NYCB (10/3/14)

Friday evening found me at Lincoln Center courtesy of WQXR—I managed to win a giveaway to an all-Stravinsky/Balanchine program by New York City Ballet. Maybe a wee too much Stravinsky and Balanchine, but more on that later. 

Apollo, Monumentum pro Gesualdo, Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Duo Concertant, and Agon were the ballets on display, and all were danced quite well as seen by this semi-trained eye. And the orchestra (and instrumental soloists) played very well. From a musical standpoint, I really enjoyed hearing music from the pit without the pit being mostly covered, as is the case with opera and theater performances. While the Stravinsky scores were varied, there was less variation in the Balanchine choreography. This is not to say that the choreography was unvaried, just that the choreographic language developed by Mr. B (as he is known in-house—and I hope I’m not being too presumptuous here) lends itself to more observable repetition than Stravinsky’s compositional styles. And there was certainly variation in the makeup of the casts of the separate ballets.

Apollo was for one male and three females. There were minimal props used (lute, lyre, mask, etc.), and I’m not a big fan of that because the dancers need to set them down on the stage and, to me, they pull too much focus. It’s not that they were in the way of the dancers, they just looked somewhat out of place.

After intermission the next three ballets were performed as a group, with a pause between each. Monumentum had a lead couple plus a corps of six females and six males while Movements had a (different) lead couple and a corps of six (different) females. A note from the program informed me that though these two ballets were composed/choreographed separately, Balanchine paired them at one point, and they have been performed that way since 1966. The piano soloist for Movements was
Alan Moverman. Duo Concertant rounded out this section of the performance, with Arturo Delmoni (violin), Nancy McDill (piano), and Ashley Bouder and Robert Fairchild all sharing the stage and, at times, interacting with each other.

After the second intermission, Agon was presented, with four couples (one featured in the Pas de Deux) and four additional females forming a corps. As noted in the program, there were variations for Four Boys; Eight Girls; Eight Girls, Four Boys; as well as a pair of Pas de Trois movements; the aforementioned Pas de Deux; and finishing with Four Duos, Four Trios, and Four Boys (as a Coda, mirroring the Four Boys from the beginning of the work).

So while there was a variety of groupings, it was the choreographic language that, while unifying, became slightly repetitive. The music for Apollo and Monumentum was fairly mild for Stravinsky; we got the more angular and rhythmic Stravinsky beginning with Movements and Duo Concertant.

As with opera curtain calls, ballet curtain calls have a hierarchy of their own. The assembled company for each ballet bows as the curtain is lowered. Then there’s usually one more company bow, followed by the curtain being pulled back for solo (in this case, mostly duos and small ensemble) bows, *lather, rinse, repeat*. I understand the formality of it; it goes on too long in my opinion. Hey, my blog, my opinion!

It was a very enjoyable evening at the ballet. Thank you, NYCB and WQXR.

ConcertMeister