Ballet Masters of the 20th Century

[snyprrr]

Stravinsky,... check!


...ok, who else do we have?

Hindemith The Four Temperaments

Prokofiev

...well, ok, I'm not feigning senility here, but I have just drawn a total blank,... maybe I've just been listening to Le Sacre to much lately? Right now I'm listening to the Dorian cd 'Latin American Ballets', with Villa-Lobos, Chavez, and Ginastera.

DSCH ??

I also recall that Xenakis wrote Kraanerg as a ballet commission (that one eludes me!). And, I thought Antikhthon was also a ballet? Stockhausen? Cage? (yes, I'm trolling!! )

I'm sure all the earlier French Composers, Pierne, Schmitt, et al, are in the running, no?

Yes, I've been listerning to Le Sacre too much. Help!!

[snyprrr]

I'm sure Martinu?

[mc ukrneal]

Shostakovich, Ravel, Khachaturian, Gliere, Glazuov, Copland and Prokofiev to name a few.

[some guy]

Yes, Cage for sure. After all, his long-time partner was Merce Cunningham.

But Cage was writing for dance even before Cunningham. In fact, his "invention" of the prepared piano was a simple, practical solution to a situation in which there was no room for both a percussion orchestra (many of Cage's early dance scores were for percussion) and the dancers.

[snyprrr]

Yes, Cage for sure. After all, his long-time partner was Merce Cunningham.

But Cage was writing for dance even before Cunningham. In fact, his "invention" of the prepared piano was a simple, practical solution to a situation in which there was no room for both a percussion orchestra (many of Cage's early dance scores were for percussion) and the dancers.

I'm curious what year dance got... 'strange'. Was it early in the '20s, or the '40s-'50s?

[snyprrr]

Shostakovich, Ravel, Khachaturian, Gliere, Glazuov, Copland and Prokofiev to name a few.

Particular favs?

[springrite]

Henze: Ondine

Schnittke: Peer Gynt

[mjwal]

Harrison Solstice
Cage 16 Dances
Britten Prince of the Pagodas
Maxwell Davies Salome

[MDL]

Stravinsky's ballets (from Wiki):


The Firebird (L'oiseau de feu) (1910, rev. 1919/1945)
Petrushka (1911, rev. 1947)
The Rite of Spring (Le sacre du printemps) (1913, rev. 1947/1967)
Les noces (The Wedding), for soloists, choir, four pianos and percussion (1914–17; 1919–23)
Pulcinella, for chamber orchestra and soloists (1920)
Apollo (Apollon musagète), for string orchestra (1928, rev. 1947)
Le baiser de la fée (The Fairy's Kiss) (1928, rev. 1950)
Jeu de cartes (Card Game) (1936)
Danses concertantes for chamber orchestra (1942)
Scènes de ballet (1944)
Orpheus, for chamber orchestra (1947)
Agon (1957)

[snyprrr]

Some 'standards' off the top of my head  ..

Bartók
The Miraculous Mandarin
The Wooden Prince

Ravel
Daphnis et Chloé

Debussy
Jeux

Copland
Appalachian Spring

de Falla
The Three-Cornered Hat

Prokofiev
Romeo and Juliet

Thanks, that's what I was looking for.

[snyprrr]

Stravinsky's ballets (from Wiki):


The Firebird (L'oiseau de feu) (1910, rev. 1919/1945)
Petrushka (1911, rev. 1947)
The Rite of Spring (Le sacre du printemps) (1913, rev. 1947/1967)
Les noces (The Wedding), for soloists, choir, four pianos and percussion (1914–17; 1919–23)
Pulcinella, for chamber orchestra and soloists (1920)
Apollo (Apollon musagète), for string orchestra (1928, rev. 1947)
Le baiser de la fée (The Fairy's Kiss) (1928, rev. 1950)
Jeu de cartes (Card Game) (1936)
Danses concertantes for chamber orchestra (1942)
Scènes de ballet (1944)
Orpheus, for chamber orchestra (1947)
Agon (1957)

Sooomeone cornered the market, eh? That's why I couldn't think of any!

[mc ukrneal]

Particular favs?

For Shostakovich ballet suites, I love this one (which might allow you to figure out which ballet you want to start with):
[asin]B00009V90P[/asin]

For complete ballets of his, I guess you could try the Bolt or Golden Age (Rozhdestvensky on Chandos is a safe place to start).

For Prokofiev there is Cinderella (wonderful music this one) and Romeo & Juliet. Previn and Ashkenazy are good choices in both (but there are several good choices too). Gliere's Red Poppy - only one recording that i know of, on Naxos. Glazunov's Raymonda is fun (again on Naxos, and complete). Khachachurian has several - Gayaneh, Spartacus, and Masquerade. I don't know many complete versions of these, and not of all of those are ideally performed. There are many suites of his music, the best of which is this one:
[asin]B00005MO9X[/asin]
They are outstanding performances.

[MDL]

Sooomeone cornered the market, eh? That's why I couldn't think of any!

A very lazy cut 'n' paste job from me. I should try harder.

Re: Xenakis. I think Kraanerg was written as a ballet; Antikhthon certainly was. I love the latter; I haven't got my head around Kraanerg yet.

How many modernist/avant-garde composers (ie, not Shostakovich or Prokofiev) have written full evening-length ballets? Maxwell Davies's Salome , Henze's Ondine and Schnittke's Peet Gynt are the only 2CD ballets in my collection and I can't think of any others out there.

[DieNacht]

Some samples from the more well-known and recorded Scandinavian / Baltic repertoire:

Rosenberg: Orfeus i Stan
Riisager: Benzin
Tubin: Kratt
Alfven: Bergakungen
Ludolf Nielsen: Lakschmi

from the Russian tradition:

Arif Melikov: The Legend of Love (good, if somewhat conservative)
Tcherepnin: Pavillon d´Armide
Tcherepnin: Narcisse et Echo (both Tcherepnins seem rather boring)
Slonimsky: Ikaros (haven`t heard it, but he writes good symphonies)
Shedrin: Carmen Suite
Mosolov: Steel, including Iron Foundry (apparently the only piece recorded from it)

others:
Jaroslav Doubrava: Don Quixote (quite effectful, a rare Panton LP)
Szymanowski: Harnasie
Hrstic: Ohrid Legend

Respighi: Belkhis (Geoffrey Simon´s chandos recording of the suite, available at you-t, is one of the most effectful recordings of the romantic repertoire)

Britten: Prince of the Pagodas
Bliss: Adam Zero, Checkmate

Roussel: Le Festin
Schmitt: La Tragedie de Salomé (highly recommended)
Satie: Parade, Mercure
Poulenc: Les Biches, Aubade
Dutilleux: Le Loup
Milhaud: Creation du Monde, Le Train Bleu, and others
Auric: Phaedra (much more dark and ambitious than his other works)

[mc ukrneal]

I don't know if you get the Mezzo channel where you are, but they will be showing the Flames of Paris tomorrow evening. I think it is this:
[asin]B0044FEZBM[/asin]
It is a ballet composed in the '30's by Boris Asafiev and the story has been updated (making it less Soviet and following a few people in the ballet).

[snyprrr]

A very lazy cut 'n' paste job from me. I should try harder.

Re: Xenakis. I think Kraanerg was written as a ballet; Antikhthon certainly was. I love the latter; I haven't got my head around Kraanerg yet.

How many modernist/avant-garde composers (ie, not Shostakovich or Prokofiev) have written full evening-length ballets? Maxwell Davies's Salome , Henze's Ondine and Schnittke's Peet Gynt are the only 2CD ballets in my collection and I can't think of any others out there.

That's why I started this. I just couldn't think of how 'ballet' translated. Seems it hasn't really.

That's also the thing with Kraanerg. Where do you go after thaaat? I think I'll consider this piece the stake-in-the-heart, haha! Is this ballet's 'Jump the Shark' moment?

[MDL]

Schmitt: La Tragedie de Salomé (highly recommended)

That is a good 'un. Have you heard the full hour-long version which is scored for a chamber orchestra but is so cunningly scored, it sounds like a full band? Extraordinary. But I still play the orchestral suite more often.

[MDL]

That's why I started this. I just couldn't think of how 'ballet' translated. Seems it hasn't really.

Sorry, snyprrr, you've lost me.    Although I have spent the last few hours getting trolleyed in Shoreditch, so my powers of comprehension are waning. 

That's also the thing with Kraanerg. Where do you go after thaaat? I think I'll consider this piece the stake-in-the-heart, haha! Is this ballet's 'Jump the Shark' moment?

I keep coming back to Kraanerg, but I can't find a way in. I love many of Xenakis's works, so I don't think I have a problem with his sound world. But Kraanerg just hasn't grabbed me. Not yet. Must try harder.

[Daverz]

Shchedrin: The Little Humpbacked Horse

[Lethevich]

I'll probably be hung, drawn and quartered for mentioning such a derivative in this cosmopolitan company, but Vaughan Williams' Job is magnificent.