Perfect ballets?

[alison]

Timmie, in the current RB La Fille Mal Gardée thread, said:

 

"Fille really is one of the perfect ballets."

 

What do you think are the others? Fille for me too, certainly, and Symphonic Variations, with The Dream possibly slightly just down on them. Beyond Ashton, I'd have to think about it some more.

 

Over to you ...

[Fonty]

You beat me to it with Symphonic Variations!.

 

I guess it really depends on the definition of perfect, I suppose.

[Timmie]

My definition of perfect in the way that I meant it for Fille is: A ballet you can watch and enjoy from end to end with little or no pre-work and no wasted time in the whole thing.

 

Swan Lake is my favourite ballet, but it's not perfect.

 

I agree with SV and would add Symphony in C.

 

[zxDaveM]

I'd add Giselle

[Two Pigeons]

All the Ashton previously quoted plus Theme and Variations and possibly Serenade, providing the lighting is bright enough for the audience to see it properly.

[alison]

I like Timmie's definition of no time-wasting. When something is pared down to the essentials, with nothing superfluous, then I think it stands a better chance of being perfect. MacMillan's 3-act works, much as I may enjoy them, all contain "filler" to some degree, and that alone would be enough to disqualify them in my eyes

[Timmie]

Alison, my definition was prompted by some thing you posted: "is there a boring/extraneous minute in Fille? I can't think of one"

[Ann Williams]

Depends what you mean by 'perfect', Alison.  My first thought was Ashton's 'Monotones', and then I thought of Balanchine's 'Apollo', and then I thought that these two sublime works are perfect only in certain respects and those 'respects' happen to be perfect for me.  There are others I could undoubtedly list, so I may may a repeat appearance on this thread.

[Fonty]

I like Timmie's definition of no time-wasting. When something is pared down to the essentials, with nothing superfluous, then I think it stands a better chance of being perfect. MacMillan's 3-act works, much as I may enjoy them, all contain "filler" to some degree, and that alone would be enough to disqualify them in my eyes

 

I think that the perfect ballets on that basis are going to be the ones with very few changes of scenery, which is when a lot of the "filling" takes place.

 

I think if you allow a bit of filler solely for that purpose, then in a perfect narrative ballet, all the action should be relevant to the story.  Hence, no Puss in Boots, Red Riding Hood, that-pas-de-trois-that-looks-great-but-why-are-they-there.......

 

I am struggling to think of one other than Fille.  There must be another, surely?

[ToThePointe]

I would say Romeo and Juliet is near perfect for me but that isn't all to do with the choreography. When you take into account the incredible score, costumes and lighting and the fact we have a story driven by the Bard, it's going to be difficult to find anything negative! It always brings me to tears but I agree that filler sections can be a bit of a bore.

 

I wonder... when it comes to a narrative ballet, are interpretations of literary works going to be better or worse than those which are not based on a text?

 

Scarlett's 'Sweet Violets' was based on true events but not on any novel/play that I know of and for me it didn't work...

 

I wonder if his Frankenstein will be better because he will be able to find inspiration from Shelley's words...

[Duck]

When I think about what "perfect" means to me, I am looking at various aspects, and each of these bring different ballets to my mind

 

- perfect in terms of an atmosphere of serenity - Monotones, Requiem, Song of the Earth

- perfect in relation to the energy on stage - Bolero (Béjart), Four Temperaments, Age of Anxiety (I know I may in a minority with the latter )

- perfect based on the emotional development of the main characters - Manon, Mayerling, Onegin

 

The music plays an important part for me e.g., I liked Connectome at the Insight evening when it was rehearsed to piano and then somewhat less when it was performed to an orchestrated version.

[Jan McNulty]

Which R&J TTP.  For me the MacMillan comes nowhere close to Morricone/Gable and Ashton (as performed by LFB as was).

 

I would have to say Fille fills me with joy every time I see it, as does Two Pigeons and The Dream.  

 

David Bintley's Hobsons Choice also ticks all my boxes as does David Nixon's Madame Butterfly.

[ToThePointe]

No I love the McMillan version Janet!! I also loved the Cranko. I'm not sure I've seen Ashton's version but that would be very interesting.

 

I'm so excited to see Two Pigeons, I've never seen it and everyone keeps mentioning it!

 

I really just count a 'perfect' ballet as one which I could watch every night of the week and never tire of.

[Fiz]

Fille, Onegin and Mayerling.

[Melody]

I haven't seen it recently, but for me A Month in the Country with the original cast was one of the most satisfying ballets I've ever seen. I know some people have criticised the set design for being fussy, but I thought it helped set the scene for the rather claustrophobic story, and the way Ashton condensed that play into a short ballet rather than making an evening of it was impressive.

[Booklover89]

Rather different in tone, but I do think Robbins 'The Concert' is a perfect comic ballet.  I'm sure others will disagree, but I love it! 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=biUQGfZnVlU

[Sunrise]

Agree with Fille, Dream, Symphonic Variations, Month in the Country... does Thais pdd count too? Of MacMillan, I love the light and serenity of Requiem. His Rite of Spring and the Nijinsky reconstruction. I can watch all of these over and over and never get bored. I think for sheer joy of watching, I'd put Coppelia up there too. La Sylphide too, though it's been a while since I last saw it.

Edited April 24, 2015 by Sunrise

[Rachelm]

Which R&J TTP.  For me the MacMillan comes nowhere close to Morricone/Gable and Ashton (as performed by LFB as was).

 

I would have to say Fille fills me with joy every time I see it, as does Two Pigeons and The Dream.  

 

David Bintley's Hobsons Choice also ticks all my boxes as does David Nixon's Madame Butterfly.

 

Morricone's R&J was the first ballet that came into my mind as perfect, and I too much prefer it to MacMillan's as a whole ballet (although MacMillan's PDD are exquisite).

 

I also love both Peter Wright versions of the Nutcracker, BRB's probably just out-does the RB version for me.

[Odyssey]

I love these type of threads for sparking thoughts. Interesting how many mentioned are Ashton. I agree about 'Fille' & The Dream (it's such a long time since I saw The Two Pigeons to confidently add it to my list, but I have only good memories). Apollo like 'Symphonic' is sublime and perfectly formed for very different reasons. I also share a high opinion of Macmillan's R & J - it's the ballet I often recommend to friends who are new to ballet & the BRB's "Nutcracker" is pretty near perfect ( although even in this production "the family dances" in Act 1 can still drag), A couple I would add would be Ghost Dances & The Firebird.

[Anna C]

MacMillan's R&J for me. There's not one part where I find myself losing concentration as a result of "filler". Then "Fille" and Giselle. Oh, and Manon has me utterly gripped throughout.

 

In the case of R&J and Manon, the music plays a huge part in how swept away I am. Something about the combination of the music, the acting, the choreography and the story all combines to make those ballets almost an out of body experience for me - one of those moments where you forget to breathe.

[Jan McNulty]

How could I have forgotten to mention the utter perfection of the sublimely moving Enigma Variations?

 

It's not a huge surprise that Ashton features largely in this thread but I would be interested to hear what any North American members think, for example.

[EM12]

La Fille Mal Garde is my most perfect ballet.  There's not one moment of 'mm we could do without this section'.

 

Close runners up have to be Mayerling, Month In The Country, Marguerite & Armand, Dream and MacMillian's Romeo and Juliet. Of the classics I love La Bayadere (Makarova version) but they are all so wonderful and different so it's hard to compare!

 

Its lovely to see how heavily Ashton features in this thread 

[Petunia]

Dances at a Gathering and MacMillan's R+J and Manon...!

[alison]

MacMillan's R&J for me. There's not one part where I find myself losing concentration as a result of "filler".

Now, you see, I always find my mind starts to wander during the market scenes, particularly what I always think of as the "Dallas" section. It's not MacMillan's fault, of course, because he had to use the entire score, but I would always mark it down slightly on that point.

 

Odyssey has mentioned Ghost Dances, which got me to wonder about another Bruce ballet: Swansong? I haven't seen it for ages, but I can't think that there's any spare flesh on that one, either.  And if we're moving into the contemporary field I'd have to add Mark Morris' "L'Allegro, il Penseroso et il Moderato".

 

Apollo's pretty darn perfect, too

[Jan McNulty]

Oh yes!  Ghost Dances and Swan Song,  Both absolute masterpieces.

 

I think I would also add Act 3 of Napoli - one of the most joyous celebrations of pure dance to ever grace the stage.  I know there are 2 acts before it but it is performed on its own!

[Sunrise]

Now, you see, I always find my mind starts to wander during the market scenes, particularly what I always think of as the "Dallas" section. It's not MacMillan's fault, of course, because he had to use the entire score, but I would always mark it down slightly on that point.

 

I quite enjoy the market scenes - the music so vibrant and I always look forward to the harlots and the mandolin dance in act 2 before the fighting starts. I do think Juliet's friends are bit extraneous though and take you out of the drama.

[Jan McNulty]

I loathe the music for "Dance of the girls with the lilies" (the bit where they come in to wake Juliet up) and any production that uses that music has points deducted by me!

[WoodlandGladeFairy]

Oh thats a tough question but for me my perfect ballets include MacMillian's 'Romeo and Juilet', 'Manon' and 'Mayerling'

 

Also Robbins' 'The Concert' and 'In The Night', ballets full of fun and charm plus fabulous use of Chopin's music

 

Ashton's 'The Dream' and 'La Fille Mal Gardee' - its funny when I was younger I found his ballets rather twee, much preferred the gutsy MacMillian ballets but now I really do appreciate what a wonderful choreographer he was 

 

And finally 'Giselle' and 'The Sleeping Beauty' 

 

Ok that's rather a lot in my perfect list but there you go, its tough to just have one or two.

[FLOSS]

I am not sure that the duration of the market scenes in MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet are entirely attributable to the choreographer's inability to cut the score.I think that the duration of those scenes has a lot to do with giving Romeo a "breather".He is on in most scenes and he has rather a lot of "heavy lifting "in the final one.I read somewhere that at one time when the ballet was relatively new the cast used to applaud a new Romeo for getting through it.

 

I think that a lot of the "padding" in Manon and in Mayerling is there for similar reasons. Manon has had some pruning. T,he governor used to have a mistress but she disappeared very early on.The brothel scene in Manon can sometimes seem interminable as can the quayside scene, all that repetitive dancing for the townswomen and the soldiers and worst of all,the deported whores collapsing all over the place, can be a bit much to take. But you realise how necessary the "padding" is when you look at an exhausted de Grieux at the beginning of the last scene I do not think that all of that exhaustion is acting.

 

Mayerling has been cut. The hunting scene is shorter than it was originally and the scene with  the recital has been removed and then restored but I do not think that the Mitzi Caspar scene has been altered that much if at all. Again it provides a"breather" for Rudolph. David Wall said that the role had reduced his career as a dancer by seven years and even today with careful preparation Ed Watson has said that at the end of the first act it feels as if he has danced a three act ballet.

 

I think that Ashton the ballets that have survived are perfect none of the one act pieces is too long and none of the longer works  has excess flesh when you get to grips with what he is doing with the score and get away from the coarsening of detail that has been allowed to creep into revivals.He seems to have stuck to the idea that there was no ideal length for a ballet and that it should be as long as it needed to be. I could make a strong case for any number of Ashton ballets Scenes de Ballet, Daphnis and Chloe,Enigma Variations or Walk to the Paradise Garden but finally I have come down to three ballets all abstract and all created before 1950.

 

I would like to offer the three ballets that Clive Barnes once described as the most significant of the twentieth century Les Sylphides, Serenade and Symphonic Variations. As most people on this forum are likely to have seen Serenade and Symphonic Variations I do not intend to say much about them except that the choreographic text of both ballets seems so integral to the music that all the dancers' movements seem inevitable and that it is virtually impossible to imagine any other choreographer daring to set a ballet to these scores.

 

But I will say a little about Les Sylphides which is rarely performed here today except by visiting Russian companies.It is a ballet of style and mood. It is a revolutionary work evoking the pure French school of the nineteenth century which in its apparent simplicity challenges the dominant style of Petipa's late nineteenth century ballets which incorporate and display the technical developments of the Italian school.It is incredibly difficult to get it right in performance.The last Royal Ballet revival did the work and the audience no favours.The best performances of it that I have ever seen were given many years ago by the ENB in a revival staged by Alicia Marlova who had been taught the ballet by Fokine. Although it was incredibly slow it was exceptionally beautiful.The ballet was the first free standing abstract work.You could argue that without it Serenade and Symphonic Variations might not have been made in the form that we know them.

 

As the ballet is something of a rarity I will mention two recordings of it that are well worth watching. The first is the ICA DVD of a BBC recording with Markova, Beriosova, Elvin and John Field who make it look so simple that you wonder how anyone can get it wrong.The second is a recording of The Royal Ballet with Fonteyn and Nureyev. Then there is Markova La Legende which has a whole section given over to her coaching members of the POB which is fascinating.

[Ellie]

Floss, may I just say how much I enjoy reading your knowledgeable and insightful posts. How do you know so much ? x

[Two Pigeons]

I remember seeing Peter Schafuss saying that he didn't like Les Sylphides until Markova rehearsed it with him. After that it became one of his favourite works. This is a lesson which touches on so many threads on this site.

[alison]

I am not sure that the duration of the market scenes in MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet are entirely attributable to the choreographer's inability to cut the score.I think that the duration of those scenes has a lot to do with giving Romeo a "breather".He is on in most scenes and he has rather a lot of "heavy lifting "in the final one.I read somewhere that at one time when the ballet was relatively new the cast used to applaud a new Romeo for getting through it.

Okay, perhaps I could have phrased that differently. Possibly it's more that Prokofiev's score is so prescriptive that you really can't do an awful lot apart from conform to what he dictates. But from what I've heard dancers say in the past I'd understood that Act I is the really tough part, and that it's downhill once you've got through that.

 

"Mayerling has been cut. The hunting scene is shorter than it was originally"

 

I didn't realise that, but have always felt it was oddly short.

 

"He seems to have stuck to the idea that there was no ideal length for a ballet and that it should be as long as it needed to be."

 

Absolutely

 

"I do not intend to say much about them except that the choreographic text of both ballets seems so integral to the music that all the dancers' movements seem inevitable"

 

Although there is the slight problem of the music for Serenade being "the wrong way round"

 

"It is incredibly difficult to get [Les Sylphides] right in performance.The last Royal Ballet revival did the work and the audience no favours.The best performances of it that I have ever seen were given many years ago by the ENB in a revival staged by Alicia Marlova who had been taught the ballet by Fokine. Although it was incredibly slow it was exceptionally beautiful."

 

Can you remember when that was, Floss? You say ENB rather than LFB, so I'm guessing 1990 or later? I have the Fonteyn/Nureyev DVD, of course, but not the other one.

[Melody]

Great post, FLOSS! Adding my admiration for your huge stash of knowledge!

 

I was going to add Les Sylphides as a perfect ballet, but I haven't seen it live since I was a child and it's such a magical experience for a young child that imperfections would go unnoticed!

 

I'm very much in two minds about Serenade. At one level it seems to me to be almost unbearably perfect, but something about it leaves me completely cold. This may seem strange but I don't know how else to say it - for me, Balanchine isn't so much interpreting the music as rendering it visible. I mean, I get the impression, watching the ballet, that if you could see the music that's what it would look like, and so in a way the ballet doesn't add anything.

Edited April 26, 2015 by Melody