tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post6206740042023712318..comments2024-03-26T07:58:59.761+00:00Comments on I'll think of something later: Being Beauteous: Bourne and JärviDavidhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comBlogger11125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-548504772169298462012-12-14T23:26:02.563+00:002012-12-14T23:26:02.563+00:00When I went, we had to stuff our ears with tissues...When I went, we had to stuff our ears with tissues just to reduce the aural damage being done. We liked the production, but the sheer volume was awful. I noticed that there was no live orchestra; they were playing a good recorded orchestra over the PA system. Clearly money was being saved in doing it this way, but it is also a case of Matthew Bourne not getting the sound levels he likes from a live orchestra and preferring this ugly, and unnecessarily over-amplified, recording.Colin Dunnnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-18686555214504851492012-12-14T09:47:43.261+00:002012-12-14T09:47:43.261+00:00Got it in one!Got it in one!Catrionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-52503466252359294802012-12-13T12:06:34.028+00:002012-12-13T12:06:34.028+00:00I can't think where the morris dancers might f...I can't think where the morris dancers might fit - Monostatos's team, perhaps, dancing to Papageno's magic bells?Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-21208427074324457592012-12-11T13:24:32.632+00:002012-12-11T13:24:32.632+00:00The Pirates isn't due till the spring - but th...The Pirates isn't due till the spring - but the Thomas Allen Magic Flute went down well. The friend who came along with me has never quite been convinced by the drama and storyline, although she loves the music. However, she was won over on this occasion by the charm and entertainment value. I am still meeting acquaintances in Edinburgh giggling over morris dancers - you had to be there. Catrionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-11107605428678823712012-12-11T09:47:08.927+00:002012-12-11T09:47:08.927+00:00Gosh, Catriona, it has done the rounds already: I&...Gosh, Catriona, it has done the rounds already: I'm amazed they succeeded in keeping an embargo on major press reviews until the London opening. I was told by company members that Bourne was at every single performance, tweaking and revising nightly. <br /><br />Have you had the Scottish Opera Pirates of Penzance yet? I'm looking forward to that coming down here. Bad news in store for the company, though, it sounds from hearsay which I can only hope is wrong.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-90655087788167692962012-12-11T07:32:56.536+00:002012-12-11T07:32:56.536+00:00Ha! Glad I didn't ruin it for you, having seen...Ha! Glad I didn't ruin it for you, having seen it on its pre-London run. The audience up here was generally entranced by it and (again being careful not to spoil it) loved the baby. I liked the references - the Nicholas and Alexandra coming of age, the Michael Jackson/Thriller echoes. It was better by far than Scottish Ballet's Sleeping Beauty, where the man-handling of Aurora in the rose Adagio looked very like child-molestation (tiny ballerina) and the Bluebird had an alarming resemblance to David Bowie ...Catrionanoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-34121277302630258402012-12-10T13:23:11.580+00:002012-12-10T13:23:11.580+00:00La Fracci's attempt sounds daft as only balle...La Fracci's attempt sounds daft as only ballet can be. At least Bourne's revamp - and I use that term advisedly - has integrity.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-19697257168205485912012-12-10T13:13:46.338+00:002012-12-10T13:13:46.338+00:00My first Sleeping Beauty was Margot Fontyan and Mi...My first Sleeping Beauty was Margot Fontyan and Michael Somes in the old Royal Ballet production (Oliver Messel at his most glorious) and since then its been Kirov, National Ballet of Canada and Rome - the later beefed up so that Carla Fraci could turn it into Carabosse Learns A Lesson in Love and do a "gypsy" turn. It sounds like Bourne has done a bit more than beefing ... <br /><br />Always loved the Lanchberry recording but then I guess it depends on wither you are looking at to be danced to or simply as a miraculous listening experience.Willymhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03652532356102638621noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-41209245543262649312012-12-10T10:26:36.070+00:002012-12-10T10:26:36.070+00:00Well, Sue, I guess all choreographed Beauties are ...Well, Sue, I guess all choreographed Beauties are cut - and Bourne actually included more of the usual casualties than anyone else. Though he probably also cut more. The last act is especially tough if you love the score - but he always had his reasons.<br /><br />I guess I'm a bit less ecstatic than Jessica, and perhaps her piece needed to come with a spoiler alert. On which note, I'm absolutely furious that a colleague on The Arts Desk gave away the denouement of that splendid Danish thriller The Killing's Series 2...has rendered it not worth the watching now.<br /><br />Delighted that you'll be listening with your sharp ears to the entire score. What invention across nearly three hours of music. I think I'd have Act Three - oh, the wacky orchestration of the animal pieces - performed in its entirety in one half of an ideal concert.Davidhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14506881804082382739noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-4082162755511092022012-12-10T02:41:50.020+00:002012-12-10T02:41:50.020+00:00You and Jessica Duchen appear to be on the same pa...You and Jessica Duchen appear to be on the same page about the Bourne: "It's brilliant, beautiful, utterly bananas, overwhelming in its tenderness, dazzling in its imaginative freedom - and it works because it all springs from love and respect for the original," and I think this answers my question about why the cuts can work.Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1248503935075362425.post-86630956411946457502012-12-10T01:55:47.591+00:002012-12-10T01:55:47.591+00:00Ah, on the subject of beautiful/beauteous (both fi...Ah, on the subject of beautiful/beauteous (both fine words, by me, too!), Sleeping Beauty is one of those ballets I thought I knew, but clearly don't know at all (I'm listening to it now--though not any of the right ones, which I couldn't locate offhand). <br /><br />It's undeniably lovely, and, if you say it's Tchaikovsky's meisterwerk, attention must be paid, for I believe you've listened to everything by this composer multiple times, am I right? (I remember when you wrote of the Brilliant set, and noted that it didn't contain, was it The Tempest?)<br /><br />I've put Jarvi's Sleeping Beauty on my ever-growing CD wish list, for, among other things, I want to read those liner notes! I'm surprised you weren't irritated by Bourne's major cuts in the score.<br /><br />Yet I'm only a quarter of the way through DQ! I need 9 lives, for sure . . .Susan Scheidhttp://prufrocksdilemma.wordpress.com/noreply@blogger.com