{"id":11584,"date":"2013-06-13T10:55:28","date_gmt":"2013-06-13T14:55:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=11584"},"modified":"2013-07-02T22:41:22","modified_gmt":"2013-07-03T02:41:22","slug":"abt%e2%80%99s-breathtaking-romeo-and-juliet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.musicalamerica.com\/mablogs\/?p=11584","title":{"rendered":"ABT\u2019s Breathtaking Romeo and Juliet"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Sedgwick Clark<\/strong><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve been writing a lot about Stravinsky this season, but Prokofiev has stolen the limelight of late. The New York Philharmonic programmed his two violin concertos in successive weeks\u2014with Lisa Batiashvili digging into the First last week and the Second beginning tonight with Leonidas Kavakos. The American Ballet Theatre is performing Kenneth MacMillan\u2019s lyrical choreography of Romeo and Juliet<\/em> all this week at the Metropolitan Opera House. With only a handful of concerts (and perhaps ballets) left to go, ABT\u2019s R&J may prove to be the finest evening I have had in a theater or concert hall this season. Don\u2019t miss it!<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been some time since I\u2019ve seen the ballet performed. One of the first I saw was also at the Met, by the Royal Danish Ballet in the mid-Seventies. Not even guest artist Peter Martins\u2019s Romeo could stop me from fleeing after the second act due to the abominable playing of the local pickup orchestra. That certainly wasn\u2019t the case at ABT on Tuesday evening, with David LaMarche leading an all-but-flawless rendering of Prokofiev\u2019s great score, as fine as any I have heard live or on recording. The impassioned Polina Semionova made Juliet\u2019s transition from girl to young woman heart-throbbingly real, and David Hallberg as her ardent Romeo was no less believable. The large ABT cast was\u00a0committed and effective\u00a0throughout.<\/p>\n

And while I\u2019m thinking of ballet orchestras, I went to New York City Ballet last weekend to see works choreographed to music by Shostakovich (Concerto DSCH<\/em> turned out to be his Piano Concerto No. 2, which was a treat), Cage (Sonatas and Interludes<\/em>), and Glass (In Creases<\/em>), but was blown away by the final work, Balanchine\u2019s Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3<\/em>, which kept a smile on my face from first note to last. (Maybe I should say from ascent to descent of the curtain!) Many of our finest ensembles come a cropper in dovetailing the string and woodwind rhythms\u00a0of the Suite\u2019s Scherzo. But as\u00a0this orchestra aficionado has\u00a0happily noted before, the inspired repertoire of NYCB is not only visual but aural, with its crack musicians always to be counted upon.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Looking Forward<\/strong><\/p>\n

My week\u2019s scheduled concerts (8:00 p.m. unless otherwise noted):<\/p>\n

6\/13 at 7:30. Avery Fisher Hall. New York Philharmonic\/Lionel Bringuier; Leonidas Kavakos, violin. Dukas: The Sorcerer\u2019s Apprentice<\/em>. Prokofiev: Violin Concerto No. 2. Kod\u00e1ly: Dances of Gal\u00e1nta<\/em>. Stravinsky: Firebird<\/em> Suite (1919).<\/p>\n