Reviews

American Ballet Theatre: Don Quixote
with Virginia Symphony Orchestra
March 25 - 27, 2022, Chrysler Hall
Review by John Campbell

The Virginia Arts Festival's 25th Season opened with American Ballet Theatre's production of Don Quixote at Chrysler Hall. We saw the first of three performances on Friday, March 25, 2022. It was a delight with sparkling energy and with music played by the Virginia Symphony led by ABT conductor and Associate Artistic Director Ormsby Wilkins.

The composer, from a Polish or Czech family, Leon Minkus (or Ludwig), was born in Vienna in 1826 and died there in 1917. Minkus had the misfortune of being overshadowed by his contemporary, Tchaikovsky, who was wildly popular in their day as he is in ours. Minkus wrote music for the choreographer Marius Petipa, including Don Quixote (1869), for the Imperial Russian Ballet in St. Petersburg.

The story comes from the novel written by Miguel de Cervantes (1547-1616), born in Alcalá de Henares, Spain, while he was in prison for tax fraud. As a tax collector in Granada he failed to turn in to the treasury all of the tax he had collected. When it came out in 1605 Don Quixote was hugely popular and Cervantes published part two in 1615 after writing plays and short novels.

The original choreography by Gorsky with scenario by Petipa was well received in Moscow in 1869. The present ABT production was staged by ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie and Susan Jones with music arranged by Jack Everly.

Don Quixote is a knight who is always looking for his perfect soul-mate, Dulcinea. He arrives in the busy town square of Seville with his trusty squire Sancho Panza. They look rough, dull and out of place while the music, dancing and costumes are so pretty and bright.

The story goes that Kitri, Lorenzo's daughter is in love with Basilio but her father plans to marry her off to Gamache, a foppish nobleman. Noticing Kitri, Don Quixote, in his confused way, wonders if he has finally met his Dulcinea. Aided by their friends Mercedes, a street dancer (Devon Teucher from Vermont) and Espada, a famous matador (Thomas Forster, London, England), the foursome sneak off together. The heat generated by the two couples drew us all into their story of young love. Kitri was danced by Christine Shevchenko from Odessa, Ukraine and Basilio by Cory Stearns from Mattituck, New York.

Before the ballet began we all stood while the orchestra played the Ukrainian National Anthem—an invitation to all of us to unify in our compassion for Ms. Shevchenko's home country. It was greatly moving.

With a crew of 130, it became possible to fill the stage with sets and costumes designed by Santo Loquasto. Don Quixote offered a fully-peopled world of neighborhood street scenes with up to 40 dancers at a time in a peaceful, charming world. The classical dancing is happily tinged by the bright spirit of the entire occasion and with lighting designed by Natasha Katz.

With a minimal knowledge of Cervante's tale of the daft knight (Clinton Luckett) his sidekick (Javier Rivet) and his crusades it is easy to follow the meaning of the stage action.

The visual of the Don suspended mid-air when he sticks his spear into the sail of a windmill is as radical as it gets, story-wise. He collapses into a deep sleep and dreams of an enchanted land filled with beautiful dancing maidens. Excited that Kitri may be his Dulcinea, he is awakened by Kitri's father and his choice for her husband-to-be, Gamache. The Don attempts to lead them astray, having finally understood that she loves Basilio. Basilio fakes suicide. Kitri turns to Don Quixote to persuade her father to let her wed the “corpse.” When he “comes back to life” Kitri leaves to prepare for her wedding while Basilio and the Don salute Lorenzo, his soon-to-be father-in-law, and Gamache, the rejected pursuer, who accept the inevitable.

The last scene has all of the village out to celebrate the gala wedding. The Don and Sancho bid a warm farewell and resume their everlasting quest and the audience leaves having experienced a beautifully danced, charming and predictable entertainment. The Virginia Arts Festival is back as live as ever.

VAF Coffee Concert I: Danish String Quartet
Miller Studio Theatre, Sandler Center for the Arts,
Tuesday, April 19, 2022
Review by John Campbell

The violinists Frederik Øland, Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen and the violist Asbørn Nørgaard met at a summer music camp where they played soccer and made music together. They studied classical chamber music as teenagers and were mentored by Tim Frederiksen of Copenhagen's Royal Academy of Music. In 2008 they became The Danish String Quartet when cellist Fredrik Shøyen Sjölin of Norway came on board. They flew in the night before the performance and though they felt a bit disoriented because of the time change, Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen pointed out that though they were not morning people it was actually afternoon at home!

In 1948 Benjamin Britten arranged Chacony in G minor for string quartet (also for orchestra) by Henry Purcell (1659-1695), originally written for viols. Purcell is Britain's greatest Baroque composer, “The finest and most original English composer of his day – a musician of exceptional gifts.” He, as did the Danish Quartet, interpreted with great freedom England's contrapuntal heritage, creating striking harmonic effects. The quartet dazzled us as they created a flawless synergy of four players as one. The chacony (chaconne in French, ciaccona in Italian) was a form of continuous variations in a dance in triple meter that reputedly originated in Latin America in the late 16th century.

Benjamin Britten (1913 – 1976) Three Divertimenti from 1936 was a revision of Britten's earlier pieces from his student days. Violinist Øland described the music as fun and easygoing with inside musical jokes but there is also a darkness. Britten's musical language sounds more like that of Alban Berg in its dramatic, detached phrases than the Three Bs of German music. With his teacher, Frank Bridge, he had absorbed elements of Berlioz, Debussy, Ravel, Wagner and Berg. The movement II Waltz was more mellow but far from ordinary. III Burlesque offered a choppy sound spectrum with brilliantly coordinated playing with sparkling energy of plucked strings and a few string squawks with over-the-top intensity. After building to an emotional intensity there was a downhill slide of strings and it was over.

In February, 1936, when Three Divertimenti was premiered, the reviewer described the pieces as “depressing, rather than diverting”and accused Britten of relying too much on superficial effects. Britten would have appreciated our audience's response!

The other half of the program was filled with Nordic folk music, primarily from the quartet's two CDs Wood Works (Dacapo, 2014), an album of traditional Scandinavian folk music, and Last Leaf (ECM, 2017). Last Leaf was one of the top classical albums of 2017 on NPR, Spotify and the New York Times.

The program booklet didn't include the folk music selections so I've reconstructed from memory, guided by the two CDs. The first folk tunes were wedding songs. Most likely Ye Honest Bridal Couple/Sønderho Bridal Trilogy Part I (all three parts can be found on the Wood Works album). As various tunes unfolded, all were lively, danceable, and engaging, I looked to see how many audience members were moving their feet to the rhythms—many! Often the feeling was jolly, modern and percussive.

By contrast, violinist Rune Tonsgaard Sørensen's introduction to the Ukrainian National Anthem “...terrible things going on on our continent,” the feeling in his brief words and the energy of overwhelming pathos in the music was a requiem for all those whose lives have been destroyed.

Easter Sunday began as a solo melody for the first violin but was soon joined by all. It was somber until a dance rhythm emerged that became rich and full. It was actually a suite of tunes of many moods and ended in a sweet, little jig.

Then came a tune from the Shetland Islands that is possibly 1,000 years old played on solo violin in a nostalgic mood, followed by a lively, plucked-string quartet while the dance rhythm grew clearer and stronger—a rocket of energy! Then they dialed back the energy and it became enfolding. Now the rushing, headlong intensity as each instrumentalist had a solo passage which aded to the growing power. The spontaneity of the Danish String Quartet is simply amazing. After a single encore they bid us adieu.

Though we did not attend their evening performance at the Perry Pavilion in Norfolk, I have no doubt that the Schumann and Schubert quartets were no less a revelation.