Giannandrea Poesio

Aural padding

issue 03 December 2005

There seems to be a problem with the way some modern-day dance-makers deal with music. Twice in a fortnight, I have been confronted by works in which the score had no relevance to the choreography, and performers seemed to dance to a different tune. I am referring to Rafael Bonachela’s Curious Conscience, reviewed last week, and to Alastair Marriott’s Tanglewood, given its première last Monday by the Royal Ballet.

In line with the assumption that ‘50 per cent of a ballet’s success stems from the right music’, Marriott has opted for an intriguing score, Ned Rorem’s Violin Concerto. As the composer explains in a captivating programme note, this is no traditional violin concerto. Its structure, as well as its thematic and almost narrative content, is the result of some ingenious provocative thinking. So it’s a pity that, in Marriott’s choreographic translation, Rorem’s ideas do not appear to have had any influence on the ballet’s content.

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