Royal Ballet "Polyphonia" Mixed Bill - 2003

Joanne · **Posted:** Mon Nov 17, 2003 2:35 am

Review from The Guardian.

Quote:

Balanchine's ending for The Four Temperaments is always a surprise. For 20 minutes the ballet's focus has been narrowed to a series of small, eccentric worlds, each dominated by an extravagant and unsettling individual. Then suddenly the entire cast sweeps onstage and the principal performers take their positions at the head of a mass, dancing court. They look fantastic.

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[ 21 November 2003, 12:28 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]

Joanne · **Posted:** Tue Nov 18, 2003 1:18 am

Review from The Times.

Quote:

WHEN Christopher Wheeldon left London for New York ten years ago, his departure was little remarked in British ballet circles. Now when one of his ballets arrives at Covent Garden it’s a major event. For in the intervening decade Wheeldon has become one of the world’s leading choreographers. His Polyphonia, which has just entered the Royal Ballet repertoire, shows why.

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Joanne · **Posted:** Thu Nov 20, 2003 4:09 am

Review from The Independent.

Quote:

With this triple bill, Monica Mason hits her stride as director of the Royal Ballet. After two full-length revivals, both familiar repertory, Mason's first new production is a fine ballet by Christopher Wheeldon. It is followed by a Balanchine masterpiece, and even the weakest work, Jiri Kylian's Sinfonietta, has the compensation of a Janacek score. There has been a hike in musical standards: Janacek and Hindemith have lured Antonio Pappano, the Royal Opera's director, to make his conducting debut with the ballet.

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Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Fri Nov 21, 2003 1:13 am

Polyphonia Royal Opera House
By Clement Crisp for The Financial Times

Two thirds a perfect triple bill, and the rest a gymnastic display in purgatory. The Royal Ballet's new programme on Saturday brought the acquisition of Christopher Wheeldon's Polyphonia and a spanking revival of Balanchine's Four Temperaments with Antonio Pappano conducting, and ended, I gather, with Kylian's Sinfonietta , a work I cannot watch. Wheeldon made Polyphonia for New York City Ballet two years ago, and this exploration of piano pieces by Gyorgy Ligeti was at once recognised as a dazzling response to its score.

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Stars blaze in celebration of the miniature and the monumental
Ismene Brown for The Daily Telegraph reviews the Triple bill performed by the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden.

Very belatedly, the Royal Opera House's music director Antonio Pappano seems to have woken up to the existence of a ballet company inside his opera house. This triple bill was originally down to be conducted by someone else, when Pappano suddenly announced a few weeks ago that he would do it.

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djb · **Posted:** Fri Nov 21, 2003 9:58 am

Quote:

The Royal Ballet's new programme on Saturday...ended, I gather, with Kylian's Sinfonietta , a work I cannot watch.

Wow! It seems Clement Crisp intentionally left the theatre in order to avoid seeing Sinfonietta. I'm surprised he's allowed to get away with it.

Cassandra · **Posted:** Fri Nov 21, 2003 11:15 am

Having seen the ballet in question, I understand his actions on this occasion.

Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Sat Nov 22, 2003 3:26 am

To be fair djb, Mr Crisp has already reviewed the RB production and given his "less than enthusiastic" opinion of the work.

Cassandra's view of the ballet accords with the general view of the London critics about "Sinfonietta" and indeed Kylian's work in general. It is not my view, neither is it the view of most of the dancers I know.

[ 22 November 2003, 04:30 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]

Emma Pegler · **Posted:** Sun Nov 23, 2003 4:32 am

Dance: We have liftoff
The Royal Ballet soars to new heights in works by Wheeldon and Balanchine, says David Dougill [The Sunday Times]

Quote:

Since leaving the Royal Ballet in London 10 years ago to join New York City Ballet, Christopher Wheeldon has made his name as one of the most exciting, prolific (and still young) choreographers in the world spectrum of classical dance. There is a special buzz of anticipation when a company can announce that it has secured “a new Wheeldon”.

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[ 23 November 2003, 05:33 AM: Message edited by: Emma Pegler ]

Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Sun Nov 23, 2003 8:55 am

Polyphonia triple
By Jann Parry for The Observer

The Royal Ballet's current triple bill celebrates the start of George Balanchine's centenary year with his 1946 masterpiece, The Four Temperaments. The ballet, to Hindemith's score, now appears indissolubly part of Balanchine's neoclassical canon of abstract, black-and- white works to contemporary music. Christopher Wheeldon subscribes to the same aesthetic, as his 2001 Polyphonia, to Ligeti piano studies, demonstrates.

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[ 23 November 2003, 09:55 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]

Stuart Sweeney · **Posted:** Tue Nov 25, 2003 6:42 am

As always, the London newspaper critics have not enjoyed Jiri Kylian's work. While their often intense dislike for the generality of his work is, of course, their perogative, do not believe that this is a general view. Artists in the UK and most observers overseas I have met regard his work with admiration and audiences at the Royal Opera House have greeted "Sinfonietta" with loud appluase

If you have not seen Kylian's modern choreography designed for ballet trained dancers, then do not be put off by these dismissive reports and do see for yourselves.

[ 26 November 2003, 06:08 AM: Message edited by: Stuart Sweeney ]

Joanne · **Posted:** Thu Nov 27, 2003 3:47 am

Review from The Independent

Quote:

On the other side of town the Royal Ballet was also playing keeper of the flame. George Balanchine's Four Temperaments is another mid-20th-century turning point in dance. It was Mr B's mission statement, defining the way American ballet would go for the next 50 years. It's a repertory mainstay in the US, but the Royal hasn't touched it for 30 years. So Monica Mason's decision to revive it is - depending on how you look at it - either a mark of confidence in her company, or a gamble.

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Emma Pegler · **Posted:** Sun Nov 30, 2003 10:36 am

Polyphonia is sublime and Benjamin and Cope quite brilliant. I do not think that Leanne Benjamin has received the publicity of the Durantes, Guillems and Bussells of the world. I have always enjoyed her dancing and in this she is supreme. What happens when Cope leaves the fold, I do not know. Who else amongst the men has the long-legged elegance of this man. He is such a natural dancer - he appears to put no effort into what he does. He just dances. I love to see power houses leaping across stage and taut muscles and crisp dancing. But there's that, and there's dancing. And that's why Wheeldon's choreography looks so brilliant on Cope.

Four Temperaments saw the Royal dancing the best Balanchine the Company has ever danced. Truly. Ed Watson is coming on leaps and bounds - his Phlegmatic was pretty damned perfect. Some of the corps ladies had not got the point about Balanchine, but on the whole, the performance was good. I thought Zenaida Yanowsky very Balanchine - she looked divine and I am always thrilled to see her - but my companion, a former Balanchine ballerina, did not think she had got the point. Perhaps it was because she was in Merrill Ashley's role and Ashley possesses that role in the minds of those who know. We both agreed that Deidre Chapman was 'not' "Choleric." But I thought the Company was looking in very good shape - Monica Mason' directorship is clearly a major contirbutor to that.

Jiri Kylian's "Sinfonietta" does not deserve the hatred seethed at it by Clement Crisp. It is not Kylian's best but it is lyrical and shows the Company off. You can't please all the people all of the time.


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Royal Ballet "Polyphonia" Mixed Bill - 2003

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