'Double Concerto' reviews ENB 'Apollo' reviews 'Apollo' reviews 'Who Cares' reviews Klimentova in reviews Maley in reviews recent ENB reviews

It’s been a busy week, so I didn’t immediately have time to give more detailed impressions of ENB’s triple bill when I saw the company at the Bristol Hippodrome. It was good to see that critics from the national press ventured to Manchester in order to report on the first night of this new programme. A notable exception seems to have been The Financial Times…………

Notwithstanding the ghastliness of Britain’s road and rail network, a recent excursion in the wake of English National Ballet has proved to be exceptionally rewarding. Ballet audiences in the capital will have to wait till the company installs itself at the Coliseum in order to see the enterprising triple bill currently being presented by Matz Skoog’s troupe.

The programme opens with the sublime Apollo, presented in the version adopted by Balanchine in the late 1970’s which omits the scene depicting the birth of Apollo. Here is an ideal ballet for a company touring on a shoestring; a seminal work that requires just four dancers, no scenery, minimal costumes, and only a string orchestra to boot. Little wonder that ENB has made good use of this gem in its mid-scale Tour-de-force programmes. But Apollo deserves a big stage, and Stravinsky himself suggested an orchestra of thirty-four to do justice to the varied sonorities of his score.

The cast on the opening night included Dmitri Gruzdyev as Apollo, happily back from injury, and portraying the title role with godlike grace. Meanwhile, Joanna Maley as Terpsichore showed how well she is discovering the essence of the Muse who pleases Apollo. Erina Takahashi and Caroline Duprot were Polyhymnia and Calliope respectively. There are moments in present-day productions of the 19th century classics when one suddenly observes a foot whizzing past an ear; on such occasions, one is tempted to ask “Why?” In the Balanchine canon, however, such flexibility is de rigeur; the final tableau depicting the rays of the sun requires the kind of stillness provided with youthful insouciance by these two young Muses.

The second offering in this triple bill gives one of our younger choreographers the chance to put the company through its paces. Poulenc’s concerto for two pianos, composed in 1932, is full of energy and opportunities to play “spot the composer”. Christopher Hampson’s vivid response begins with a lone dancer awaiting his partner. Daria Klimentova duly appears, leaps into the arms of the awaiting Jan-Eric Wikstrom (a fine addition to ENB’s forces), and the rollercoaster is on its way. Whether fizzing with excitement or reflecting the dreamlike section of the score that was said to have been inspired by the visit of a Balinese gamelan orchestra to a French Colonial Exhibition in Paris, Hampson’s sensitivity to the music is clear. Designs (by Gary Harris) which involve interlacing chrome poles at a variety of angles, and lighting (by Mark Cooper) that pulls out all the stops (including a touch of ultra-violet) place this production firmly in the 21st century. Londoners who dread the emptiness of mid-January will find here an excellent New Year treat, not only as a tonic for themselves but also as a production that should captivate their offspring with the immediacy of its visual impact.

And so to Gershwin. Balanchine’s felicitous interpretation of the set of Gershwin songs that were orchestrated for Who Cares? provides an opportunity for fourteen of the company’s dancers to indulge in Broadway pzazz. Familiar faces such as Monica Perego, Thomas Edur and Agnes Oaks communicate the sheer joy of their art. Naturally, the rotation of casting requires that these three take their places in the other ballets along with their colleagues in what appears these days to be a more stable company; comparison of interpretations will be an interesting exercise at the Coliseum. Honour to ENB, prepared to risk something fresh north (and west) of Watford, though it must be added that the citizens of Oxford, Southampton, and Liverpool have not been given the opportunity of seeing this programme during ENB’s visits to their own theatres.