MacMillan's vision has been vital in shaping The Royal Ballet's style and repertory, and what better way to appreciate his art than with this rare chance to experience three contrasting works in a single performance. Abstract, dramatic, humorous - this programme gives a wonderfully varied introduction not just to MacMillan's work but to the beauty and dramatic power of ballet itself.
Concerto, to Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto, contrasts moments of exuberance and elegiac reflection.
The Judas Tree places a single woman among 13 men to enact a harrowing event that is recognizably contemporary but with biblical overtones.
Elite Syncopations completes the programme with a sparkling evocation of a dance hall that brings ragtime rhythms to the dance, and a ragtime band to the stage.
Elite Syncopations is a one-act ballet created in 1974 by Kenneth MacMillan for The Royal Ballet.
The piece was premiered by The Royal Ballet on 7 October 1974 at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, with costume designs by Ian Spurling, lighting designs by John B. Read and staging by Julie Lincoln. The ballet is for 12 dancers.
The 'Classic' ragtime composers represented in the production are: Scott Joplin, Scott Hayden, Joseph F. Lamb and James Scott and Robert Hampton. The centerpiece was composed by Scott Joplin.
The full score list is:
"Sunflower Slow Drag" (1901) – Scott Joplin (1867/8–1917) with Scott Hayden (1882–1915)
"Elite Syncopations" (1902) – Scott Joplin
"The Cascades" (1904) – Scott Joplin, arr. E.J. Stark (1868–1962)
"Hot–House Rag" (1914) – Paul Pratt (1890–1948)
"Calliope Rag" (c. 1910; rev. Darch 1964) – James Scott (1885–1938) [and Robert Darch]
"Ragtime Nightingale" (1914) – Joseph F. Lamb (1877–1960)
"The Golden Hours" (1966) – Max Morath (b. 1926)
"Stoptime Rag" (1910) – Scott Joplin
"The Alaskan Rag" (posthumously published) – Joseph F. Lamb
"Bethena: a Concert Waltz" (1905) – Scott Joplin
"Friday Night" (1965) – Donald Ashwander (1929–94)
"Cataract Rag" (1914) – Robert Hampton (1890–1945)
The band, also 12-strong, sit casually at the back of the stage playing while the 12 dancers perform in front of them, adding to the up-beat, hip swinging aura of spontaneity, with 'easygoing rhythms'.
Concerto is a one-act ballet in three movements created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1966 for the Berliner Ballett. The music is Dmitri Shostakovich's Second Piano Concerto (1957).
The first performance was on 30 November 1966 at the Deutsche Oper, Berlin.
The Judas Tree is a one-act ballet created by Kenneth MacMillan in 1992 for the Royal Ballet. The music is by Brian Elias.
The first performance was on 19 March 1992, at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden.
This is MacMillan's final ballet, and still his most controversial. MacMillan commissioned a score from Brian Elias for the ballet, which had its premiere in 1992. Both MacMillan and Elias were inspired not only by Biblical stories of betrayal but also by contemporary events – the violence in Tiananmen Square; the creation of the financial district in Canary Wharf. As MacMillan admitted of the finished work, ‘There are things in me that are untapped and that have come out in this ballet that I find frightening’.
Release Date: Oct 2010
Recorded: 2010
Number of Discs: 1 [BLU-RAY]
Sound: 2.0LPCM + 5.1(5.0) DTS
Subtitles: EN, FR, DE, ES
Aspect Ratio: 1080i High Definition / 16:9
Display: NTSC
Catalog Number: OABD7074D