Dmitri Shostakovich was a fan of ballet and composed numerous dance scores in the 1930s, including
The Bolt and
The Bright Stream. Alexei Ratmansky has choreographed both of those works for the Bolshoi Ballet, and for New York City Ballet's 2008 spring season, Ratmansky created another work to a score by Shostakovich, this time the Piano Concerto No. 2. Shostakovich wrote the concerto in 1957 as a birthday gift for his 19-year-old son Maxim, and it displays the composer's optimistic energy after the repressions of the Stalinist era. The opening allegro evokes a brisk military march with the piano referencing the British melody
Drunken Sailor. By contrast, the andante movement basks in Russian soulfulness for the strings, piano, and solo horn. The brief, invigorating allegro finale takes on a 7/8 meter as the entire orchestra sprints to the finish. The ballet's title refers to a musical motif used by Shostakovich to represent himself, with four notes that, when written in German notation, stand in for his initials in the German spelling (D. Sch.).
Sacre
Music by Igor Stravinsky
Musical Director: Valery Gergiev
Choreographer: Sasha Waltz
Costume Designer: Bernd Skodzig
Stage Designers: Pia Maier Schriever, Sasha Waltz
Lighting Designer: Thilo Reuther
Assistant Choreographers: Juan Kruz Diaz de Garaio Esnaola, Luc Dunberry, Antonio Ruz and Yael Schnell
Co-production by Sasha Waltz & Guests GmbH and the Mariinsky Theatre
Premiere of the ballet with choreography by Sasha Waltz: 13 May 2013, Mariinsky Theatre, St Petersburg
Running time: 40 minutes