Moscow”s Bolshoi Theater has taken down productions by anti-Putin directors Kirill Serebrennikov and Timofey Kulyabin.
The first casualty is the ballet Nureyev, a life of the great dancer. It is replaced by Aram Khachaturian’s hackneyed ballet, Spartacus.
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Hackneyed? Your disappointment in the cancellation is justified, but that’s no reason to drag Khachaturian through the mud!
‘Spartacus’ obviously fits the current Russian mood so much better:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v0VACj3bKCU
What is needed is a revolutionary ballet showing Vladimir’s progress from the street gangs all the way to the nuclear button. Title could be “The Eternal Itch”.
Beceuse Serebrennikov is anti-Putin? I mean, certainly, he’s not pro-Putin but between one and the other, there’s still a whole range of behaviors and opinions. I know that he is being made out to be an opposition activist, but he was not.
No surprise. Putin is just a bully who thinks he can dictate everything in Russia, as Stalin did. Stalin had no critical intelligence; nor has Putin. Nor had Adolph.
I would be very interested in the Nureyev biographical ballet. Paris Opera Ballet or Royal Ballet would be better places for this work to reside and be seen by the world that’s interested in the subject and the artist.
The ballet Spartacus might be hackneyed, but the music is beautiful although I prefer listening to it as an Orchestral Suite than watching the ballet. The mass appeal of the Adagio follows in the tradition of Tchaik’s love theme from Romeo and Juliette or Rach’s 18th variation. What’s not to love?
15 minutes of it is okay.The rest of it is absolutely banal,noisy,third rate fare.
I sat through the Bolshoi Ballet Spartacus once and I must admit I would never go back.
It always sounds like the composer of ‘I did it my way’ knocked it off. For me it is the most erotic adagio ever. Pure sex.
Khatchaturian´s music is indeed hackneyed.A little sequence of 15 min is okay.But sitting through the two hours of banal,tub thumping pseudo folklorist fare is quite an ordeal.
Alex North´s score for the 1962 film is a thousand times better,infinitely more sophisticated and ingenious than Khatchaturian´s circus music…