The David H. Koch building/ Stravinsky’s “Fireworks”, “Scherzo fantastique”, “Symphony in three movements”, and “Firebird” May 04th, 2022.
Welcome back friends!
This week, friends, welcome to the start of an awesome NYCB two week celebration, the 2022 Stravinsky festival!
Yay! yay! yay!
A very special festival, this 2022 Stravinsky festival, showcasing in 14 ballets, choreographies by Balanchine, Robbins and Justin Peck, all set to Stravinsky music, to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the 1972 Stravinsky festival.
Wow! And yay!
The 1972 Stravinsky festival had been created then, by George Balanchine (1904-1983), the iconic Georgian-American ballet choreographer, who was one, if not, the most influential, 20th-century choreographer, and who also, co-founded in 1948, the NYCB company, and embodied it and animated it, as its Artistic Director, for more than 35 years.
Wow!
A choreographer Balanchine, particularly praised for his musicality, which is not particularly surprising, when one knows, that in addition to this ballet studies in Saint Petersburg at the Imperial Ballet, after graduation, Balanchine enrolled as well in 1921, at the Petrograd conservatory, to study advanced piano, music theory, counterpoint, harmony, and composition.
Wow!
And Balanchine, also called by his dancers, Mr B, wanted, through this unusual, dazzling, and unique festival, to honor his closest creative collaborator, with whom he had partnered, in many works, for over five decades: I mean of course, the equally illustrious, and himself one of the most influential classical music composer and pivotal figure of modernist music, whose styles widely evolved throughout his long life: Russian born, composer, pianist and conductor, later of French (from 1934) and American (from 1945) citizenships: Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), who had died a year earlier.
Wow!
Take a look at a short excerpt, to get a sense of the variety of choreographic works, sets, accessories, and costumes from a huge number of dancers, on display by the NYCB, at this 2022 Stravinsky festival:
Wow!
Just fabulous!
And according to NYCB Associate Artistic Director extraordinaire, the one and only, Wendy Whelan, Stravinsky’s music was/ and still is, the lifeblood of the NYCB company.
Wow!
And interestingly, keep in mind also, that although Stravinsky had had piano lessons as a child, he started by studying after high school, at St Petersburg University, Law and Philosophy, which he graduated from in 1905, and got to be more serious about music, only around 1902, at 20 years old, when he showed illustrious Russian composer, considered a master of orchestration, Rimsky-Korsakov (1844-1908), and whose own son, was at university studying law as well with Stravinsky, some of his early pieces.
Wow!
Rimsky-Korsakov was sufficiently impressed, to agree to take on young Stravinsky, as a private pupil, while at the same time, advising him, not to enter the conservatory for conventional academic training.
Wow!
And last Wednesday, the NYCB showcased four beautiful Stravinsky works: three from the lively, magical, fairytale like, incorporating Russian and French traditions, from Stravinsky’s early musical era (and my favorite period of Stravinsky’s works): 1908 “Fireworks/ Feux d’artifice”: a short musical work, 1909 “Scherzo fantastique”: a short ballet, 1910 “Firebird”: a short ballet, and lastly, the more abstract, and austere, 1942-1945 “Symphony for three movements”: another short ballet, combining the features of a concerto, with those of a symphony.
Wow!
What a treat!
1)The very first Stravinsky piece performed delightfully, for its sheer beauty, by the NYCB orchestra, last Wednesday, was 1908 “Fireworks”/ “Feux d’artifices”. A piece written as a wedding gift, by Stravinsky, not to Rimsky-Korsakov (Stravinsky’s music orchestration teacher, and mentor by then), but to Rimsky-Korsakov’ daughter, Nadezhda Steinberg, a piece, which unfortunately Rimsky-Korsakov, never actually heard, as he had just recently died, before the piece was presented; but what a terrific gift to his daughter, and what a great tribute to Rimsky-Korsakov’s importance and influence for/to Stravinsky.
Yay!
Take a listen to another performance from a few years ago (2019), at the Lincoln Center:
Wow!
So upbeat, uplifting and so fitting, to introduce this 2022 Stravinsky festival!
Yay!
2) Next, the second Stravinsky short and brilliant piece performed last Wednesday, is from 1909, and entitled “Scherzo fantastique”. Choreographed by Justin Peck (b. 1987) in 2016, with colorful, abstract, and joyful scenic design by Jules de Balincourt, and cheeky, modern, unisex, fun, lollipop like, commedia dell’arte/ Kandinsky inspired costumes by Bartelme and Jung, this Stravinsky piece captured the audience’s attention immediately.
The dancers looked electrified, and were bursting with fiery energy, and I especially enjoyed the fanciful and dynamic jumps.
Wow! wow! wow!
And I especially enjoyed the performances of the following dancers: Brittany Pollack, Harrison Coll, Miriam Miller and KJ Takahashi were all on fire!
Yay! yay! yay!
Take a listen to the energy and the storytelling quality of the music.
Enjoy!
Just enchanting!
And apparently, in 1909, when “Scherzo Fantastique” was performed in St Petersburg, Diaghilev, the “Ballets Russes” impresario, was so impressed by Stravinsky’s promise, as a composer, that he quickly commissioned some orchestral arrangements for the summer season in Paris. And for the 1910 season, Diaghilev approached Stravinsky again, this time, commissioning the musical score for a new full-length ballet featuring a Russian folklore magical character: the Firebird.
Wow!
Thirdly, the next Stravinsky piece performed was 1942-1945 “Symphony in three movements”, a “leotard” ballet whose slightly more austere music, was matched by a mesmerizing, abstract, almost like a military parade, and typically Balanchine like type of plotless choreography.
Wow!
I particularly enjoyed the performances of the following dancers, whose crisp, full, energetic and athletic movements were in full display: Troy Schumacher, Emma von Enck, as well Adrian Danchig-Waring, Ashley Laracey, and finally, Sebastian Villarini-Velez and Emilie Gerrity, were all fantastic.
Wow!
Enjoy the beauty of these group movements, here danced by another company, to the exact same Balanchine choreography:
Just fabulous!
4) And last but not least, Stravinsky’s glorious and spellbinding, 1910 “Firebird”, with choreographies from both Balanchine and Robbins (1918-1998), another quintessential American choreographer from the 20th century, (responsible for the episode featuring the wizard Kastchei), did not disappoint.
Yay!
The Firebird in Russian folklore, follows the classical scheme of a fairy tale, including many versions of the story, as it was primarily told orally in the beginning.
Wow!
A feather from a Firebird, a magical bird, represents a premonition of a hard journey. And basically the magical bird helps the hero overcome his quest.
Wow!
In this version, a Firebird, a magical bird symbolizing purity, is caught by a hunter. As the hunter gives back its freedom to the magical Firebird, the bird gives the hunter/ a young prince, a feather in case he finds himself in trouble. Of course he does, as he tries to rescue young princesses from the hold of an evil wizard (Kastchei). The young hunter calls then, the Firebird to the rescue, and together, they are able to rescue the princesses.
Yay!
And the dancers were amazing: Amar Ramasar as the hunter/young prince, was charming, Isabella La Fresniere as the Firebird, was energetic and mysterious, and Miriam Miller was a beautiful bride.
Yay!
And what awesome, huge sets, and wonderfully imaginative costumes, by Naive Belarusian-French Expressionist Marc Chagall (1897-1985).
Wow!
Just gorgeous!
Enjoy this small excerpt, danced here, a few years ago by Teresa Reichlen, which also allows you to admire, not only the awesome, imaginative, fantastical music by Stravinsky, the beautiful choreography in slow motion by Balanchine mostly and by Robbins, but also the incredibly ostentatious, surreal and fantastical costumes initially designed by Chagall.
Wow!
Yay! yay! yay!
So, to sum up my feelings, about the unique “Stravinsky Festival I” program, admired last Wednesday, at the David H. Koch building, in great company: what extraordinary, rich, beautiful and varied choreographies on an array of musical styles from Stravinsky, from various eras, which not only celebrated the joy of dancing, but also and importantly, which commemorated and honored, with fiery, flaming, blazing passion, great, iconic Performing Arts giants, of/from the 20th and 21st centuries, who have brought in the world, not only in NYC, over the years, and still bring today, so much beauty, energy, drive, happiness, warmth, glee, joy, awe, and other intense emotions to their audiences, that, like many, I was thoroughly impressed, and I would like to believe, because it matters, that both Balanchine and Stravinsky, would have been utterly overjoyed by these performances.
Yay!
And wow! wow! wow!
And bravo NYCB!
So awesome!
Go see the rest of the 2022 Stravinsky festival if you can!
Until next time friends!
Soft…
Fluttering…
Sunny…
Joyful…
Happy…
Loving…
Eternal butterflies 😊