The Royal Ballet: Four Temperaments mixed bill, March/April 2015

[Jan McNulty]

Requiem/Song in the same programme is an intense and incredibly moving experience (IMHO).

[aileen]

I doubt that this bill would be programmed in the UK.

[Jan McNulty]

But is has been by BRB Aileen as I said above.  Post #164 refers

[aileen]

Sorry, I missed that. 

[MAB]

I don't know what's gone wrong with Song of the Earth this time around, this has been the first time I've seen it where it simply didn't work.  I believe it to be MacMillan's masterpiece and over the years, since the 60's actually, I've considered watching the ballet a profound experience.  This time nothing gelled and it seemed the dancers didn't get what the ballet is about.  The music didn't help much either and I wonder if it might be worth getting in a guest conductor if the work is performed at Covent Garden again.  After all in the initial London run the company brought in Hans Swarovski, a Mahler specialist, perhaps it's time to do something like that again.

 

The last revival of Ashton's Symphonic Variations and Scenes de Ballet also fell flat and I am worried that the Royal Ballet has reached a kind of tipping point where the works of the company's greatest choreographers are no longer appreciated/understood by the company as a whole.  I would like to be wrong about that, and sincerely hope what I am seeing is a temporary aberration.

[Duck]

I hugely enjoyed the final performance of Song of the Earth on Tuesday. Laura Morera’s use of her eyes to display the Woman’s emotions during the final song was exquisite. Edward Watson danced with great precision and intensity, and was simply superb in the role of the Messenger. The corps danced in unity, which supported the sense of purity and beauty. Overall, it was a very special performance. There was some foot stamping when the curtain closed on the Woman/ Man/ Messenger, and in particular the Principal Dancers received lots of loud cheers at the curtain calls.

 

At the moment, I could watch Song of the Earth on repeat mode, and I can’t wait to see it again in May/ June. I’d seen Song of the Earth at the Royal Opera House both in 2007 and 2012, and while I recognised at the time that it was classified as a masterpiece, I didn’t enjoy it as much. The clue for me was seeing Song of the Earth with Stuttgart Ballet as part of their Requiem/ Song of the Earth bill last December. The similarity in topic and atmosphere of the two pieces greatly supported each other and created a very special, moving event. The music in the first song of Song of the Earth did not overpower the singer, so the link between the dancing and the words were clearer. Also, the cast sheet (rather than just the programme notes) showed the titles of the songs. And the dancing, of course, was supreme.

 

With that recent experience in mind, I spent much more time reading the poem before the performance this time. Rather than just glancing over the paragraphs as I had done in the past, I read the poem a number of times, aiming at summarising the content of each song in a sentence so I’d hopefully be able to match some of the dancing with the contents of the songs. I also wrote down the titles of the songs as an aide-mémoire during the performance. And what a difference it made!

 

A note on the length of the applause. The number of curtain calls at the Royal Opera House seemed to be much planned in advance and followed through exactly. Three successive groups of three performers followed by each Principal Dancer individually, and then the Women inviting the Man and the Messenger back before the curtain as the final curtain call. If I remember correctly, this pattern was used for all performances of Song of the Earth in the run that just finished. At the performance in Stuttgart that I went to in December (and admittedly, I can only talk about this one performance as don’t get to Stuttgart very often), the number of curtain calls seemed to be more influenced by the intensity and length of the applause by the audience. Also, on a different note, refreshingly, the last curtain call after the final piece in the mixed bill in Stuttgart was with all dancers rather than just the leads.

[Jan McNulty]

Hello Duck and welcome to the Forum. Thanks for your beautifully articulate review. I do hope you will continue to join in.

[Duck]

Thank you

[alison]

With that recent experience in mind, I spent much more time reading the poem before the performance this time. Rather than just glancing over the paragraphs as I had done in the past, I read the poem a number of times, aiming at summarising the content of each song in a sentence so I’d hopefully be able to match some of the dancing with the contents of the songs. I also wrote down the titles of the songs as an aide-mémoire during the performance. And what a difference it made!

 

I'd like to second Janet's welcome to the forum, Duck - and how nice to see someone who's only just joined posting immediately!  Interesting that you found that doing some prep work increased your appreciation so much.  I did actually download the words this time, just forgot to look at them until it was too late, so was reliant on the singers' diction to be able to understand it.  It probably *would* be useful to have the titles of the songs on the cast sheet - in English, of course - and I'm not sure why the ROH don't do this. 

[Duck]

Thank you Alison. I had been following the forum for a while and been tempted to post a couple of times however then didn't go ahead. I agree about the English titles of the songs in the cast sheet for Song of the Earth.