Classical cool

Maurice Ravel

    My days are often filled with dancing to classical music when I'm rehearsing with The Suzanne Farrell Ballet.  I usually have listened to this accompaniment a hundred times before performing a particular piece and am usually tired of hearing it once the rehearsal period is over.  In some ballets I am not cast in, I usually get to watch other dancers rehearse and I get the great opportunity of simply listening to the music and taking in the beautiful, melodic sounds.

  
I recently found myself watching a rehearsal of George Balanchine's Sonatine, a piece for two dancers and music by Maurice Ravel.  Ravel's Sonatine for Piano is a 12 minute selection that allows one to be intoxicated in its soothing notes and playful harmonies.

NYCB in Balanchine's Sonatine

  


  




























Sonatine was presented as the opening ballet of the New York City Ballet Ravel festival during the 1975 season, which marked the 100th anniversary of the composer's birth.  In this work the ballet dancers and pianist shared the stage during performance.