TCHAIKOVSKY PIANO CONCERTO #2 (NYC Ballet)

[@susannevollmer2347]

I love watching Reichlin in this: her flow and dynamic is terrific!🤗

[@trishkoran3293]

I love this! Magnificent! I was privileged to see McBride and Colleen Neary do this in ‘73.

[@michaelbrodsky1221]

As usual--thanks so very much for generously posting yet another incredible work. High point for me has always been the first movement pas de trois where the dancer in all innocence challenges the primacy of the ballet's "official" lead thanks to the sheer ebullience of the choreography. Nichols dancing it with Castelli and Bennett is etched in my memory. Many thanks yet again.

[@jcliff26]

Yes. They were state-of-the-art in this.

[@Grunyaprotazova]

Thank you so much. I wish one day I can see a full recording of Cortège Hongrois! ❤❤❤

[@susannevollmer2347]

Great and spectacular two pdd parts! I love them. I saw parts with Melissa Hayden and all with tutus named Imperial and that looked realy different. Dont know why... some time ago. First time I see this, thank you for posting!

[@genlyai5055]

Yes. Ballet Imperial is the tutu version; it was first (1941). It has different choreography, particularly in the slow movement. I prefer that version but it's still a beautiful ballet even in the awful pink corps costumes...

[@susannevollmer2347]

@@genlyai5055 Me too!

[@mproche57]

So grand, so big! Your post made me look up the ballet in Suzanne Farrell's "Holding On To the Air". First made for Ballet Caravan. (I always find that tour of South America fascinating: how did they do it? The photographs of the company standing next to their aircraft: those planes must have been creaky and scary. But they're all so young and look like they're having the time of their lives). Then the 1964 revival with Farrell. (In the book she says Karinska's costumes were blue and white) This is the version I've seen at NYCB, and I probably saw this cast. The male lead dancer is Philip Neal, I believe. Miranda Weese and Teresa Reichlen are even better here than I remember. And it's fast! That's Balanchine. Thanks for posting!

[@jcliff26]

The Ballet Caravan tour was paid by the US STATE Dept as a Goodwill Tour to South America.

[@mproche57]

@@jcliff26 Thank you, that makes sense. It would have been so expensive.

[@GariGold]

A beautiful ballet. I wanted to, off the topic, wish you a Merry Christmas season. Seems the best way I can. Thank you for the memories on stage and now through your channel. ❤️🙏🎄

[@avasgranb1]

Wish this could be restored for better viewing

[@running179]

Oh, just 1 other thing: you really notice in this ballet how much Balanchine liked giving ballerinas lots of unsupported pirouettes, often with little or no preparation ("Theme & Variations" & "Allegro Brillante" are great examples of this). 1 of the things I loved about Suzanne was how she seemed sometimes to turn so dangerously "off balance," like off-center, & still make it - sometimes I almost jumped out of my seat. Don't know how she did that. Patty McBride did it too, & sometimes even Darci K did it before she was injured - real recklessness.

[@genlyai5055]

Have you ever seen footage of Marnee Morris? Best turner ever to dance in NYCB. Her off-balance turns were beyond beyond. An incredibly wonderful and dazzling dancer who had a very sad life.

[@melodysokolow786]

could not agree more............

[@billploplis6947]

Gorgeous performance!! Many thanks. Who is Miranda Weese's partner? His partnering is so perfect, and Weese really dances up a storm. Her musicality is so precise. Reichlin gets a lovely float in her jetes. This is really one of my favorite Balanchine classical ballets. The formations of the corps and the technical challenges for them are fascinating, e. g. that big circle of bourrees facing out from the center. Damn, that must have been hard.

[@kerrytakashi12]

Thank you for the video. I notice that there is a growing trend of dance fans stating that Russians dance Balanchine better than our dancers now. It makes me angry. It makes me angrier when I see NYCB slowing tempos down and losing the beat emphasis in the choreography. At some point, it will be gone.

[@avesraggiana]

This assertion, wielded most licentiously by the Russian ballet world, angers me to no end. They certainly have their way with Balanchine choreography - and tempi - but they can never correctly assert that they have THE way with Balanchine choreography.

[@kerrytakashi12]

@@avesraggiana If isn't slo-mo, it isn't Russian. LOL The one company that I can say puts in good work is State Ballet of Georgia (country not state). They have a few examples of their Balanchine productions that look very good. Of course, Balanchine was Georgian, so that must be why they take greater care.

[@genlyai5055]

This is what happens when you let Peter Martins abuse and destroy NYCB for thirty-five years. Standards vanish. You're aware that Martins FIRED every great Balanchine ballerina who worked for NYCB? Farrell, Ashley, Verdy, and the list continues. He refused to let ballerinas coach roles made on them by Balanchine. Stafford is a moron and Whelan was never meant to do any sort of administration; they are continuing the rot.

[@kerrytakashi12]

@@genlyai5055 Yes, everyone from the top to the bottom seemed determined to destroy the Balanchine style. I remember in Kirkland's book, she mentioned that Martins was deeply unhappy at the company and yet would not jump ship. Did it carry over into his directorship? It seems so. The company should be on their hands and knees every one from the dancers to the board begging Farrell to remount EVERYTHING she danced in or was choreographed on her. This company needs it. Or they are just playing a waiting game. The youngest of us who saw real Balanchine style are hitting our 50s to early 60s. Once we are gone, no one else will know the difference.

[@genlyai5055]

@@kerrytakashi12 Martins is a well known sex and emotional ABUSER (look at the lawsuits which his stinking rich NYCB board members forced to be DROPPED) and extraordinarily insecure man who could only be satisfied with WRECKING a great company.

[@avesraggiana]

I wish NYCB would bring back the old 1950 Eugene Berman costumes and set design the way the Royal Ballet did. I read many years ago that Dame Margot Fonteyn hated dancing Ballet Imperial. She fell twice during a performance. Just not her thing.

[@running179]

JC, have you seen Suki Schorer's "Balanchine Essays" vid, in which she has Woetzel & Ashley & others work out some of this ballet's steps? Pretty cool!! I think a lot of people are only now getting just a sense of the ENORMOUS, *profound* genius of Balanchine - it's sort of like having lived thru the time of Bach or Beethoven or Leo Tolstoy or Charles Dickens. Just incredible, the repertoire/legacy. Sure, it will change over time - he himself said so - but they'll still be his ballets.

[@jcliff26]

Yes, I’ve seen them. Wonderful vids.

[@running179]

THANKS for posting this, JC! I do have a vid of TPC No 2 with the Maryinksky - gorgeous perf. I saw Merrill Ashley do this, matinee, when I was in primary school, 1980, I think. Didn't Suzanne do this originally when it was brought back as TPC No 2? I have another question, will write another comment.

[@genlyai5055]

Farrell did the first performance of a revival in 1964 ; the ballet was still "Ballet Imperial" then. McBride did the premiere of the new and revised "TPC 2" in 1973, with Martins as partner and C. Neary in the soloist role.

[@running179]

@@genlyai5055 Ah, right! There's a book, GOING TO THE DANCE, by NYorker critic Arlene Croce that shows Farrell on the cover in this ballet, in the TPC No 2 costume/chiffon skirt, 1970s. So Farrell must have done this version of the ballet in the 1970s?

[@genlyai5055]

@@running179 Yes, she did. I love Croce and have all her books. Farrell is one of the few dancers to have done both versions (I think Verdy did).

[@BalletBabyBoy]

She is no Violette or Merrill...too wild

[@levondelite4072]

To whom do you refer?

[@BalletBabyBoy]

@@levondelite4072 Whom...do you think?

[@levondelite4072]

@@BalletBabyBoy I enjoy reading your posts. I didn’t mean to sound critical. I truly wasn’t sure who you were referring to. Fonteyn?

[@BalletBabyBoy]

@@levondelite4072 I was talking about the girl dancing the lead in ballet imperial or as they call it now concerto number 2. I prefer the original version personally. However it's not about kicking your head and being a macaroni. It's about being a elegant exquisite ballerina. And that word ballerina is too easily bandied around these days

[@levondelite4072]

@@BalletBabyBoy thanks, well said.