Louise Levene

Dazzled by Balanchine

But the cut-price sets are an unworthy setting for the costumes

A trio of dazzling scores, the soft clack of gemstones on hips and collarbones, a glittering parure of solos, duets and ensembles: George Balanchine’s Jewels returns to the Covent Garden repertoire to celebrate its 50th anniversary.

The ballet’s three plotless elements celebrate the various facets of classical dance. ‘Emeralds’, set to snatches of Gabriel Fauré, pays lyrical homage to ‘the France of elegance, comfort, dress, perfume’. The American-accented ‘Rubies’ riffs on Stravinsky’s 1929 Capriccio for piano and orchestra, and ‘Diamonds’ joins forces with Tchaikovsky in an exultant hymn of praise to the classical ballerina (a role shared on Saturday by Lauren Cuthbertson and a sublime Marianela Nuñez).

The Royal Ballet, after a tentative stab at ‘Rubies’ back in 1989, only acquired all three gemstones in 2007, and has been known to deliver them with a slightly cut-glass English accent (quite a feat for a company with only three homegrown principals), but last Saturday’s two performances were strongly, at times brilliantly, danced with fine support from Pavel Sorokin and the orchestra.

Balanchine’s command of music — he would sit and read orchestral scores in bed — lends a marvellous sense of inevitability to his steps, which become as much a part of the composition as the strings. ‘Diamonds’ inhabits Tchaikovsky’s Third Symphony as if it had been tailored to the choreographer’s own minutage. This musical rigour gives Balanchine ballets a bone structure that will shine through even the most indifferent performance, though such things are rare thanks to the eternal vigilance of the Balanchine Trust (in this case Elyse Borne and Patricia Neary) who police every revival of the works in their care.

That said, it is something of a mystery that the Trust should have signed off on the sets selected for this 2007 production.

Already a subscriber? Log in

Keep reading with a free trial

Subscribe and get your first month of online and app access for free. After that it’s just £1 a week.

There’s no commitment, you can cancel any time.

Or

Unlock more articles

REGISTER

Comments

Don't miss out

Join the conversation with other Spectator readers. Subscribe to leave a comment.

Already a subscriber? Log in