ASHTON CELEBRATION: THE ROYAL BALLET DANCES FREDERICK ASHTON (Royal Opera House)
LA VALSE - Hikaru Kobayashi, Ryoichi Hirano, Samantha Raine, Bennet
Gartside, Helen Crawford, Crian Maloney
'MEDITATION' FROM THAÏS - Mara Galeazzi, Rupert Pennefather
VOICES OF SPRING - Emma Maguire, Valentino Zucchetti
MONOTONES I AND II - Emma Maguire, Akane Takada, Dawid Trzensimiech,
Marianela Nuñez, Federico Bonelli, Edward Watson
MARGUERITE AND ARMAND - Tamara Rojo, Christopher Saunders,
Sergei Polunin, Gary Avis
Artists of The Royal Ballet
Orchestra of the Royal Opera House
Conductor: Emmanuel Plasson
Recorded live at the Royal Opera House, February 2013
The Royal Ballet Dances Frederick Ashton brings together five of the great choreographer's creations, showcasing the breadth of his inspiration, his musicality and his infallible sense of drama. In La Valse, 21 couples spin to Ravel's pulsating score. Two delightful short works follow: an ardent love duet set to the intermezzo from Massenet's Thaïs, and a Viennese waltz by Johann Strauss II. Next are Monotones I and II, an otherworldly of distillation of Erik Satie's Trois Gymnopédies which ranks among Ashton's most modernist and greatest works. Lastly, Marguerite and Armand -- indelibly associated with Fonteyn and Nureyev -- is swept along by Liszt's torrential Sonata in B Minor.
La Fille mal gardée (Royal Ballet), Frederick Ashton's sunny English ballet
Frederick Ashton's final full-length ballet is one of his most joyous creations, imbued with his love for the Suffolk countryside.
This film was relayed live around the world as part of the 2011/12 cinemas season.
