To listen to all four of the Ballades in a single concert is a very rich and rewarding – almost a wholesome – experience.įurthermore, because the pieces are so rich, with so many things told in a very short period of time, we will in this concert create an additional experience: dance-visualizations to explain and illustrate what happens. Although the 4 pieces are quite different from each other, they also share many things in common: a sense of dance-like story telling, a single interconnected movement, and a story that covers all aspects of the human expression, from beauty to chaos, and from boredom to magic. After that, he would write 3 more Ballades, during a period of ~11 years. In fact, in a correspondence between Chopin and Schumann, they both concluded that his first Ballade was the best piece he had written. The concept of writing Ballades for solo piano was a new invention by Chopin, and they held a very special place in his heart. In this concert you will see them in a new way: with the original music on piano experienced together with a brand new dance choreography, which illustrates, explains, and deepens the experience of the music. The 4 Ballades by Chopin are both some of the most beloved, and some of the most difficult pieces ever written for piano. 21.KoncertKirken 4 Chopin Ballades in Music & Movement And finally, Emmanuel Strosser and Emmanuel Voysse-Knitter made a magnificent rendition of the Piano Concerto No. Consequently, it is actually well-suited to a modern ballet production built around a very nineteen century theme-but this is actually a less-than-obvious idea. Bariller rightly points out that Chopin, contrary to what a lot of people imagine, is hardly the Romantic composer: in many ways, his music is cold and analytic rather than Romantic. opera music in a ballet? I think Chopin was a much better choice. Bariller feels it was a risky thing to do and points out that Neumeier had initially considered using the music for La Traviata. Yet this doesn’t mean either that it’s a trap, or that it’s easy to go for the combination. As Etienne Bariller point out in the programme (page 46) that was given to us when we arrived, dancing (waltzes, mazurkas, polonaises) is a constant reference within Chopin’s work, so the temptation to do this is obvious. This may seem obvious, but actually isn’t: Chopin was a frequent source of inspiration for choreographers, so Neumeier is merely following established precedent here. The Chopin/Dumas fils combination is complete success. And for some reason, not wearing a dinner-jacket makes one more attentive to them. The latter are of a more classical style than the very sexy ones he created for Sylvia, but just as splendid. I am even more impressed by the splendor of this production: the world’s best ballet company, sublime music, Jürgen Rose’s breathtakingly beautiful costumes. This minor issue was hardly worth making a fuss about. They turned out as perfect as they had last season, though I felt the corps de ballet had perhaps fallen abck a tad from the high standards reached in June-which is not surprising, really, when you consider the new season has just started and they have yet to gather steam. Mathieu Gagnio and Clairemarie Ostia were performing tonight as Armand and Marguerite. The friend accompanying me took his ballet quite seriously and his comments on the work itself, on the set and on the individual participants were more than up to scratch. I’d seen it once already in June but, with hindsight, there had been too many distractions on that opening night. I jumped at the opportunity to have a second look La Dame aux camélias, by Neumeier, rightly described by the programme as America’s most European choreographer. A friend very kindly suggested going back to the Palais Garnier to take a break from the beastly, Singapore-like weather that we have been having in Paris since the end of the holidays.
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