Mariinsky Ballet: Concerto DSCH/Sacre ****
Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff, 17th April 2016
It’s difficult to know what shocked Parisian audiences more when The Rite of Spring caused a near riot at its 1913 première: was it Stravinsky’s music – pounding dissonances and irregular rhythms – or Nijinsky’s choreography? A century on, the music still has the power to shock, how ever many times I hear it in concert. Millicent Hodson and Kenneth Archer’s reconstruction of the original choreography failed to have the same impact when I saw it performed by the Mariinsky Ballet in 2003. For the 2013 centenary, the Mariinsky, together with Sasha Waltz and Guests, commissioned a new version – Sacre – choreographed by Sasha Waltz and presented in a double-Rite evening in Paris which paired it with the reconstruction of the original ballet. In Cardiff this weekend, the Mariinsky reclaimed Sacre as part of a less than generous double bill alongside Alexei Ratmansky’s Concerto DSCH.
Ekaterina Kondaurova in Sacre
© Natasha Razina
Read the full review on Bachtrack.