 Ashton to Stravinsky: A Study of Four Ballets with choreography by Frederick Ashton.
Author: Jordan, Stephanie & Geraldine Morris Published: 2005 Frederick Ashton, one of the foremost British choreographers of the twentieth century, set four Stravinsky scores. The most familiar, Scènes de ballet, is widely regarded as his masterpiece, but the others, Le Baiser de la fée, Persephone, and Le Rossignol show the extraordinary brilliance of Ashton's use of Stravinsky's music. In Ashton to Stravinsky Stephanie Jordan and Geraldine Morris uncover some of the secrets of these works. Together with past and present dancers from the Royal Ballet (Federico Bonelli, Mara Galeazzi, Isabel McMeekan, Natasha Oughtred, Antoinette Sibley, Anthony Dowell, and Nicola Katrak), they show excerpts from the works, most of these available on screen for the first time. The programme features an in-depth examination of extracts from each work, beginning with major sections from Scènes de ballet. In Persephone, which follows, there is footage from an early Royal Ballet film featuring Svetlana Beriosova and Keith Rosson which demonstrate Ashton's astonishing inventiveness and skill. Originally made for Margot Fonteyn, the Bride's solo from Le Baiser de la fée was rehearsed by Nicola Katrak, who learnt it from Fonteyn: it is contrasted with settings of the same music by George Balanchine and Kenneth MacMillan. Finally, there are the Fisherman's solos from Le Rossignol, coached by Anthony Dowell, the role's creator. This DVD is not region coded: it is playable world-wide on PAL compatible equipment. |
