancer dances to one of November’s own African-based compositions, as if going back to the ultimate roots of Gershwin’s jazz-based music. All in all an exuberant performance, enjoyed by dancers and audience alike (it got the biggest cheers of the afternoon).

 

I have a tenuous connection to Stravinsky’s music to Les Noces, the last item on the programme, and to Switzerland, as nearly 30 years ago the choir I sing in, the Hallé Choir, came over to sing it at the Verbier Festival under Kent Nagano, and the recording was released by Deutsche Grammophon last year as part of a Verbier Festival archive series, so I feel it’s one of ‘our’ pieces! I also completely love it as a piece of music, the missing link between the full orchestra all-guns-blazing Russian-ness of his early ballets culminating in ‘Rite of Spring’ and the pared-back austerity of his later neo-classical and serial music, so much of which was an inspiration for George Balanchine. As can be seen from the attached cast sheet, the cast for this performances included many names familiar to fans of Northern Ballet, English National Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, not least the very excellent Brandon Lawrence. He played the part of the Bridegroom, obviously for those of you who know the work a part with not a great deal of dancing, but since he had shone in the previous work I felt I got my Brandon money’s worth!

 

The work had been staged by the Royal Ballet’s very own Christopher Saunders, who, judging by the programme notes which I translated using Apple’s idiosyncratic Translate app, wanted to present on stage something as close as possible to the Royal Ballet’s 1960s version. And a fantastic job he did as well, some minor spacing issues aside. This really is a work for the corps and they were very much on their mettle, dancing with an earthy vigour as they prepare the bride and bridegroom for marriage. All the iconic elements were present and correct, including the famous head pile-up in the first scene (is there a technical term for this?!), and although I’m sure no Russian wedding ever looked like this, there was still the feel of veracity, of something timeless. The music was perfectly performed, with four decent soloists, the requisite collection of pianists and percussionists and an outstanding young chamber choir, the Zurich Sing-Akademie, who sang the choral lines far better than my choir would ever have done! All the performers, dancers and musicians alike, got to receive the applause onstage at the end, which was a lovely touch. I absolutely loved it, and I left the theatre at the end wondering if and when the Royal Ballet will ever perform Les Noces again. I’m guessing the stage logistics aren’t too complicated but the pit logistics probably are, but I live in hope.

Edited February 4 by ChrisG
Wrong programme title!

[alison]

Wow, looking at that cast sheet, it's very noticeable what a number of "big names" Marston has attracted to Zurich.

[ChrisG]

16 hours ago, alison said:

Wow, looking at that cast sheet, it's very noticeable what a number of "big names" Marston has attracted to Zurich.

Yes, it’s interesting how many names in the programme book are listed as having started in 2023

[Ian Macmillan]

All the new names appear to be listed here:  https://www.opernhaus.ch/en/2324/neue-compagnie/

 

I'm delighted to see that ChrisG's review echoes another on Bachtrack, posted at the top of Links for 24 January.  Cathy Marston proved herself as an intelligent Director during her years with the small company in Bern and, now with a significantly larger company at her disposal, she seems set fair to build on that in Zürich.  

 

 

 

[TSR101]

Well her next full length is Atonement - which to me seems very challenging to adapt to a ballet given the complexities of the story!

[Rachel H]

I’ve just got back from seeing this bill, and found I enjoyed the evening more as it went on. Always good to see ‘Les Noces’ anyway 🙂