In 1909, the Russian impresario got here to Paris and created a sensation with an organization he referred to as the Ballets Russes. A brand new 22-disc set revisits the music of Diaghilev’s legendary ballets.
TERRY GROSS, HOST:
That is FRESH AIR. In 1909, the Russian impresario Serge Diaghilev got here to Paris with an organization he referred to as the Ballet Russe and created a sensation that lasted till Diaghilev’s loss of life 20 years later. Classical music critic Lloyd Schwartz says these extraordinary collaborations of dancers, singers, choreographers, composers and designers remodeled and revolutionized ballet. This is Lloyd’s evaluate of a 22-disc set of virtually all of the music the Ballet Russe ever danced to.
(SOUNDBITE OF ZEN NADIR’S “CELLO”)
LLOYD SCHWARTZ, BYLINE: Astonish me, the legendary impresario Serge Diaghilev famously challenged the multifaceted writer-director Jean Cocteau, who was a part of Diaghilev’s astonishing interior circle. Diaghilev astonished audiences with legendary dancers like Anna Pavlova, Vaslav Nijinsky and Nijinsky’s sister, Bronislava. He had units designed by Picasso and Matisse and costumes by no much less a style icon than Coco Chanel. However possibly most astonishing and most lasting was the music Diaghilev commissioned – music first meant to be seen in addition to heard. Among the many masterpieces have been Stravinsky’s first three main ballets – “Firebird,” “Petrushka,” and particularly “The Ceremony of Spring,” which, at its premiere in 1913, created essentially the most infamous theatrical riot of the century.
Diaghilev commissioned practically a dozen works by Stravinsky, together with the chic “Apollo” and Prokofiev’s “The Prodigal Son,” two ballets choreographed by George Balanchine originally of his profession which might be nonetheless broadly carried out practically a century later. Essential new works included Ravel’s “Daphnis And Chloe” and Debussy’s horny and mysterious “Jeux” – video games – which Nijinsky each danced in and choreographed as an erotic threesome pretending to be a tennis sport.
Diaghilev’s single most necessary fee was undoubtedly Stravinsky’s “Ceremony Of Spring,” which is to twentieth century classical music what, a decade later, T.S. Eliot’s “The Wasteland” would turn into for twentieth century poetry, a piece that modified your complete route of its artwork kind. One of the crucial historic recordings on this set is the very first full recording of “The Ceremony Of Spring,” carried out by Pierre Monteux 16 years after he led the infamous premiere. Monteux emphasizes the work’s haunting magnificence and rhythmic freshness, the seductive approach the sounds of nature waking up morph into primitive ritual, de-emphasizing the mere violence that has turn into a cliche in so many modern performances.
(SOUNDBITE OF PIERRE MONTEUX PERFORMANCE OF STRAVINSKY’S “THE RITE OF SPRING”)
SCHWARTZ: The “Ballets Russes” might be greatest remembered for being avant garde. However Diaghilev was additionally chargeable for restoring some ballet classics. Tchaikovsky’s “Swan Lake” was a failure at its premiere in 1877. However the “Ballets Russes” manufacturing in London in 1911, with Nijinsky because the prince in love with the bewitched Swan Queen, was certainly one of its earliest profitable revivals. The recording on this set is by Andre Previn and the London Symphony Orchestra, with Ida Haendel taking part in the luscious violin solos.
(SOUNDBITE OF ANDRE PREVIN AND LONDON SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA PERFORMANCE OF TCHAIKOVSKY’S “SWAN LAKE, OP 20”)
SCHWARTZ: I’ve a particular fondness for the music to some “Ballets Russes” hits that at the moment are virtually completely forgotten as dances, items like Erik Satie’s witty “Parade” from 1917, with an orchestra that features a prepare whistle and a typewriter. It is most likely now greatest remembered as the primary theater piece with units and costumes by Picasso.
(SOUNDBITE OF IGOR MARKEVITCH’S PERFORMANCE OF SATIE’S “PARADE”)
SCHWARTZ: That excerpt from “Parade” is from a 1954 recording carried out by a musician intimately linked to the “Ballets Russes,” Igor Markevitch, who was the final within the collection of Diaghilev’s gifted younger proteges and lovers. After Diaghilev died, Markevitch married Nijinsky’s daughter and have become one of many twentieth century’s most beloved conductors, particularly on this repertoire. Listening to music for legendary ballets I am going to most likely by no means get to see offers me chills. At the least in these superlative recordings, the misplaced dances come alive in my very own creativeness.
GROSS: Lloyd Schwartz is the poet laureate of Somerville, Mass. His most up-to-date e-book is named “Who’s On First?: New And Chosen Poems.” It is printed by the College of Chicago Press. He reviewed the 22-CD set “Diaghilev: Ballets Russes” on the Warner label.
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(SOUNDBITE OF BRAD MEHLDAU’S “EXIT MUSIC (FOR A FILM)”)
GROSS: FRESH AIR’s government producer is Danny Miller. Our technical director is Audrey Bentham. Our engineer immediately is Adam Staniszewski. Our interviews and evaluations are produced and edited by Amy Salit, Phyllis Myers, Sam Briger, Lauren Krenzel, Heidi Saman, Therese Madden, Ann Marie Baldonado, Thea Chaloner, Seth Kelley and Susan Nyakundi. Our digital media producer is Molly Seavy-Nesper. Roberta Shorrock directs the present. I am Terry Gross.
(SOUNDBITE OF BRAD MEHLDAU’S “EXIT MUSIC (FOR A FILM)”)
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