Frederick Ashton: Rhapsody, The Two Pigeons (DVD)
Price: $36.00 Members: $32.40
Item: 809478011873
Description
Frederick Ashton: Rhapsody, The Two Pigeons (DVD)
Artists: Natalia Osipova, Vadim Muntagirov, Lauren Cuthbertson, Barry Wordsworth, Steven McRae
Format: NTSC
Language: English
Region: All Regions
Aspect Ratio: 1.78:1
Number of discs: 1
Studio: Naxos of America, Inc.
DVD Release Date: October 28, 2016
Run Time: 118 minutes
This release features two ballets in one exquisite evening performance. Principals Natalia Osipova and Steven McRae dance Ashton’s Rhapsody, created for The Royal Ballet in 1980 by Mikhail Baryshnikov and Lesley Collier, with spectacular choreography to suite the dancers’ star reputations.
Lauren Cuthbertson and Vadim Muntagirov lead a charismatic cast in Ashton’s poignant and heart-warming reflection on love, The Two Pigeons, based on an old French folk tale and first performed on Valentines Day 1961. These two ballets from the company’s founder choreographer capture The Royal Ballet’s famous skill and distinctive style.
Barry Wordsworth conducts the Orchestra of the Royal Opera House in the rapturous Rachmaninoff and Messager scores. Financial Times gave this performance five stars, stating: “…Steven McRae… cutting tremendous shapes in the air, wrapping the score round himself…”
History
Ballet
In classic or contemporary ballet, dancing may tell a story, express a mood, or simply reflect the music in movement. Ballet as part of staged performances originated in the Italian Renaissance courts of the 15th and 16th centuries and from there spread to France. The creation of classical ballet as we know it today occurred during the reign of the art-loving French king Louis XIV in the mid-17th century. During the Romantic era, ballet technique evolved to express new ideas, most notably with women dancing en point, or on their toes, allowing them to appear weightless and otherworldly.
Among the choreographers who helped bring ballet into the modern age by exploring new visual and dramatic styles are George Balanchine, Antony Tudor and—bridging the worlds of classical dance and Broadway—Agnes de Mille and Jerome Robbins.
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