Tribute to Jerome Robbins

Tribute to Jerome Robbins compilation of three single-act ballet pieces by Robbins and the world premiere of a single-act ballet by Benjamin Millepied. Performed 2008 at the Paris Opera (Palais Garnier) as a tribute to Robbins, who died in 1998. Works presented are:

1. En Sol by Robbins (24 minutes). Music is Maurice Ravel Piano Concerto in G major. Stars Marie-Agnès Gillot & Florian Magnenet. Elena Bonnay plays piano. Choreography overseen by Jean-Pierre Frohlich; sets and costumes by Erté; lighting by Jennifer Tipton.

2. In the Night by Robbins (27 minutes). Music by Frédéric Chopin. Stars dancers Clairemarie Osta & Benjamin Pech, Agnès Letestu & Stéphane Bullion, as well as Delphine Moussin & Nicolas Le Riche. Ryoko Hisayma plays piano. Choreography overseen by Jean-Pierre Frohlich & Christine Redpath; costumes by Antony Dowell; lighting by Jennifer Tipton.

3. The Concert by Robbins (33 minutes). Music by Frédéric Chopin. Stars dancers Dorothée Gilbert, Stéphane Phavorin, Alessio Carbone, and Emmanuel Thibault. Vessela Pelovska plays piano under adverse circumstances. Choreography overseen by Jean-Pierre Frohlich; arrangements and orchestration by Clare Grundman; sets after Saul Steinberg; costumes by Irene Sharaff; lighting by Jennifer Tipton.

4. Triade choreographed by Milleipied (24 minutes). Especially commissioned music by Nico Muhly.  Stars Marie-Agnès Gillot, Laëtitia Pujol, Audric Bezard, and Marc Moreau. Frédéric Lagnau plays piano. There are important parts for two trombones played by Bruno Flahou and Jean Raffard. Costumes by Benjamin Millepied; lighting by Patrice Besombes.

Koen Kessels conducts the Paris Opera Orchestra. Produced by François Duplat, Antoine Perset, Denis Morlière, and Emma Enjalbert; directed for TV by Vincent Bataillon. Released 2011, disc has 5.1 dts-HD Master Audio sound.  This is the first fine-arts HDVD to come packaged in a neat hardback book the size of the usual Blu-ray keep case. Grade: A

En Sol celebrates innocent fun and languid romance at the beach it a manner reminiscent of the musical productions for which Robbins was famous (in addition to his formal ballet work). Fans of this website likely will be very familiar with the En Sol music because we already have in HDVD both a Hélène Grimaud and a Martha Argerich rendition of the Ravel Piano Concerto in G major. 12 members of the corps populate the beach while Gillot and Magnenet fall in love. First I thought Magnenet, resplendent in white, might be the lifeguard---but on reflection I realize that even in those innocent days, the lifeguard was not as serious about the responsibilities of love as Magnenet seems to be.

With In the Night, Robbins evokes through dance the same feelings of mystery and longing achieved by Chopin in the music of his nocturnes.  Using three sets of dancers, there are three shortened pas de deux scenes (no solos), each quite different and equally wonderful. There's a brief coda to show you all the splendor at once. The booklet suggests that each couple represents a different phase of love or life. Suit yourself. I think Robbins proves that they are infinite ways in dance to express any phase or aspect of life.

The Concert is a comedy, set to famous Chopin music, about a piano concert that goes wrong. Most of it is at slapstick level, but I suspect it harbors insider jokes. It starts with an outrageous misorchestration (as military march) of the most sacred Chopin piece, the "Heroic" Polonaise No. 6 in A Flat. (Robbins' father emigrated from Poland to the U.S. in 1904 as Harry Rabinowitz, so Jerome could get away with this.) After the pianist sits down, she makes a funny scene cleaning the dusty keyboard. But don't laugh. Get out your HDVD of Martha Argerich at the Verbier Festival and you will see (at 01:51) a smirking Martha do exactly the same thing even after the orchestra has started playing a Beethoven concerto! Once (Jerome's) concert gets going,  things go downhill fast until total chaos arrives with the female corps. Dancers retire young like soldiers and cops. Some face unemployment, but Dorothée Gilbert can go straight into physical comedy (she would make a great girlfriend for Mr. Beam).

All the Robbins works mentioned above were written decades ago. Triad by Benjamin Millepied dates to 2008. The word "triade" means "triad" in English, which in turn must have something to do with "3." I think  it depicts negotiations on the street between two girls and two guys as to who is going to wind up with whom, at least for a night. I'm guessing each girl likes both guys (that's 3) and each guy likes both girls. You get to watch and you decide what should happen.  The music is terrific with an ethereal piano score receiving street cred from two trombones. The dance style is similar to what we see in Wayne McGregor works like Chroma, Infra, and Limen, only softer and with more links to the classical past.

The video is fine in view of the low light available is several of these numbers. Vincent Bataillon lets you see the whole stage much of the time, and he is reluctant to cut off those legs just to get close-up shots. The sound is fine. This is a well made, pleasant compilation that merits a B+ for sure. We will bump that up to an "A" out of respect for the intense beauty of In the Night and the fact that there are so few comedy ballets. I'm pretty sure The Concert will be a hit with visiting relatives and friends.